George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead

Number six in Romero’s flesh-eater franchise, this latest opus of the undead is a pretty moribund effort. Things kick off nicely with a group of soldiers turned highwaymen (and woman) making their way to an island inhabited by two warring families whose ideas on zombie maintenance differ more than a little. Romero, whose genuis has always lay in a seemingly effortless combination of social commentary and crowd-pleasing splatter, here takes on the great American myth of the western… and fails. With an underwritten screenplay, blank performances and production values which seriously diminish its atmosphere, this is a pretty rum addition to a shuffling, rotting saga. Dramatically, it never takes hold, its ideas becoming lost amidst scenes of CG heavy and uninspired carnage (gorehounds can expect their bloodlust to be unsated). Neither taking the mythology or internal logic of the series any further (and providing little subtext), this is only a few notches above a Zone Horror cheapie. Shame really.