ABC Film Challenge – Catch Up 2020 – Z – The Dead Don’t Die (2019) Movie Thoughts

By Newguy

This is under Z because of the use of Zombies.

Director: Jim Jarmusch

Writer: Jim Jarmusch (Screenplay)

Starring: Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Tom Waits, Chloe Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Eszter Balint, Danny Glover

Plot: The peaceful town of Centerville finds itself battling a zombie horde as the dead start rising from their graves.


Tagline – The Road To Survival Could Be A Dead End

Runtime: 1 Hour 44 Minutes

There may be spoilers in the rest of the review

Verdict: Goes Nowhere

Story: The Dead Don’t Die starts as we head to a small peaceful town where two police officers go about their day, Chief Robertson (Murray) and Officer Peterson (Driver), where they do find themselves dealing with missing livestock, being the highlight of their day, nothing happens here.

This changes when two diner employees are killed mysteriously overnight, leading to the strange string of events in the town, where the officers must work together to survive the mystery zombie horde that has found itself in their town.

Thoughts on The Dead Don’t Die

Final Thoughts The Dead Don’t Die tries to bring a different approach to the zombie genre, by having the small town slowly getting infested, with three hapless police officers looking to find a way to solve the problem, as more people start getting picked off. This is sold as a comedy, with any attempts of the comedy being complete dead pan and not hitting the level it could, seemingly leaving us with an awkward silence after most lines. I am sure there is meant to be some sort of deeper message here, only it doesn’t seem to be one that is clear enough for anyone. It is a film that just seems to go nowhere, and not have any entertaining characters, with the few characters we do meet, pretty much getting killed off camera, not getting any of the horror side of the film out there for the fans.

Overall: Dull Horror Comedy.