Unbelievably bad. I was expecting so much more of such an auspicious cast.
I had seen the trailer and it looked promising.
I started watching the movie, the nonsensical, boring, awkward-pause comedy seemed that it would take a turn for the better eventually... that never happened. The movie kept getting boring as it progressed. I dozed off twice, that's how interesting it was.
I think my favorite part about this movie was the stereotypical alt-right Trump-supporter farmer never noticing that he was struggling with hordes of zombies at his doorstep, mistaking them for trespassers, refugees. It's as far as it got to funny, the rest was not even depressing, just a waste of time. The Kill Bill semi-cameo and UFO were also irrelevant. Avoid at all costs.
It is a slow burn, awkward and trolling movie. Fun deep troll. The joke is told in a unique way.
The dead may not die but this movie seems to be where actors go to kill their careers.
Honestly, how in their right mind funded this crap? wrote it?? and what were these actors thinking when they reads the script (except Murray cause Jim only gave him the script for his parts - only funny part of the movie really) and decided to join the cast?
I felt like I should have been high or drunk, or both, in order to get it but alas I feel as though the only way this movie would have made any sense, or made me laugh more than the once, would have been if I beat my head against a brick wall for the duration of it's playing time and even then it probably would have only gotten a 3 from me.... a very very generous 3.
Jim Jarmusch has done some good films in the past. The cast of this film is bonkers (so many great stars). The film deadpans the zombie genre. There's some fourth wall breakage. You'd think this would all add up to a great watch. You'd be very, very, very wrong. Entire chunks of this film add nothing to the narrative. Bits are there for the sake of being bits, but don't seem to gel with other bits or the movie as a whole. Characters are just... there. The climax is way out of left field, yet you won't care because you'll be so bored by the time you get there. The few good bits just don't pay off or make it worth sitting through 90+ minutes of mostly mundane, boring scenes. This feels like a giant heap of potential completely wasted.
What a terrible way to waste a cast like that.
This is So much meh
The dead may not die, but this sure had about as much feeling in it as the dead give off. Irrelevant, heaping, steamy waste of time. Meta to a degree that only managed to annoy. Should've stopped watching about the 30 minute mark, instead gave it a slight pass and crawled towards the end credits, but regretted it the whole way. I dont care what "political twist" this film was trying to succeed at giving, it failed at everything, even the Romero political satire nods just hurt to look at. I've seen high school student films accomplish these ideas waaaaay better on a dime than whatever budget this had. This was not clever or inventive. Give me my 104 minute back.
If you are looking for your run-of-the-mill zombie film or black comedy, this is not the movie for you. It is very deadpan. If you are not a fan of Jim Jarmusch, you should probably skip this one. If you are, you'll have a great time!
What always annoys me about zombie movies or zombie series also happens here. The ignorance that there are really zombies, or at least something terrible is going on, drags on forever. In this movie, however, this is not bad at all, as it is implemented extremely humorously and fits fully into the plot. Ignorance suddenly turns into more than acceptance and everything seems to be completely normal. In any case, the protagonists find a way to deal with it.
Bill Murray is acting wonderfully again. You can't expect a standard zombie action movie with a lot of shooting.
It's something completely different and that's a good thing.
Very relaxed, funny and well-acted movie.
Jim Jarmusch’s anti-consumerist zombie comedy is not terrible but came in way too late. It has its moments, but it’s still a big waste if we consider the superlative cast he could put together for this. I am sure they had a lot of fun filming it, but there is a huge difference between dry humor and half-assed comedy. The slow pacing is not a problem, if there only was something worth watching. Too many situations that lead to nothing, too many characters that didn’t need to exist, too many pointless outcomes, too many obvious reflections. I see the metaphor of the world’s balances changing and consumerism taking over the good old countryside, but that’s all stuff we have seen for decades already.
Fan of the cast. Fan of the director and was looking forward to this one after seeing the trailer however was left disappointed. Has it’s moments but just felt very dull. Extremely slow burn that misses the payoff.
Tilda Swinton's makeup is even weirder than the zombies'.
Jarmusch parodies the zombie genre. deep America and even himself and his actors.
Jim Jarmusch plays with the zombie subgenre. It is one of his least interesting films. But some stuff works. References to horror movies are fun, as well as the parody of his own films. It's like a slow motion version of horror cinema, as it had been shot in a friends party. There are surprising flaws in a script that it is not, per se, a great writting. Some characters and scenes really don't add anything to the story.
The end of the world is inevitable. As inevitable is the end of a kind of cinema that is already anachronistic.
That’s the first zombie film i can say the living are more weird than the dead and I’ve not laughed that much at a zombie film since (shaun of the dead) definitely had some of that vibe, some (return of the living dead) too
The film wasn’t anything great but without it’s casting and sense of humour in the script it sure would of been dead and that’s what kept me entertained.
This was a slow, boring and poor entry to the zombie movie-verse. It has Bill Murray, a whole host of quality cast (and of course a smoking hot Selena Gomez). However, it drags on without a plot for far too long. The characters make stupid decisions and die. There's a random alien section for no reason. And the comedy aspects don't even make sense half the time .This film is just a lot of things happening for no reason for 100 minutes. Save yourself the trouble and avoid it.
Not nearly as clever and inventive as it Jarmusch thinks he is being, but not a bad film.
With the star-studded cast, the overall effect of the film does feel a little underwhelming, because it appears that Jarmusch's focus is on simultaneously aping and re-inventing the zombie movie, and doing both rarely works. It also feels like the immense amount of talent on hand was severely underutilized. Tilda Swinton is a magnetic presence whenever she is on screen, no matter the film, but is barely used, and despite Murray, Driver, and Sevigny in the leading roles they somehow also feel the same.
As a light movie, The Dead Don't Die is a fine watch, as a film many Jarmusch fans were waiting for with excitement it might disappoint.
What a mockery, nicely done.
Is this an Netflix production??? :smiley:
PS- Great cast, only that.
"The film as a whole is laced with an absurd sense of detached humor, but there is literally nothing about the film that someone else hasn't already done better."
rubbish.. sampahhh,i dont know what to say..
My first thought as this film warped up and the credits began to roll was “people are going to hate this”. I shared this sentiment with my friend who I was with and he seemed to agree.
To start with most of the marketing centered on the rather impressive cast, the posters bosting the tag-line “The Greatest Zombie Cast Ever Disassembled”. This marketing approach does give of the impression that audience will be treated to a light-hearted Zom-Com featuring a group of interesting and bizarre characters. This is only sort of true, The film has a dry wit to it that often makes it difficult to tell whether or not what you are watching is supposed to be funny, at multiple points I found myself having to contain my laughter despite the fact the nothing particularly funny was happening on screen but that does suit my sense of humour.
The jokes being delivered in a unique way is not what I think will divide audiences (although it will contribute) one thing I did not expect was just how much Jarmusch wanted to say about our current society. The film jumps from being about consumerism to the environment to even folding back in and commenting on itself constantly. It hits you on the head with obvious messages about not harming the planet, being nice to people and not allowing brands and products to define you but also has the nerve to feature meta comedy and bizarre side-plots that go absolutely nowhere.
This is the point where I tell you that I actually quite enjoyed how off-center and comically nonsensical the experience was. If like me you have seen many zombie movies and are looking for something fresh then this might just be what you are looking for and if not at least there’s a pretty sweat Night of the Living Dead reference in it.
This film certainly is not for everyone but I recommend watching it anyway to see if you find something to like, however if you do watch it and hate it don’t tell me I didn’t warn you.
Jim Jarmusch films are paintings or murals or tags or black & white photographs that always have a good amount of poetry mixed in. Sadly, The Dead Don't Die is a political poster and while the colours are nice and the brush strokes are deft, the poetry that makes his work gel is lacking here.
Yes, there are a couple of amusing moments and, yes, the cast is the most impressive I will see this year (Bill Murray AND Tom Waits!? Are you kidding me!?), yet they aren't able to convey the film's sense of humanity any better than Jarmusch himself. The Dead Don't Die is full of artists, but, alas, not full of art.
A great cast and interesting twist on the zombie genre can't save this from being a slog to get through.
They are all the ingredients to make it a classic comedy, but it just doesn't take.
The casting is amazing, that's for sure. It's full of cool ideas and nice jokes all along the way.
- the daylight time being weird
- Most of Tilda Swinton character
- The make up for the dead
- The zombies looking for chardonnay and wifi instead of brains
- Driver's character direct assumption that it's zombies
- The "Is it a wild beast ? Several wild beasts ?" bit
- Zombie Iggy Pop
- the wtf exit of Tilda Swinton
- Murray and Driver discussing the theme song or the script
- etc.
And for all this I can't count it as bad. But it just doesn't fit into a story. Between this bits it all seems long and boring. And most of them are not even exploited correctly. A 20 minutes version of it would have worked a lot better.
The daylight times being weird ? Nice, but what about it ? Nothing.
Murray and Driver talk as themselves instead of the characters could have been interesting, but it's not even correctly used. When asked how he knows it end badly, Driver answers he read the script and Murray says he only had his scenes. Well, he IS in the litteral last scene of the film, the one that ends badly... So he should have known too. It just feels like it's been added there to add a few lines and that's it, it's not been though through.
Swinton's character is good with a sword. But it's 5 scenes of her decapitating zombies behing her back. OK. Show me her fighting 50 zombies, give me something new not 5 copies of the same scene!
As for the chatacters, Bill Murray has been playing various versions of the same character since what ? Lost in Translation ? And I usually love it. It kinda works here too. But not enough.
Adam Driver is actually quite ok. So I'm starting to think it's not his fault and Kylo Ren was just an horrible miscast.
Tilda Swinton is creepy af, just as usual, and has the best character. The way she speaks, the way she walks, her makeup for the deads, her sword skills, etc. Every scene where she's in is good.
Nice to see Steve Buscemi and Danny Glover, but again, they're like the usual cinematic version of themselves here. They feel more like cameos.
And then several characters seem to have been added just as fillers. The kids in detention center ? They do nothing, do not interact with anybody, or with zombies. They just go through it. You can totally erase them and lose nothing. The Selena Gomez crew ? Same thing. Well, you lose some scenes of various guys drooling over Gomez's small shorts and yes, the great head chopping scene, ok, but it could have been done with any other character. Hermit Bob is observing as an outsider. Doesn't bring anything to the story. And Chloe Sevigny's character is just painful to watch.
I get the concept, I loved some slow movies and watching some characters that are on the side and do not bring anything to the story. But here nothing ever works. It's almost heartbreaking to see the movie try so hard, imagine what it was supposed to be and see it fail so hard.
This is probably the most disappointing film I have watched all year...and it is November. Listen to this cast: Bill Murray. Adam Driver. Tilda Swinton. Steve Buscemi. Danny Glover. Rosie Perez. Stacker, right? You figure at least half of these actors would read the script before they take a film. I can only guess they either have some serious meth habits to support or they didn't read the script. At all. The very convincing trailer makes this look like a great zombie satire like "Zombieland" or "Sean of the Dead". What do you get? Awkward long held shots with stilted dialogue (expertly delivered, but still poop) and trying to palm itself off as clever. I read one review online that they thought the line about going back to “the things they did in life” was clever. Uhhhhh....that's been part of the whole zombie thing since Romero first rolled some Z-boys into a mall. To add to the juvenile fourth wall breaks to make it seem meta, it makes a half-hearted stab at political commentary that actually made me sad for the screenwriters. Don't waste your time. I should have heeded the warnings.
I love a good zombie movie. I even love a bad zombie movie. However, I didn't like this movie at all. I thought from the preview that it would be humorous, but it wasn't. It wasn't scary either. It was so dull I actually apologized to my other half for putting it on, something I've never done before. The acting was subpar for such big names. It's like they had no clue what they were doing either. Characters were introduced just to die two seconds later. There was no character development for most and random development for some. Why was Selena Gomez given the "I'm in love" halo for Bobby when it never even came up again? Weird stuff happened for no reason.So Tilda was an alien because???? It was like a group of people sat down at a table and threw out a bunch of ideas and names that were all smooshed together into this script but no additional work was done. When it was over I felt as though I had been asleep for 2 hours and had a boring nonsense dream. People will go on and on about all the hidden easter eggs in this thing but who cares if the movie is boring? Do you really want to spend 2 hours watching a movie for a split second reference to an old horror movie that was actually good? I'd suggest you just go back and watch that old flick again instead of wasting any time on this one. Also, I should note that I got all the political commentary peppered throughout, it wasn't difficult to figure out, but it just fell flat like everything else in this flick.
Unbelievably boring. Definitely wished I passed on this one.
I love Bill Murray, but even he couldn't pull this movie out of the trash pit the script should have been burned in before anyone even thought about making it into a movie.
This should be WAY better then it was. There is stuff to like here just not enough of it, very slow.
I thought this was delightful and silly, but I know exactly why people didn't like it. It's too weird, too slow, and too meta. My mom and I thought it was a hoot though, very fun.
The amount of time they played Sturgill Simpson’s The Dead Don’t Die song, it was funny and torture. It is a strange Zombie movie, which I liked it.
One of the most boring movies I’ve seen in a very long time
There are films that are not made for us to understand or enjoy, but only for the satisfaction of the director.
This is one of them.
Very funny, but very peculiar (and somewhat preachy)
Unexpectedly chosen as the opening film at Cannes 2019, the film has met with mixed responses from both critics and audiences, and it's not hard to see why – glib socio-political commentary is introduced without really going anywhere; heavily promoted performers have nothing more than one or two-scene cameos; some of the characters know they're in a movie, even referring to Jarmusch himself, whilst others do not; a lot of the humour is of the flippant self-congratulatory kind; things become very preachy towards the end as Jarmusch abandons all semblance of narrative progression and shifts gears into a pseudo-TED talk. However, for all that, I enjoyed it. A zombie apocalypse movie set very much in Trump's America, it embraces all the weirdness that such a scenario suggests; the awkward humour works well for the most part, the meta elements are intriguing but not too distracting, and as for the didacticism? Well, nothing that Jarmusch says is incorrect; we are a culture ruled by materialism and we are sticking our collective heads in the sand regarding the fact that we're destroying the only home we have. So it might be inelegant (and Jarmusch has never been a satirist of Swiftian pedigree), but it's not wrong.
For my complete review, please visit: https://boxd.it/Lg2Qj
This film is proof, if proof was needed, that you can polish a turd. What you end up with though, however shiny, is still poo. The whole star-studded cast acts wonderfully well, but feel permanently bored with the goings on. The only discernable "humor" I've found is the several fourth-wall breaks. Other jokes were few and far between. Mostly it's (fairly stupid) puns. Other 'funnies' (like zombies not wanting brains) are rammed home so much they lose meaning and impact.
The movie feels like a short story played at 75% speed. The whole affair is not helped by actually starting the zombie part proper (aka: More than 2 zombies that are longer on the screen than a fart in the air) about 1 hour into the 1:45 movie.
This zombie film had a lot of repetitive small talk. It's as if the main characters were half awake or high throughout the entire movie.
I was expecting comedy, in this comedy. Unfortunately a great cast, lacking a great script.
Fuck me. This is awful. Boring and humourless.
Very boring movie. Not all scary or funny.
Streamed via HBO Max
Catching up before it's leaving HBO Max. I did not enjoy this film at all, probably the most boring zombie film I've seen. A boomer trying to recreate Shaun of the Dead but failed miserably, it's painfully boring and dry. Not scary to be a horror film, not funny to be a comedy. It also drags like a short film content stretched into a feature length. This film basically refuse to do anything other than being quirky. The social commentary is too obvious. The characters are lazy just like the film. I have Dead Man on my list, I hope it doesn't suck like this.
This movie tried to be as funny as Shawn of the Dead but it failed. You also keep waiting for zombie scenes and they also don't come because this movie is soooo slooooow.
This is battling Movie 43 as one of the worst movies I've ever seen... and both movies have an amazing cast. I just don't get it. Nothing ever actually happens!
What... the actual f*ck was that about. Nice cast of stars but omg, no.
A witty horror-comedy, The Dead Don’t Die delivers a fresh new take on the zombie genre. The story follows a group of people in a small town as they combat a zombie outbreak. Featuring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, and Selena Gomez, the cast is quite impressive; Murray and Driver in particular are great as a sheriff and deputy duo. And the film does some clever postmodern commentary with the characters knowing what zombies are, crossing genres, and breaking the fourth wall. Still, there are a few too many subplots going on and some of the characters are underserved and get lost. Yet despite a few problems, The Dead Don’t Die is a fun romp.
It's okay, I guess. Not really creative or funny, but not the worse in the genre too. Couldn't care less for those characters, honestly.
Nice casting (Selena is so cute) and good music theme. However the movie is pointless.
If ever there was a film that fell short of its potential to be a traditional hit, even a cult classic, this is it. A slow build built on leveraging the trademark quirk of several fine actors, and a defiant approach to the typical zombie tropes are a great foundation. But the movie just walks away from all of that with a flat, random and uninspired second half, leaving the audience bored and unfilled. It's like a college film assignment of a student that decided to change majors right before it was due.
It would seem hard to make a duff film with a cast of Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi and seemingly never-ending list of fairly A list ‘stars’ at your disposal but somehow Jim Jarmusch takes this ingredient puts them into an absurd situation with fourth wall breaking and zeitgeist awareness and somehow turns something that could possibly be a beautiful tasty cake into a stodgy mess.
Jarmusch is usually a director who can be relied on to be funny in an obscure and quirky way but is usually entertaining whilst trying to get a point across. The Dead Don’t Die tries to get a point across in some absurd way about what we are doing to the planet, I think, and it tries to be funny with deadpan delivery, characters breaking out from the film itself and so forth but it just is not funny. Adding in some fairly gory deaths and brutal moments and the tone shifts from scene to scene with a nice jagged edge.
Billy Murray is a shoo-in as emotionless, straight-faced sheriff but in my view he looked bored and was sleepwalking throughout the film, partnered up with Adam Driver who was probably excited to star in a Jarmusch movie but deserved a better character and film than this, the Smart car did make me laugh though, likewise, Chole Sveigny who was underused and presumable told to ‘quirk it up’.
Probably the most annoying part of the film for me was Tilda Swinton ‘she’s so strange looking I reckon she is an alien’ playing a strange-looking woman who is an alien. Playing on people’s horrible opinions but not in a funny or clever way more a tired and obvious way for me.
Why was Selena Gomez in the film? You could ask this and then insert various other cameos, friends or Jarmusch hangers-on who popped up for a quick scene and death.
The good points were Steve Buscemi so how effortlessly he can play a douche-bag or murderer or sad lonely man – he really is a man for all seasons and Danny Glover was reliable and both actors did what they were asked coupled in with Tom Waits who is building up his own list of fun characters in all sorts of stories.
Finally, a film in which I could understand every utterance of Caleb Landry Jones.
The cinematography was okay, mainly dark and gloomy and small-town America so doing what it was asked. The story was dull and dragged along with the runtime and most of the jokes and hilarious parts missed the target and those that hit were nowhere near the bullseye and then we finished with a nihilistic and slightly mean-spirited ending.
There are too many zombie films out there and if you make one, whatever type, it better be different and offers something different to the cooking pot. I think Jarmusch tried this but missed by a country mile.
I wish this dead would just stay dead.
With Jim Jarmusch at the helm, you know you aren't going to get your regular brand of zombie film. This plays close to his ususal laidback style, and while not entirely successful, the film does get a lot of mileage from a talented ensemble cast who are a delight to see on screen.
Calling this movie a comedy is funnier than any of the 'comedy' in the movie. Only worth watching if you want to be reminded on how bad cinema can be.
[5.4/10] Dull. Just terribly dull. Maybe that's meant to be the joke -- a subversion of the breathlessness of modern zombie flicks, but given the talent involved, I expected something much funnier and more entertaining.
The trailer looked fantastic. But it was just a very dull movie.
They go really hard for the deadpan humour and just ... miss. I'm sure this movie was hilarious in the writers room, but they should have tested the script on people outside their little circle a bit more first. Or listened to outside people's feedback more.
This movie is like people who quote themselves – they're never as funny as they think they are. Watching it, you constantly feel like you should be giving a forced polite laugh so as not to hurt the movies feelings. You can see what it's trying for, but it's just not delivering. Ever.
A 13-year old writes a screenplay
total garbage don't lose your time
The only merit of the film is that it laughs at itself. Known faces and some funny detail
This Sucked. So stinking slow
Not much of a comedy more so than a political satire and nods to various other movies.
Its like a tribute to Romero at some points (especially with the cars, the clothing, etc) and the underlying political jabs (which Romero did). And Tilda Swinton's character is a nod to Phantasm (although a samurai sword wielding one). You can see the jabs about how the government avoids climate change, ignores how minorities are treated and even the separation of children under white dominant males (if they are in Centerville Juvenile Detention Center, why label their clothes just CDC).
Cannot give this movie the extreme hate that it’s getting because it is interesting attempt at being “meta” about zombie movies. But overall it is really good executed so just gets some applause for trying
my god... I have no words to say how bad this was...
I had hopes for this film, despite the existing reviews and ratings. I was wrong. It sucked so badly. I mean, casting, jokes, all cinema stuff was good, it just didn't tie together? There was multiple 4th wall breaking moments, but they didn't commit to it enough and it just sounded crap.
There were too many dead ends all throughout the film, why on earth did those "hipsters" come? Just to be killed without ANY further developments. The kids in the detention center? What happened there?
I sortof got the whole "we're all zombies to our wants" which is why the guy in the woods survived, he didn't have petty wants. Didn't make the poor writing any better.
Driver and Murray, you're better than this.
4/10
3/09/2019
Found this to be really dull and was not really funny either, thought it would be like zombieland or something of that nature but it just seemed to be badly written garbage.
I tend to have low expectations for movies these days but this was much less than i was expecting and although i watched it for free still feel short changed :).
I did like Selena Gomez in her little shorts and her Cool Lemans that was about it lol.
worst movie... ever..... 5 min role of selena and she acted as worst she can..no commedy at all...and the meaning behind the movie was.. its about humans
This movie is very odd and different from other movies in it's genre, which can be a great thing at times but not in this case. It's nice to see a movie be bold and different but the formula wasn't correct this time. A lot of things don't make sense or measure up correctly or simply are not explained. This movie does have a great csst with great acting and a lot of scenes are funny simply by their facial expressions and not even the script, although the script is pretty funny but the movie as a whole has many issues but can still be enjoyed.
Shout by nauipBlockedParent2019-09-03T03:09:44Z
This was not good. I wanted to like it for the cast. (obviously what they were going for)