The Dead Don't Die

"I told you this was all going to end badly."

Jim Jarmusch's zombie horror-comedy The Dead Don't Die is likely to be one of the more polarizing films of the summer and much of it will depend on where your sense of humor falls. Because I'm not going to lie, this is a much weirder film than the trailers let on. Which for me is by no means a bad thing, but it's not going to be a movie for everyone. 

In the small town of Centerville, local chief of police Cliff Robertson (played by Bill Murray) and Officer Ronnie Peterson (played by Adam Driver) are patrolling their peaceful hamlet, noticing certain strange things going on, including it being bright and sunny at 8 o'clock at night. They are joined by a third officer, Mindy Morrison (played by Chloe Sevigny), to look over their sleepy hamlet of a town, as well as the corpse of Mallory O'Brien (played by Carol Kane), who passed away recently while in custody and they are still waiting for someone to pick up from the coroner's office the next town over. Among the colorful residents are Bobby (played by Caleb Landry Jones), who runs the local gas station/comic book and novelty shop, the local hardware store owner Hank Thompson (played by Danny Glover), the new and decidedly odd mortician Zelda Winston (played by Tilda Swinton), the local farmer no one else likes, Frank Miller (played by Steve Buscemi), and the local motel owner Danny Perkins (played by Larry Fessenden). Things escalate when the dead start to rise and climb out of their graves. At first it's a pair of zombies, one that is played by Iggy Pop no less, who attack the local diner as it is closing up. The bodies are discovered the following morning by the three officers, who aren't sure what to make of the situation although Ronnie suspects it might be zombies. He's proven right when the following night the town finds itself overrun with the walking dead. Following the guidance of Bobby and Ronnie, the three officers are faced with trying to defeat the growing threat, with some unexpected assistance from Zelda, who turns out to be quite handy with a Katana sword. 

Jim Jarmusch wrote and directed the film, clearly drawing inspiration from 70's era zombie films, primarily the Romero zombie films, such as Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead and infusing his tale with a very dry sense of humor, with flourishes of the absurd, including a very unexpected plot twist towards the end (that the characters even admit as such) and some equally unexpected fourth wall breaks. For good measure, there is also a fair amount of social satire, much like Romero did, with jabs at the lack of respect for the environment and attention given to the growing threat of climate change, with the plot suggesting that polar fracking has impacted the tilt of the Earth and might be responsible for what is happening, as reported on television several times through the movie from reporter Posie Juarez (played by Rosie Perez). How one correlates to the other is not made clear, but the movie is probably too goofy for it to really matter anyway. Much of the film's humor is derived from the characters' comically understated reactions to the horrors around them, as well as the absurdity of the zombies themselves, many of which resume activities they did when they were alive, such as tennis, lawn mowing or getting coffee. This is mixed with genuine horror elements and a good amount of the requisite gore one would expect from a zombie flick, which makes the characters' reactions all that much funnier, at least to me.  

For this film, the cast is quite impressive. Bill Murray, who memorably had a cameo in another Zom-Com Zombieland, leads the cast as Chief of Police Cliff Robertson. He's a laid back Chief, content to take the night shift so his officers can have the night off and used to not much happening in his little burg. Adam Driver is clearly having fun as Murray's Smart Car driving deputy and the two share most of their scenes together. Any time they are alone in their squad car talking are some of the highlights of the movie. They play off one another so well. Tilda Swinton, as could be expected, steals every scene she is in as the oddball town mortician Zelda. She was absolutely hilarious in her role as a Scottish Buddhist who is also a badass with a Katana sword, taking out any zombies that cross her path. Chloe Sevigny gives the film some heart as Mindy, who is the only character that seems to have the appropriate response to the events of the film. Tom Waits shows up in the film as the town's eccentric hermit who watches the events unfold from a distance. Playing one of the first zombies to rise, Iggy Pop is pretty amusing as he shambles through the movie looking for flesh...and coffee. Carol Kane has a similarly amusing cameo, except she's craving some chardonnay.   

I caught a sneak preview screening of this film with two good friends of mine and between the three of us, I liked it, one of my friends liked it and one did not like it. All are valid responses and I feel a perfect illustration of what I anticipate the reactions to this film to be. Some will be down with it's very dry humor and satirical weirdness and some won't. And that's okay. It's going to be a polarizing film and audience mileage will definitely vary. But, if you are hankering for something a little more unique, a little more oddball, this one might be the ticket for you.