"a watchable, often informative, and perfectly geeky documentary"

Having not long seen the informative and somewhat enjoyable Birth of the Living Dead released earlier this year, Doc of the Dead treads similar, if not overly familiar ground concerning Night of the Living Dead, the of the Dead franchise, as well as the timeline of zombie culture from the mid 20th Century.

Billed as the ‘definitive zombie culture documentary’, Doc of the Dead does indeed thoroughly delve into the phenomenon of flesh eaters, yet regurgitates a lot of what we’ve seen or heard about plenty of times before.

 

 

There’s a host of featured names present to give their opinions and expertise on the subject, too, including Bruce Campbell (of The Evil Dead fame); published author in all manners of surviving a zombie plague, as well as original scriber to the recently adapted World War Z film, Max Brooks; as well as Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) who chips in from time to time. Founding father of it all, George A. Romero, is, naturally, also present to discuss aspects of the ongoing craze for zombies and some of its earlier, significant social commentaries that many of his movies encapsulated.

Doc of the Dead will no doubt appease fans of the (sub) genre, and will engage horror enthusiasts as well, but will appeal to a general audience. However, even though it fails to offers much in terms of new insight, ultimately one’s enjoyment will be based on just how much its viewers know of the topic. By no means an expert, yet at the same time far from a novice, my perspective is that some of the points could’ve been (pardon the phrase) fleshed out a little. It’s also difficult to make a fresh zombie documentary that’s been covered many times in the past, so perhaps feels a little insignificant and, dare I say, stale for its ability as an attention grabber.

The various Comic-Con conversations between Brooks and Romero are jovial by their well-timed, rehearsed back-and-forth nature. Such moments make it a watchable, often informative, and perfectly geeky documentary, providing you’ve not previously over-familiarised yourself with the material on offer.