Good concept, poorly executed.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Spoiler Alert: A few key scenes I mention may be considered spoilers.This is a wonderfully entertaining and informative documentary about the literary and historical evolution of the zombie from a folk lore creature to it's current pop-culture status.It contains both interviews with famous zombie directors and writers as well as original content created to illustrate certain points the film maker set out to explain. My personal favorite (spoilers) are clips from my favorite serial killer and movie critique Mr. Plinkett (red letter media).Catchy music, uplifting message, and over all highly entertaining. A must see for any zombie fan.

As others have stated, this film doesn't delve too deeply into zombie "history", and contains very little insight into international zombie lore (except that which directly affected the evolution of the modern 'Hollywood' zombie). What this film really examines is zombies of modern American pop culture, and how this "zombie craze" that's sweeping the nation came to be. So if you're looking to be educated in zombie lore through the ages and from around the globe...look elsewhere. If, like me, you're simply a fan of Hollywood zombies and the films/shows/etc. that sparked a pop- culture phenomenon the likes of which the world has never seen...then I highly recommend you watch this film. It features interviews with pretty much EVERY recognizable name from modern zombie cinema, including George Romero; Simon Pegg; Greg Nicotero; Tom Savini; and even Judith O'Dea (a.k.a 'Barbra' from Romero's original Night of the Living Dead). I had the pleasure of meeting Judith O'Dea a few years ago at a zombie festival in my small hometown where I was working security...and she actually sat with me as we watched a screening of 'Night of the Living Dead', and gave me a running commentary throughout the movie...which, for a horror fan and overall film junkie like me...was awesome. We spoke in-depth that day about this zombie sensation that's sweeping the nation...and one thing became VERY CLEAR: whether you're a fan or NOT...American zombie films, TV show's, comic books, etc., have had a HUGE impact on modern society.I don't think anyone can ever know WHY we're so obsessed with the living dead...not definitively...but 'Doc of the Dead' will certainly leave you with a slightly elevated understanding of the phenomenon, and entertain you in the process.

Cough, sorry about that, talk of zombies makes me hungry.The zombie fascination has reached pandemic levels and Doc of the Dead examines how fans have reached voracious fixation from humble beginnings in the 1930s.Examining the evolution of the zombie with a decidedly American perspective, Doc of the Dead researches the horror sub-genre in just 80 minutes.This is not a historical documentary, nor should you expect an anthropologically critical probe into zombie lore. The film glosses over the true beginnings of human reanimation of the dead and how it came to be this inherent sensational fear within humanity.Doc of the Dead is a documentary of the modern American zombie film. It starts with the widely acknowledge first zombie movie, 1932′s White Zombie, and then quickly skips right to George A. Romero's 1968 Night of the Living Dead. Romero is the focus of most of the film history perspective and he is attributed as the seminal father of the zombie flick. It then jumps ahead to the funny zombie of the 1980s with Return of the Living Dead and by the 20 minute mark we are at the modern day zombie of the 2000s as in 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead and beyond.As the film delves into the zombie variations as a species it tracks back to other pivotal films like The Evil Dead and Re-Animator. Doc of the Dead investigates the fast versus slow zombie, the charming versus bloodthirsty zombie, and the arguments for different sides.My greatest criticism of the documentary is its unnecessary focus on how zombie culture has evolved into this integrated and participatory immersion. 45 minutes are wasted highlighting the different zombie walks, products and consumerism. It completely veers off its clear direction for the second half of the documentary. Rather than charting zombie history chronologically as it does for the first twenty minutes, this preoccupation with pop culture causes the documentary to lurch about through time aimlessly.Without that filler, the film's writers and director Alexandre O. Philippe and Chad Herschberger easily could have utilized the knowledge of the experts involved. Max Brooks, Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero and countless others' zombie insight is vastly underutilized. Further, the movie can not claim to be a comprehensive zombie documentary while ignoring foreign contributors such as Lucio Fulci and Italian zombie cinema, French zombie and Asian zombie horror.More reviews of recent releases can be found at our website!

The definitive zombie culture documentary? Brought to the screen by the makers of "The People vs. George Lucas".My biggest issue is that this film seems to want to cover both the zombie culture and the film history. There are segments where a first-person camera angle has a man in a zombie outbreak that was completely unnecessary.The film says we all "collectively agree" the zombie film started with "White Zombie" (1932). That seems a bit late to me, but I cannot think of an earlier example. There is some good discussion of Haitian zombies, though it might have been nice to have a clip from "Serpent an the Rainbow".As we all seem to agree, George Romero changed everything, even though his creatures were introduced as "ghouls" and not zombies. His creature introduced the idea of being turned by a bite. And, of course, "Dawn of the Dead" is the pinnacle of zombie film. And we must recognize the parallel between Bub (Howard Sherman) and Frankenstein's monster (Boris Karloff). Sadly, he went downhill after that.One commentator suggests the idea of a widespread apocalypse got more popular after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. Is this true? Perhaps. But I think it also just became more and more affordable to make films as we have switched to cheap digital.Another reviewer pointed out there is a complete lack of Italian horror in this film. Good point. How influential they were to the overall culture today is debatable, but certainly Fulci's "Zombi" is among the biggest of its time and worth mentioning alongside Romero.