The Dead Don't Die

The Dead Don't Die is my second encounter with Jim Jarmusch after Coffee and Cigarettes, and I have to say that I didn't find the director to my liking in this case either. From the start, the atmosphere of a small, sleepy town in the middle of nowhere is built up quite decently, and to the sounds of the country hit “The Dead Don't Die”, we are introduced to the various inhabitants, with everything slowly but surely leading up to the terrifying invasion of the undead. I thought the film would be laced with floor-to-ceiling black humour, but I found most of the jokes and morbid innuendo dull – the scene that amused me the most was the first zombie attack and the Chardonnay-loving woman beyond the grave. Even the slight allusion to Adam Driver's involvement in Star Wars and the fact that he was driving a Smart Car didn't help matters much. Of all the characters, I was most taken with the mysterious Tilda Swinton, though the ending of her line was very bizarre. I'm sorry, but the (obviously present) charm of Jarmusch's latest effort missed me by a large margin. (09/07/2019)

The American-Swedish movie The Dead Don't Die proves all the good titles for zombie horror movies are probably exhausted. This movie is Jarmusch's attempt at a zombie horror, although he failed. It was an attempt where the most positive thing was that popular actors and singers wanted to be in it because Jim Jarmusch was involved and, unfortunately, that is all the movie has to offer. (18/09/2019)

The talented Jim Jarmusch serves up a zombie comedy with a perfect cast, it feels like all the money was spent on the actors, but not much left for the film itself. It has rather ugly visuals, a very slow pace (slower than zombies), almost no gore, minimal tension and atmosphere, and the only thing that sort of works are the jokes, but even those don't wake you up from your micro-sleep. The director knew that a lot of people would be bored, so he snuck in at least a few movie references to keep the audience entertained. Didn’t like it. 40% (05/09/2019)

This is an experimental, intellectually-ironic zombie film from a director who despises standard commercial zombie films, and that’s exactly the way it looks. Deliberately throwing away the rules of the zombie genre and overturning conventions and stereotypes sounds petulant rather than innovative, and the result is a purely anti-entertaining and random-acting film with a deliberately sloppy screenplay full of repetitions and unused characters that only accomplishes exhausted and shallow social satire and a few meta-jokes. What’s more, the film’s pace is slower than the shuffling gait of the wheezing undead, focusing on viewers who will never watch it in most cases because of its chosen theme. (05/10/2020)

“Cooofffeee..." A great comedy, but it’s certainly not for everyone. Jarmusch doesn't deny himself, and so the humor is drier than dry, but if you're on his wave, it's irresistible at the same time, and from start to the very end, the film offers one opportunity after another to burst out in laughter. Bill Murray and Adam Driver are absolutely amazing, and the apathy with which everyone involved approaches both the causes and consequences of the zombie apocalypse is irresistible, just like Iggy Pop as the best undead character that a film screen has ever hosted. (05/07/2019)