Wry, dry, deadpan humor that just makes you laugh out loud, THE DEAD DON’T DIE is witty, wild, and weirdly fun. This is a perfect addition to Jim Jarmusch’s eclectic catalogue; a film you can really sink your teeth into. And while Jarmusch is typically an acquired taste, the fun and familiarity of zombie tropes makes for a tasty treat for all fans of this undying genre.
Set in the rural town of Centerville, population 738, life is warm and fuzzy. It reminds you a bit of Mayberry. Day in and day out, nothing changes. Everything stays the same. Everyone knows everyone. Everyone gets along (except for Hermit Bob and Farmer Frank). Police Chief Cliff Robertson and his trusted deputies Officer Ronnie Peterson and Officer Mindy Morrison cruise through their days with Robertson and Peterson riding around town all day long while Morrison mans the phones at the office. But then things change. Peterson notices that it’s staying light much longer than usual, power cuts in and out, static and white noise replace the picture on television sets. Centerville is no longer centered. But why? And then the unthinkable happens. Everyone’s favorite diner owner is found dead in the middle of the diner floor. Entrails exposed. Coffee pots smashed. Another waitress is in the same condition several feet away. For Ronnie Peterson there is only one answer for this blood-soaked scene – vampires.
The fun of DEAD starts with Bill Murray and Adam Driver. They are positively delectable with the dry deadpan delivery of dialogue and their own back and forth banter and repartee. Both are stoically unflappable as Robertson and Peterson, respectively, which just makes you want to watch them even more, the more ridiculous the zombie rising gets. Repeating catchphrases such as Driver repeatedly deadpanning “vampires” or reiterating the weather channel reports on polar fracking as the cause for what’s happening with the earth’s axis causing the disquiet, and all in a banal bass monotone is funny in and of itself. And of course, Murray delivers as only Murray can. A climactic third act cemetery “shootout” is too much fun as Chief Robertson finally breaks with the insanity of it all which lets Murray go into his patented eyerolls and exasperated vocal inflection as he sees his once lovely Centerville residents in all their zombie forms coming to attack him.
For my money, one of the funniest scenes in the film involves Tilda Swinton as local mortician Zelda Winston, and Driver. As Zelda asks Peterson for his car keys so she can meet up with him at the cemetery, we see his keychain is Darth Vader’s imperial battleship prompting Zelda to remark, “Oh. Star Wars? You like Star Wars?” and we get a flat “Yes.” The exchange is laugh-out-loud funny, particularly when you know the pop culture significance of “Kylo Ren” saying that to The Avengers/Dr. Strange’s “The Ancient One”.
Swinton is perfection. As wonderfully distinctive and enticing as she is as an ancient vampire in Jarmusch’s “Only Lovers Left Alive”, the humor that comes from her performance here as Zelda is divine. Between a Scottish accent and a somewhat computerized cadence of delivery topped with the physicality of almost robotic movements, she makes Zelda a physically comic delight. But then toss in some samurai slaying and some nice slo-mo lensing moments from Jarmusch, and Swinton is to die for.
Caleb Landry Jones always delivers something quirky with each character he plays and here is no different with his turn as the shy, film/comic book/vampire loving geek Bobby. He is actually quite endearing in his approach and softness, with shyness taking hold on the arrival of Selena Gomez’ Zoe in Bobby’s gas & sip shop. But then put him in the hardware store with Danny Glover’s Hank as they shelter in place and arm themselves against the ever-increasing throng of zombies and we momentarily see an adrenaline rush and strength that defies what we saw in Bobby earlier. Of course, both Bobby and Hank are ready to pee their pants when overrun by zombies through a backdoor. It’s a nice turn from both Jones and Glover.
A real thrill for horror fans is that we actually get to see veteran Larry Fessenden as not only a normal nice guy, but one who lives beyond the first 10 minutes of the film. For some years now, Fessenden is known for jumping into a role for just a few moments and quickly taking his leave. For him to here take a more substantial part as motel owner Danny Perkins and as a “normal” guy, is pretty sweet. Of course, when he is turned and we see him in the ultimate battle, it’s a horror thrill with this horror master.
While the entire casting is excellent, one can’t help but wish there could have been more from actors like Chloe Sevigny as Officer Mindy, but with a cast this crowded and spreading the zombie love around, you can’t have everything. Two exceptional standouts, however, are Tom Waits as Hermit Bob and Steve Buscemi as Farmer Frank. These two are a scream! The tongue-in-cheek cockfighting between the two is hilarious, building to a crescendo as Hermit Bob watches Farmer Frank get eaten by zombies while he sits in the woods taking a bite out of a chicken drumstick from one of Farmer Frank’s chickens.
Jarmusch has an incredible gift for pacing and editing which is what makes droll scenes like Cliff and Ronnie driving and meandering round and round, fun and engaging. Once again he taps Affonso Goncalves as editor for DEAD. A longtime admirer of Goncalves work, he doesn’t disappoint here. He lets things stew a bit. He builds up some tension – and yes, there is lots of tension; initially, as we wonder what’s happening with the daylight hours and then the appearance of coffee-craving zombies, but it quickly turns into tension and even the excitement of “Who’s next?”, “What in the world is Zelda?”, and “Will they make it out alive?”.
Heightened color saturation is superb as it adds to the surrealness of the story. Night shoots down “Main Street” and overhead aerials of the cemetery at night are beautifully lensed. Cinematographer Frederick Elmes does a nice job with the simplicity of framing, maintaining pretty much a mid-2 shot for the bulk of the film, and then widening out a bit in the final frenzy while keeping a shallow focal length so we are focused on the “primary pairings” of who’s killing/who’s being killed with the rest of the zombies falling into the background. Visual tonal bandwidth, on the whole, is rich and lovely to look at; a wonderful metaphoric dichotomy to the story. Thanks to production designer Alex DiGerlando, we get the sense of being in a time capsule, removed from the world and the very things Jarmusch is subtextually commenting upon. There is a quiet charm to Centerville that is welcoming and endearing which only fuels the surprise of what unfolds and furthers Jarmusch’s commentaries on the world and the “ripple on a pond” theory. Nothing and no one is insulated, even in death.
Make-up, prosthetics and special effects are killer, most notably the “ashes to ashes” black smoke/ash that comes with zombie decapitation. Not only biblical but very “Thanos”!
Mashing up genres in a quietly celebratory fashion, with great nods to George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” and “Dawn of the Dead”, DEAD is beyond meta, and enjoyably so. Although by the third act some of the repetiveness starts to get stale, pacing at which Jarmusch allows things to unfold is nicely played. He lets us get to know each of the townsfolk and actually “care” a bit about who they are before serving them up for appetizers, entrees and desserts, one-by-one. Each character is idiosyncratic in their own right and Jarmusch embraces those elements as touchstones that resonate and make us care. But what stands out within this script is Jarmusch’s liberal commentary on the state of the nation from global warming, fracking, consumerism, and MAGA, to the idea that we are a nation of consumerized zombies, the latter which speaks directly to the finely tuned zombie muscle-memory on display (Char-don-nay, WiFi, Cof-fee, Snap-ple). A nice twist is that in small town America where Centerville should be Trumpian and divisive, it’s not (but for the feud between Hermit Bob and Farmer Frank which feels so “Hatfield & McCoys”). Everyone gets along, and they get along, in their humdrum but contented everyday lives. . .until the zombie apocalypse strikes.
Written and Directed by Jim Jarmusch
Cast: Bill Murrary, Adam Driver, Tilda Swinton, Chloe Sevigny, Tom Waits, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Selena Gomez, Larry Fessenden, Carol Kane, Iggy Pop
by debbie elias, 06/07/2019
