The Dead Don’t Die should have stayed dead

Focus Features

When I think of a Jim Jarmusch film, I often think of an artsy film that is supported by a great cast. I am not drawn to Jarmusch films, but Patterson would easily be my favorite of his movies. Only Lovers Left Alive was decent and his newest film, The Dead Don’t Die, is my least favorite of his films. The Dead Don’t Die is a satire film about zombies, which has been successfully done before. Jarmusch enlists the help of some big celebrities such as Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, and Danny Glover to help have a draw to his film. I didn’t bother checking out the trailer for The Dead Don’t Die, which I have been doing recently, in hopes that I would be surprised by what I saw. I haven’t even seen the trailer for Midsommar yet, but I can’t wait to see it.

I wish I had seen the trailer for this movie because maybe I wouldn’t have gone out and seen it. I know some people really admire Jarmusch’s directing style, but I found The Dead Don’t Die to be incredibly boring and a waste of good talent. The citizens of Centerville are experiencing a zombie apocalypse which is caused by polar fracking that has altered the Earth’s rotation. I will admit that this is a clever idea for how a zombie apocalypse would start. The hours of daylight are becoming unpredictable and animals are going crazy. The strangest thing to happen to Centerville is that the dead start to rise, but it feels like no one really cares about that.

There are a few people that are concerned with the zombie apocalypse, but when it comes down to it, the tone from the citizens is low. Actors from Bill Murray to Adam Driver don’t really seem to care about the zombie apocalypse. They go around slicing the heads off of zombies, but the energy from most stars is dull. When people living in Centerville learn of the dead rising from their graves, some give gasps and are frightened and some just continue with their daily lives. With such a low energy being presented in the film, it makes the movie a struggle to get through.

It is a shame that the movie wastes its talent. The duo of Murray and Driver lead the film and I was anticipating the two together. Both are very similar. They have that deadpan style of acting that I admire and it has made them both very successful. Sometimes they were funny together and their dark sense of humor allowed for some laughs. When I said there were some laughs, I really mean it. Most of the time their jokes don’t land because they gave a dull performance.

Carol Kane gives a brief funny performance as a citizen of Centerville who recently died and has come back to life. She came back to life while she was in jail and broke out while Adam Driver, Bill Murray, and Chloe Sevigny are discussing strategies on how to save the citizens of Centerville. She slowly walks up to them and says ‘chardonnay’. It was a perfect delivery and it also helps that Carol Kane is just funny in general.

Most ensemble films give each of their characters something to do, but that isn’t the case for The Dead Don’t Die. Jarmusch brings onboard some very talented people but doesn’t give them much to do. Selena Gomez appears in the film and doesn’t provide much. There are a few different storylines regarding younger people that feel pointless because Jarmusch never explains their purpose in the film.

I expected more from The Dead Don’t Die. With such a large and impressive cast, I thought the humor would constantly flow through this movie. At times I did laugh, but I spent the majority of the film just staring at the screen hoping something interesting would happen. Of course if you are a huge Jarmusch fan, you may it enjoy it, but for me, it was a chore to sit through.

The Dead Don’t Die has a run time of 1 hour 45 minutes and is rated R for zombie violence/gore, and for language.