Hailing itself as the definitive zombie culture documentary is Doc of the Dead, directed by Alexandre Philippe and featuring interviews with the likes of George A. Romero, Greg Nicotero, Simon Pegg, Bruce Campbell, Tom Savini, Stuart Gordon, Max Brooks and many more. Undoubtedly one of the more expansive explorations of why zombies have endured all these years in cinema and in pop culture, Doc of the Dead only skims the surface on many of its topics.
There’s no denying that Philippe knows his subject matter well for Doc of the Dead, as he creates his own oral history on zombies that covers a multitude of topics: classic and modern films, the evolution of the flesh eaters over the years, how zombies have now infiltrated the mainstream beyond the cinema, highlights from a bunch of zombie short films created over the years, and a look at the possibility of a zombie pandemic and what we can do to prepare ourselves.
We do get a lot of sound bites about Romero’s movies, which I really enjoyed, especially the segment surrounding “Bub,” probably the most beloved of all the zombies to have ever graced the silver screen. I also really enjoyed when the doc discussed zombie-ism in Haitian culture. There are some entertaining anecdotes about the wacky ways zombies have invaded almost every facet of our society, with Campbell sharing a fun story about a zombie wedding he officiated.
More often than not, however, the material jumps around, which gives the material a disjointed feeling. For example, we hear about Haitian zombies early on and then, for some reason, the subject pops up again in a totally unrelated segment. Also, the interviews, while entertaining, never really dig deep into just why zombies continue to endure as one of the horror genre’s most popular creatures. Philippe’s decision to feature a ton of short films based on zombie culture throughout his film feels like a really strange choice, as many of the moments he used weren’t even framed within the context of the documentary. It also spends a large amount of time on The Walking Dead porn parody, which normally I wouldn’t mind, but considering how it glosses over a lot of substantial zombie films along the way, it just feels kind of weird and unnecessary.
Pretty much the equivalent of sitting in on a zombie panel at a horror convention featuring all the familiar faces, Doc of the Dead is an ambitious look at why the zombie culture is hotter than ever these days. As someone who’s been enjoying zombies for almost as long as I’ve been alive, I was left entertained, but ultimately underwhelmed. Doc of the Dead certainly has a lot on its undead-loving mind, it just never figures out what exactly it’s trying to say. For those of you who may be new to zombies or horror, you’ll find Doc of the Dead both interesting and informative.
Score: 3/5
Heather A. Wixson was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs, until she followed her dreams and moved to Los Angeles in 2009. A 14-year veteran in the world of horror entertainment journalism, Wixson fell in love with genre films at a very early age, and has spent more than a decade as a writer and supporter of preserving the history of horror and science fiction cinema. Throughout her career, Wixson has contributed to several notable websites, including Fangoria, Dread Central, Terror Tube, and FEARnet, and she currently serves as the Managing Editor for Daily Dead, which has been her home since 2013. She's also written for both Fangoria Magazine & ReMind Magazine, and her latest book project, Monsters, Makeup & Effects: Volume One will be released on October 20, 2021.
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