The Dead Don’t Die Parent Guide

Police Chief Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) patrols the sleepy town of Centerville with his officers, Ronnie (Adam Driver) and Mindy (Chloe Sevigny). Their quiet routine is shaken up when two women are found killed and partially eaten in the local diner. Could a wild animal (or several) have done this? Ronnie has another theory: the dead have risen and now stalk the streets of Centerville…

This is not a movie for everybody. Content aside, the quirky style and comedic approach of this film are appealing to a pretty specific group of moviegoers – and it’s not a broad audience. Believe it or not, I appreciate this approach, mainly because I just so happen to be one of those weird movie nerds with a dark, dry sense of humor and an overdeveloped sense of impending doom towards whom this movie is aimed. And a movie that knows its audience and targets them specifically rather than watering itself down to put bums in seats (cough… Men in Black: International…cough) is being honest with you. If you’re not sure if you’d like this, go watch the trailer. It’s a very accurate sampling of the kind of comedy you can expect.

Despite being produced by industry insider Focus Features, the film retains a strong “indie” style. You can attribute that to oddball director Jim Jarmusch, notable primarily for his other off-the-wall indie flicks. The other obvious stylistic tell is the cinematography, which has none of the fast-paced editing so common in Hollywood lately, relying instead on long takes that let the actors use their own comic timing to full effect.

The cast is obviously one of the big draws for The Dead Don’t Die and they’re having a grand old time. Bill Murray and Adam Driver have great comic energy, and the way they work off each other was enough to get me laughing as much at their silences as at their lines. Bill Murray may be getting older, but he hasn’t lost any of the brilliance that made him so electric in Stripes and Ghostbusters. Adam Driver, despite being best known for playing a Star Wars villain, has had a lot of success in big comedies lately, from Logan Lucky to BlacKkKlansman, and I really want to see him in more comic roles.

I should point out that this movie’s laughs come with some pretty significant content issues. Not surprisingly for a zombie movie, there’s a fair bit of death, with partially eaten dead bodies frequently visible. The zombies aren’t gory, though: when they are killed black dust puffs out of them. And trying to kill them involves lots of violence and multiple weapons. There’s also frequent profanity in the film, which may deter some viewers.

Overall though, The Dead Don’t Die is one of the best comedies released lately, and certainly the best dark comedy (especially compared with the awkward joylessness of Cold Pursuit) I’ve seen in a long time. I’ve warned you, so know before you go if this is in your wheelhouse: deadpan vs the undead isn’t a big market.