'The Dead Don't Die' is a Streaming Hit 🧟‍♂️

https://movieweb.com/dead-dont-die-max-hated-zombie-movie-comedy/

A Hated Zombie Comedy with Huge Stars Is Finally Getting Watched on Streaming

Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Selena Gomez, Austin Butler, Steve Buscemi, and others couldn't protect the film, but it's getting its due after five years.

It's been five years since one of the most acclaimed American directors released a film, perhaps because it was an anomaly in his career and one of his worst-reviewed movies. That would be Jim Jarmusch with the 2019 film, The Dead Don't Die. The movie stands out from most of Jarmusch's work as a slightly bigger project with special effects and $3 million of marketing, not to mention its young megastars like Selena Gomez, Adam Driver, and Austin Butler. It's also a horror comedy led by Bill Murray and had an exciting trailer with 14 million views, so when you combine all of those details, it makes sense that audiences were expecting something very different from what was released. The 38% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes certainly indicates that.

However, unlike almost every Jarmusch film, the critics didn't like The Dead Don't Die too much, either, with a 55% score after 317 reviews. And even the positive (or 'fresh') reviews are mostly glowless. "It has no bite whatsoever," writes Keith Garlington, "so we’re left with the cast who are enough to save the film but just barely," while Wenlei Ma says, "It's mildly amusing." Hardly the enthusiastic ambassadors, these two.

Now, however, The Dead Don't Die is climbing out from the grave of mediocrity and topping the streaming charts on Max (formerly known as HBO Max). The film has consistently been in the top 10 streamed movies on Max, ultimately advancing to the third most-streamed movie and remaining there for more than 48 hours (as of the time of writing).

The horror comedy is set in a small American town named Centerville, where the police force is made up of three people —Bill Murray as Chief Cliff Robertson (yes, like the actor), Adam Driver as Officer Ronnie Peterson (like the Swedish Formula 1 driver?), and Chloë Sevigny as Officer Mindy Morrison (like... Jim?). They ultimately join forces with the town's Irish samurai mortician, Zelda Winston (played by Tilda Swinton), to try and save the town from a sudden zombie apocalypse caused by the Earth going off its axis.

Steve Buscemi, Donald Glover, Tom Waits, Caleb Landry Jones, Selena Gomez, Austin Butler, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, RZA, Carol Kane, Larry Fessenden, Sturgill Simpson, and Charlotte Kemp Muhl also star in what seems on paper like an awesome crowd-pleaser. But if you're unfamiliar with Jim Jarmusch, be forewarned — he's a brilliant but acquired taste. As such, The Dead Don't Die wasn't what most viewers expected, and was instead a deadpan, meta, and utterly absurdist meditation on climate change, fatalism, and how we've become ignorant and complacent about the things that actually affect us.

Jarmusch is famous among cinephiles and hipsters for four decades of quirky, iconoclastic films like Stranger Than Paradise, Down By Law, Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Limits of Control, Dead Man, and Mystery Train. Among his masterpieces, he's mostly made existential comedies, desert-dry movies about disaffected people and the strange, transcendental beauty of art and human connection. He's frequently considered to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

Jim Jarmusch directed his first horror film in 2013 with the romantic vampire drama, Only Lovers Left Alive. Starring Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, Anton Yelchin, Jeffrey Wright, and John Hurt, the film was a huge critical success and sparked Jarmusch's interest in the horror genre. He's a big fan of George Romero and Night of the Living Dead, and The Dead Don't Die absolutely references that film and Dawn of the Dead. He's also praised John Carpenter and Mario Bava in the past.

The problem with the horror genre is that it comes with immediate presuppositions for people. Audiences correlate horror with tension, jump scares, gore, and action. Most of these things are completely absent from The Dead Don't Die, which is more of an allegory about apathy and the tendency for humanity to consume distractions in an attempt to avoid the inevitable. The film is ultimately a sad look at how we ignore the reality that's coming — climate catastrophe, corporate takeover, total alienation — and how we've zombified ourselves. In our opinion, it's a great film, a vibe of its own.

It's worth watching purely for seeing Adam roll up in a SmartCar.

I love this film. I do see how not everyone will enjoy it however Adam's deadpan is fantastic. It was somewhat a 'What is this' the first time I saw it but then I just went with it. It's a very different kind of zombie film and Jim Jarmusch uses this genre in very unique way to make an artsy social commentary film. ❤️

I noticed it was in the top 10 on my HBO.

I liked it a lot. It's deeper than people want I guess for a zombie movie. A comment on the dumbing down of America .

He’s cute in glasses.

Jarmusch directed two of my favorite films. ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ and ‘Paterson’. But I didn’t really emotionally connect with this one. I thought the meta stuff was clumsily done. But the cast really FANTASTIC 👍❤️

I love Adam in this. And Tilda. But I hate the movie. Definitely will give a rewatch though. Because Adam in uniform & glasses?! Yes, please!

lol, but it's so terrible. I guess that stands to reason for the genre, a slowburn cult future classic

I watch this movie all the time on Prime 🤭 Ronnie is adorable. I loved this movie, I thought it was pretty funny especially the first bit they did at the diner "What was it? A wild animal? Several wild animals?"

Not my favorite Adam Driver (or Jim Jarmusch film), but it's also available on DVD as is all Adam Driver films.

I love this movie. It is genuinely hilarious.