Alert: This article contains spoilers for The Dead Don’t Die
Initially, it’s a traditional zombie film, but Jim Jarmusch, who is known for his distinctive narrative style and character-driven plots left his signature touch in the film to add a more bizarre twist. The movie has many of its unique elements, like a diverse cast and a laid-back, jazzy vibe. The pacing is also slower than what we generally see in zombie films, which allows the sense of humor to come into focus. The film uses surreal moments to bring comedy and wit, offering an unconventional style to the typical zombie storyline.
The film had an ensemble cast including Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton, Tom Waits, Danny Glover, Caleb Landry Jones, Rosie Perez, Iggy Pop, Carol Kane, Austin Butler, Selena Gomez, and revolves around police force of a small town, as they fight a sudden zombie invasion. Despite having all the ingredients to garner praise, unfortunately, it could not meet the expectations as the movie upon its release, received a 55% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, as the movie has digitally debuted on Max, it is now trending.
The plot of The Dead Don’t Die
Life in Centerville, Virginia, population 738, was running at a steady pace. The town is introduced as “A Really Nice Place”, which is prominently shown at its entrance. The quiet charm of the community is displayed through the eyes of two police officers, Cliff Robertson and Ronnie Peterson, played by Bill Murray and Adam Driver and as they took a tour of the town we got a sense of the locale.
Centerville has almost everything needed to survive: a restaurant, juvenile detention center, funeral home, hotel, gas station, and police station. Interestingly, having juvenile detention centers and not hospitals could be seen from the perspective of how important it was in the countryside of the US.
But when Peterson observed something unusual —the days seemed longer than normal timing. According to radio news, it was probably caused by a disturbance in the earth’s orbit. The term “Polar Fracking” has been used to talk about the suspected culprit, a process that uses hydraulic extraction of gas and oil from underground near the pole of the Earth. This is believed to have changed the planet’s cycle, due to which the daylight hours were prolonged. It’s noteworthy that the film doesn’t talk about the science behind this phenomenon, but focuses on how it impacted the people of the town.
As the story moves forward, with changes in the Earth’s orbit, the residents experience some unexpected consequences that result in making their lives adventurous and bizarre.
How did the movie end?
The Dead Don’t Die, directed by Jim Jarmusch, ends with a bizarre and surreal twist. Centerville is invaded by zombies, who enter through the roads, killing whoever they meet. This wave of destruction took away many known faces including the local dinner ladies, the motel owner, the gas station attendant, and even a group of hippie travelers.
By the end, only three people stay alive: the police officers Robertson and Ronnie Peterson, and the funeral home owner, Zelda Winston, portrayed by Tilda Swinton. It’s been shown that Zelda was not any random owner; she’s an alien coming to Earth for a vacation. When the zombie outbreak went beyond control, Zelda used the police station’s computer to call her “taxi,” which was actually a UFO. When it arrived, it picked her up and took her away to her home planet. Robertson and Peterson were the only witnesses to this unexpected happening, left to face the zombie attack on their own.
Before going to face them in the final battle, Peterson says to Robertson, that he had gone through the entire script previously because “Jim Jarmusch let him.” This thing created a meta-narrative within the film, where Peterson knew the plot would end in a very bad way, but was not aware of the fact that it would include an alien invasion. The duo started preparing for the final battle, but that got overshadowed by a voice-over from Hermit Bob, who started to speak on the philosophical aspect of zombies and humans.
Hermit Bob spoke about how zombies behave compared to their human predecessors. He shed light that both groups share a similar mindset: whether it’s flesh for the zombies or material possessions for humans, both crave constantly for something, According to Hermit Bob, whatever happened in Centerville was not merely the zombie attack; it’s about the real world that is already in disorder. He pointed out that humans often keep going in their lives without having a clear purpose, where material gaining becomes the main pursuit.
