There is a reason that director George A. Romero was given the nickname of "Granddaddy of the zombie movie," it's because he practically invented the genre. Romero created some of the most seminal zombie films of all-time in the late '60s and early '70s including "Night of the Living Dead," "Dawn Of The Dead" and "The Crazies," just to name a few. Romero returned to the genre he created in 2005 with "George A. Romero's Land of the Dead," which is the highest budgeted and highest grossing film of his career to date.

Following that film, the director decided to go back to his roots and in 2007 made the low-budget film "Diary of the Dead." While it was his fifth zombie movie, the director has previously stated that it was not a continuation of his "Dead" series of films and in fact should serve as the jumping off point for an entire new series of zombie movies. That new series continues with his new film, aptly titled "George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead." The movie itself is a far cry from the early work of the master but if you are a fan of the genre you will enjoy the humor, the gore and the fun of this movie, which has Romero's unique signature all over it.

The film begins by introducing us to Plum Island, which is inhabited by two clans The Muldoons and The O'Flynns, two families that have been feuding for years. The island had been a refuge at first in the wake of the zombie apocalypse but once the infection spread the two clans began to disagree on how to solve the problem. Patrick O'Flynn (a very entertaining Kenneth Welsh) is the patriarch of the O'Flynn family and they approach the zombie plague with a shoot-to-kill attitude. The Muldoons, headed by Shamus Muldoon (an eloquently over-the-top Richard Fitzpatrick), feel that loved ones who become zombies should be quarantined and kept alive in hopes that a solution will someday be found. The O'Flynns, who are clearly outnumbered, are forced to exile Patrick by boat to the mainland.

We then pick up just after the events of "Diary Of The Dead" and reunite with the army platoon from the end of the last film. Led by Sarge "Nicotine" Crockett (an engaging Alan van Sprang) the team has just stolen an S-load of cash and are trying to make a getaway through zombie infested territories. Eventually they meet up with O'Flynn and in order to flee a zombie attack, they all take a boat to Plum Island. Sarge and his team agree to help O'Flynn take down the Muldoons and O'Flynn begins to gather the rest of his clan. Unbeknownst to him, one of his twin daughters has been infected and is being 'trained" by Muldoon. He believes by chaining zombies and forcing them to eat animals, which they refuse to do, he can train them to eat something other than humans. Eventually, the film leads to a head-to-head battle between O'flynn and Muldoon, along with Sarge and his crew, for the island, their families and their livelihood.

Look lets be honest, this is not Romero's best film but that being said ... I kind of liked it. I'm not a huge horror fan myself to begin with but I am a big fan of genre films especially Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" series and in particular "Army Of Darkness," which is one of my all-time favorite movies. "Survival" reminded me a lot of those movies in a way because of the tongue-and-cheek humor that Romero utilizes throughout the film. Another aspect I really enjoyed about the movie was the idea of "training" zombies to eat something other than humans. I've never seen that idea adapted in a zombie film before and I found that notion to be fascinating. It gave the filmmaker a great opportunity to dream up some strange and creepy scenarios for the film.

But one of my favorite things about this movie is that it is not really a zombie film at all, it's an old-style "The Hatfields and The McCoys" type western, which happens to also have zombies in it. That makes for a very interesting and fun film to experience. The actors were all captivating to watch although I wouldn't go as far to say that the acting was great. Again, this film isn't going to be winning any Oscars come awards season and Romero certainly has made better zombie movies than this one but still there is something about this film I couldn't help but like. Maybe it's the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously and it's just silly zombie fun. In the end, George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead is an interesting, captivating, fun roller coaster ride of excitement and gore that is perfect for any fan of Romero and the zombie genre in general.