Jim Jarmusch is the guy who brought us ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE, one of the finest vampire films of the modern (i.e. post BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA and INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE) era. It wouldn’t be expecting too much, then, to have expected something similar for his take on zombies. THE DEAD DON’T DIE is most assuredly not that movie. It is as different, really, as you can get from the former film. It is more tonally in keeping with movies like THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU and RUBBER (although it lacks the brilliance of the latter). It’s far too Meta for mainstream viewers, even mainstream Horror marks, and I totally get why a lot of people didn’t like it. I liked it. I didn’t love it, but I liked it.
THE DEAD DON’T DIE is a joke. I mean that literally. If you find the joke funny, you’ll enjoy this one. If you don’t find it funny, this one will bore you. There’s no right or wrong interpretation here. Humor is totally subjective. Can I recommend THE DEAD DON’T DIE to you? I don’t know your sense of humor. The best I can do for it is to say that it made *me* laugh. It might make you laugh, too. Or not. Roll the dice.