Survival of the Dead

George A. Romero's sixth zombie movie in the series he launched in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead finds Sarge Crocket (Alan Van Sprang), the leader of a ragtag bunch of post-apocalyptic military deserters (introduced in 2007's Diary of the Dead), fleeing the ravenous undead. A video invitation for survivors to come to an island off the Delaware coast convinces him to lead his troupe in that direction. What Sarge doesn't know, however, is that the invite was issued by the patriarch (Kenneth Welsh) of the O'Flynn family, who's been expelled by the leader (Richard Fitzpatrick) of the rival Muldoons because of differences in approach to dealing with their local zombies (the O'Flynns favor execution; the Muldoons, rehabilitation). When a civil war between the clans is renewed, the newcomers are dragged into the quarrel and most of them bite the proverbial dust in a variety of bloody ways. Romero's films have always carried a subtext with social commentary, so here the island serves as a microcosm of a world in which nations cherish their traditional enmities to an absurd extent. But for most viewers, the message will be less of a draw than the mayhem, which is pretty much nonstop and repetitive throughout. Although it boasts occasional suspenseful sequences, Survival of the Dead is still unlikely to appeal beyond Romero's fan base. Optional. (F. Swietek)