The Dead Don't Die
Focus Features | Release Date: June 14, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 52 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
24
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)John SemleyJun 13, 2019
For its slightness and silliness, its concerns are grander. Here, the undead ghouls represent nothing but the cold prospect of death itself. “This isn’t gonna end well,” Driver’s omniscient copper keeps intoning. And it never does. Read full review
83
Original-CinKaren GordonJun 13, 2019
The obvious thing to call this film is a social satire. The humour is dry, pointed and often very, very funny. But Jarmusch is too clever and too careful a filmmaker to simply toss off a genre film for a few laughs. Read full review
80
CineVueChristopher MachellJul 26, 2019
A Jarmusch joint through and through, The Dead Don’t Die is as charming, affected and perplexing as we’ve come to expect from the long-time darling of US indie cinema. Read full review
80
Film ThreatLorry KiktaJun 17, 2019
I recommend this film more for fans of Jarmusch than for hardcore fans of the zombie genre. Although I hope that it does serve as an introduction to Jarmusch to people who haven’t seen his other films. Hopefully, most audiences can take away the message from the movie and don’t get too thrown off by the jokes or the star power involved. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 14, 2019
This is a winningly eccentric film, as attuned in its own way to the rhythms of ordinary life as Jarmusch and Driver’s (even better) 2016 feature Paterson. But there is a pessimism gnawing away in its gut that can’t be laughed off. Read full review
78
IGNRosie KnightMay 16, 2019
In the end this is arguably Jarmusch's first popcorn movie and it's a pretty good one at that. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzJun 14, 2019
The Dead Don't Die is far from Jarmusch's best, but there's something to be said for its zonked-out acceptance of extinction. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenJun 13, 2019
When The Dead Don’t Die sputters, you fear that Jarmusch’s political angst may have paralyzed him. But then there is the bleak, sardonic beauty of the climactic scene. Read full review
75
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJun 13, 2019
Jarmusch, in his droll way, both celebrates and subverts the familiar elements of the genre. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 13, 2019
The Dead Don’t Die is delivered in one long, deadpan note. Some of the sight gags and quips are gold; others are just filler, but still kind of interesting in a wacky sort of way. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJun 12, 2019
This isn’t Jarmusch at his best but it’s more accessible than some of his films and doesn’t demand more from an audience than to sit back and be amused. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJun 13, 2019
The Dead Don't Die is a bit too arch and remote to fully enjoy as a transportative or emotional piece of entertainment, but for Jarmusch fans and zombie fans, it's a fun little exercise in witnessing the auteur graft his unique sensibility onto the beloved genre. Read full review
70
VoxAlissa WilkinsonMay 21, 2019
The movie is gentle, almost sluggish, and takes some weird left turns — in other words, it’s a Jarmusch film. Zombies suddenly turn up. People are dying. The world is ending. And by now, we’re more or less expecting it. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 14, 2019
The film’s scattershot humour doesn’t always land, but even when it does it’s merely masking what is ultimately a gloomy portrait of our walking-dead existence. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyMay 14, 2019
It’s a minor, but most edible, bloody bonbon. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJun 15, 2019
It’s a film that lazily whistles past the graveyard as it brings that graveyard back to ravenous life. Read full review
67
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerJun 12, 2019
The Dead Don’t Die is a zombie movie of an odd stripe, and for all its blatant synthesizing of influences, it never shakes off the impression that it’s working out exactly what it wants to be as it goes along. Read full review
67
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMay 14, 2019
If Jarmusch’s latest often feels as though it lacks a pulse, this star-studded parable is held together by one consistent truth: When Hell is full, the dead will walk the Earth. And when the Earth is fucked, the living will do whatever they can to sleepwalk through the nightmare. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJun 13, 2019
While it’s a nice way to spend just short of two hours, it seems he could have sucked a little more out of those dusty old graves. Read full review
63
New York PostSara StewartJun 13, 2019
Even with a cast this lovable, The Dead Don’t Die falls short of the killer zom-com it could have been. Read full review
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