History Film / TheDeadDontDie

* BerserkBoardBarricade: Hank and Bobby hammer in some boards across the doorway to the store. [[spoiler: [[AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade Zombies just come from the other side]], causing them to give up]].

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Early on, Ronnie states that the music he's playing on the car stereo is the "theme song," and repeatedly notes that "this is all going to end badly." In the final act, he reveals that [[spoiler: he's read the script of the film and knows how it's going to end]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Even though it's a comedic zombie movie in the vein of ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'', ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'', or ''Film/AnnaAndTheApocalypse'', it doesn't have anything resembling a happy ending. Just about every named character dies horribly, and Cliff and Ronnie, [[MediumAwareness aware they're characters in a movie]] and are going to die no matter what, opt to go out in a blaze of glory, taking as many zombies with them as they can until they're inevitably overwhelmed. Zelda is revealed to be an alien who gets her friends to pick her up in their UFO, abandoning the ''only'' survivors (Stella, Olivia, Geronima, and Hermit Bob) to fend for themselves, but given the sheer scope of the outbreak and what's causing it, there's no indication that they aren't doomed along with the rest of the planet.]]
* DrivenToSuicide: Eventually, [[spoiler: Mindy is terrified out of her mind]] and can't take any more of the zombies banging on their police cruiser, [[spoiler: and after she sees her zombified grandmother, she gets out of the car,]] opting to be eaten alive rather than endure the pressure any second longer.

-->''([[spoiler:A UFO just showed up and retrieved Zelda]])''
-->'''Ronnie''' (with completely blank face and zero surprise in his voice): Well that was unexpected.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: Cliff and Ronnie]] are fully aware they are going to die, but it doesn't stop them from calmly and methodically destroying as many zombies as they can. When [[spoiler: Bobbie and Hank]] get overrun, they just stand up for as long as they can and then allow themselves to be eaten.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Early on Cliff makes a Retirony comment, and when Ronnie asked why Cliff didn't retire, Cliff asks if they're improvising, and that Ronnie probably knows. [[spoiler: It's later revealed they know the script and this is a brief fourth wall break.]]

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The zombies in this film aren't driven by a hunger for flesh, per se, but they are driven by the obsessions they had in life and just happen to attack any living people they find. For example, the first two zombies to rise from their graves only kill the waitresses at the diner because they wanted coffee. They also don't bleed when wounded, but release some kind of black smoke from their bodies, and appear to maintain some degree of intelligence, [[spoiler: since Mindy's zombified grandmother remembers her and Hank doesn't attack Cliff after he becomes a zombie, content to just stand there when the latter says hello to him.]]

* TheSnackIsMoreInteresting: Hermit Bob is busy eating [[spoiler: a chicken leg while watching farmer Miller]] getting torn apart.
* TheStoic: Both Cliff and Ronnie are impossibly calm when dealing with undead rising from their graves. While Cliff eventually cracks, Ronnie remains perfectly calm. [[spoiler: That's because they both read the script of the movie they are in. While Cliff only got scenes with him, Ronnie read the whole thing, thus they can't be surprised by anything that happens around them]].

* TheAce: Zelda is remarkably adept at killing zombies, beheading them gracefully with her katana in ways that can only be described as superhuman, and never once displays any sign of fear or hesitation for the horror she is contending with. [[spoiler:It helps that she isn't human at all: she's an alien.]]

* ActorAllusion: Ronnie Peterson has a ''Star Wars'' keyring. Adam Driver, who plays him, also plays Kylo Ren in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel movies.

* AttractiveZombie: Zelda spots an attractive zombie woman wearing a revealing outfit. She comments that the skirt "isn't her tartan" before killing her. Cliff takes a while to gaze on an undead tennis player.

* TheAce: Zelda is remarkably adept at killing zombies, beheading them gracefully with a katana in ways that can only be described as superhuman, and never once displays any sign of fear or hesitation for the horror she is contending with. [[spoiler:It helps that she isn't human at all: she's an alien.]]

* TheAce: Zelda is remarkably adept and at killing zombies, beheading them gracefully with a katana in ways that can only be described as superhuman, and never once displays any sign of fear or hesitation for the horror she is contending with. [[spoiler:It helps that she isn't human at all: she's an alien.]]

''The Dead Don't Die'' is a 2019 American ZombieApocalypse horror comedy film written and directed by Creator/JimJarmusch. It features an AllStarCast.

After a vague sci-fi ExcusePlot causes the dead to rise again, three cops set out to kill some zombies. There's also a nerdy cashier, a delivery guy, a samurai mortician, some teenage hippies, a trio of kids in juvenile detention, and Hermit Bob, among others. Are they important to the plot? Kinda.

* [[Foreshadowing]]: Early on Cliff makes a Retirony comment, and when Ronnie asked why Cliff didn't retire, Cliff asks if they're improvising, and that Ronnie probably knows. [[spoiler: It's later revealed they know the script and this is a brief fourth wall break.]]

* Foreshadowing: Early on Cliff makes a Retirony comment, and when Ronnie asked why Cliff didn't retire, Cliff asks if they're improvising, and that Ronnie probably knows. [[Spoiler: It's later revealed they know the script and this is a brief fourth wall break]]

''The Dead Don't Die'' is a 2019 ZombieApocalypse film written and directed by Creator/JimJarmusch. It features an AllStarCast.

* ApocalypseHow: Explicitly ApocalypseHow/Class2, implicitly ApocalypseHow/Class4. The excuse for why zombies are now roaming around is that big government and corporate fracking of the north and south pole has thrown the Earth off of its axis. On-top of the dead returning to life, the day-night cycle has been thrown off, animals behave erratically, everyone's clocks have stopped, and radio and television signals glitch out at random. It is also briefly brought up that the global effects of the fracking could produce floods, earthquakes, and a whole host of other problems that could lead to mass-extinction, but the events of the film are too brief to show any of this happening.

* ApocalypseHow: Explicitly ApocalypseHow/Class2, implicitly ApocalypseHow/Class4. The excuse for why zombies are now roaming around is that big government and corporate fracking of the north and south pole has thrown the Earth off of its axis. On-top of the dead returning to life, the day-night cycle has been thrown off, animals behave erratically, everyone's clocks have stopped and radio and television signals glitch out at random. It is also briefly brought up that the global effects of the fracking could lead to floods, earthquakes and a whole host of other problems that could lead to mass-extinction, but the events of the film are too brief to show any of this happening.

Not to be confused with the short story of the same title by Creator/RobertBloch, or its 1975 MadeForTVMovie adaptation directed by Creator/CurtisHarrington.

Not to be confused with the short story of the same title by Creator/RobertBloch, or its 1975 MadeForTVMovie adaptation.

* ActorAllusion: Ronnie Peterson has a Star Wars keyring. Adam Driver, who plays him, also plays Kylo Ren in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' sequel movies.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:Just about every character dies, and Zelda is perhaps the only character who isn't doomed]].

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Lilly, the woman who runs the town cleaning surface, is one of the first two victims of the zombies and suffers the worse death; she is knocked down by a zombie who then rips out ''pieces of her stomach and intestines'' while she moans in pain. You can hear her moaning the whole time the zombies are drinking coffee and leaving the diner, meaning she was left to bleed to death overnight.

* CoolCar: Several characters comment on how cool Zoe's '67 Pontiac Lemans(misidentified in the movie as a '68) is. Zelda notes her appreciation of the SMART car, though it's not really played as cool.

* BerserkBoardBarricade: Hank and Bobby hammer in some boards across the doorway to the store. [[spoiler: [[AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarricade Zombies just come from the other side]], causing them to try to fight their way out]].

* CoolCar: Several characters comment on how cool Zoe's muscle car is. Zelda notes her appreciation of the SMART car, though it's not really played as cool.

* GreekChorus: The three inmates in the juvenile detention facility (particularly Geronimo) talking about the environmental effects and likelihood of zombies coming.

* RunningGag: Various characters keep mentioning how the gruesome murder might be as well caused by "several wild animals". Eventually becomes a BrickJoke once the news reporter also mentions it as possible cause of death.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Even though it's a comedic zombie movie in the vein of ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'', ''Film/Zombieland'', or ''Film/AnnaAndTheApocalypse'', it doesn't have anything resembling a happy ending. Just about every named character dies horribly, and Cliff and Ronnie, [[MediumAwareness aware they're characters in a movie]] and are going to die no matter what, opt to go out in a blaze of glory, taking as many zombies with them as they can until they're inevitably overwhelmed. Zelda is revealed to be an alien who gets her friends to pick her up in their UFO, abandoning the ''only'' survivors (Stella, Olivia, Geronima, and Hermit Bob) to fend for themselves, but given the sheer scope of the outbreak and what's causing it, there's no indication that they aren't doomed along with the rest of the planet.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Just about every named character dies horribly, and Cliff and Ronnie, aware they're characters in a movie and are going to die no matter what, opt to go out in a blaze of glory, taking as many zombies with them as they can before they're overwhelmed. Zelda is revealed to be an alien who leaves the planet on a UFO. Olivia, Stella, Geronimo, and Hermit Bob are the ''only'' survivors, but there's no indication that they aren't doomed along with the rest of the planet.]]

* GreekChorus: The three inmates in the juvenile detention facility (particularly Geronimo) talking about the envrionemtnal effects and likelihood of zombies coming.