Land of the Dead
By Tuxxer
Zombies: a slow-moving, passive horde of walking corpses. Every hellspawn has their patron saint, and these ghouls have theirs: George Romero. Land of the Dead is his latest in the Dead series, and the zed-words have done some evolving.
In Land, the Zombie epidemic was years ago, and the world has been forced to adapt to life with the undead as a part of it. The wealthiest Americans live in the city of Fiddler's Green, with the lower classes scrounging to survive outside its walls. The movie is as much a social commentary as a horror flick.
Land of the Dead, for its decent dialogue, great background, and fantastic effects...isn't that great a zombie flick. By this point, zombies are an established threat, and there is no familiar feeling of disbelief of normal people in an unusual setting. Zombies have become the norm, and the pace of the entire movie is slower because of it. It lacks the punch of Night of the Living Dead, which broke new ground in effects, in premise and gore; truly pushing the envelope. Land merely flicks it a bit.
The Director's Cut adds more character development, and not much in additional blood-spillage, which viewers may be waiting for. It does cement the fact that anyone who dies will become a zombie, not merely anyone who is bitten. The DVD also boasts a nice collection of special features: Deleted Scenes, The Remaining Bits, can be skipped. Everything worth watching was sewn back into the film. My favorite of the features was When Shaun Met George: a video-diary following Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, the minds behind Shaun of the Dead, getting to meet their idol George Romero. I found it touching and funny.
Land of the Dead earns a 7 out of 10. The characters are flat, the action lags, and there's little to no suspense. It's not bad for a zombie flick, but I was hoping for more from Mr. Romero.
Check out our reviews of Dawn of the Dead (2004) and Shaun of the Dead.
Land of the Dead is available on DVD October 18th. You can buy it from Amazon.com
Check out these Windows Media behind-the-scenes clips!
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