George Romero holds the crown as King of the Zombies. Arguably George Romero directed two of the greatest zombie films of all time: Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead(1978). Land of the Dead is the fourth film in this series and the first in the series after the 1985’s Day of the Dead. It begs the question, what has been percolating in George Romero’s head during the 20 year gap in sequels.
Mankind gathers in a makeshift community called the Golden Triangle. With no delay, quickly organized into a caste system. The haves live in a high-rise called Fiddler’s Green. The rest live in ghettos.
The zombies have taken over large portions of the country. As they wonder around looking for food, they continue to exhibit behaviors that the did while they lived. Developing on ideas from Day of the Dead, the zombies have memories. They can be trained. They even can communicate and organize in a rudimentary fashion. concurrently, a rich and powerful named Paul Kauffman (Dennis Hopper) governs The Golden Triangle through corruption and greed.
Land of the Dead Reckoning
Designed and commanded by Riley Denbo (Simon Baker), a battle cruiser named Dead Reckoning provides the backbone of defense. Additionally, a man named Cholo DeMora (John Leguizamo) acts as second in command. Cholo plays by his own rules and has plans for when he takes over command of Dead Reckoning.
Working side jobs for Kauffman, Cholo has earned enough money for his spot in Fiddler’s Green. When Kauffman tells him he’s not wanted, he steals Dead Reckoning with the intent of firing on the city unless his demands are met.
Riley is sent to retrieve Dead Reckoning back while a hoard of sentient zombies lead by “Big Daddy”.
Dennis Hopper as Paul Kauffman
Sentient Zombies – Subtraction Through Addition
Romero first introduced the idea of sentient zombies in Day of the Dead (1985) when introducing “Bub”. In small doses, its a curiosity. At scale, sentient zombies complete change the calculus of the genre. Zombies are unique in that they are mindless, shambling, eating machines. They are interesting because individually they are creeping death. In large numbers they become a force of nature.
The second they start taking up arms they simply cease to be zombies. They fall in-line with a litany of movies baddies: orcs, trolls, disgruntled union workers. Unfortunately, this plot device takes far more away from the mythology than it adds.
Big Daddy
Land of the Dead – Upholding a Legacy
Judged on its own merits, Land of the Dead qualifies as a fun little walking dead movie. Unfortunately, this movie has a legacy it fails to fulfill. Land of the Dead tries to play coy with a “Eat the Rich” motif, but it just a bit too on the nose to be sincere. Dawn of the Dead demonstrated much a more subversive and impactful social commentary.
Despite its weaknesses, it wasn’t all bad. Greg Nicotero does a fantastic job supplying the film with practical effects. Many of the zombie kills show creativity and imagination and there are tons of them. Zombie bites and flesh rending disturb as much ever. Dead Reckoning makes for a cool ideal, but feels a bit cheesy and not really menacing. However, the battle vehicle coupled with the zombie Thunderdome pays a nice tribute to Mad Max. Dennis Hopper excels as slimy plutocrat Paul Kauffman. Slack, played Asia Argento, provides a strong female role.
Romero slightly seasons the film with black humor. Its hard not to chuckle while watching the zombies drool on themselves while watching fireworks.
Land of the Dead clearly benefits from a more robust budget than previous film. In some way that works to its advantage, but it also loses that B-film patina that makes Dawn of the Dead feel like back-of-the-video-store forbidden fruit
Measured against expectations, Land of the Dead struggles to fulfill that legacy. It evenaccelerates the slow decline that began with Day of the Dead. This one is essential viewing for fans looking to complete the series, but it really feels dull when compared to other zombie films of the day like 28 Days Later and Planet Terror.
Land of the Dead (2005) - 4th Time is not a Charm - Malevolentdark
Dave was raised on horror movies. The first film to blow his mind was House on Haunted Hill (1959). From that film, Dave caught the fever that keeps him in the horror game today. He has written over 250 posts on malevolentdark.com and continues to manage and grow the site. His favorite horror film of all time is the Tobe Hooper classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Dave’s focus skews towards classic horror from the previous 5 decades. He holds a special love for Italian horror, especially the giallo sub-genre.
