Harry here... In the history of this site, I've never seen a film that got more filmmakers excited and acting like geeks - It's like a communal reason to believe in Santa Claus or something. Well, you've got a ton of reading to do on this page... Capone kicks it off - but it's a LAND OF THE DEAD love fest here at AICN!
Hey, everyone. Capone in Chicago, officially jumping on the LAND OF THE DEAD
bandwagon.
Of all of the big franchise films coming out this summer, the one I have
been the most anxious about (and I do mean anxious, as in “full of anxiety”)
is Land of the Dead. The event in my life that turned me from casual
moviegoer to outright film obsessor was not seeing the first Star Wars film
when I was a child. Oh no. It was viewing George A. Romero's Dawn of the
Dead for the first time at a theatre situated in a mall, no less. I walked
out of that theatre contemplating the message of the movie, but also dying
to find out how make-up wizard Tom Savini accomplished his gut-twisting
feats of gore.
Over the years gore films and Romero's works became my passion. Romero was
and is a maverick director, and nearly every one of his films wears its
message on its sleeve. His zombie films are clear evidence of this, whether
his tackling racism (Night of the Living Dead), the brain-numbing mall
culture of America (Dawn), or the thoughtless actions of the military (Day
of the Dead). Part of my anxiety about the release of Land of the Dead was
that Romero would be somehow forced to commercialize his work and remove the
message.
In the last year or so, I've had the opportunity to meet, interview, and
spend a great deal of time with Romero, his wife Chris, and various cast
members from his films. By complete accident, I conducted the first
interview with him after the work came down that Land of the Dead had been
given the greenlight. Listening to the tape of that interview is a bit
embarrassing because my excitement about the news could not be contained.
For a year, my biggest fear is that I would be forced to give Land of the
Dead a bad review. I'd been the first critic to review his last film,
Bruiser, and I hated it. After that screening in 2000, I met Romero for the
first time and I could barely look him in the eyes because I knew I was
about to crucify his movie.
Adding to my anxiety was the fact that the stakes have been raised with
zombie movies now. In 28 Days Later (which, I know, isn't technically a
zombie film) and the recent remake of Dawn of the Dead, the ghouls are
running. This is sacrilege to fans of Romero's slow-moving corpses. Watch
the loving Romero tribute Shaun of the Dead to see how the walking dead are
supposed to walk. My heart was pounding as I entered the theatre to see Land
of the Dead, and I prayed Romero would make writing this easy by simply
knocking this one out of the park.
It took about 10 minutes for me to realize how much I was going to love Land
of the Dead. Romero has selected moved on from race and the military to
tackle The Class Wars. The scale and stakes of Land of the Dead are nothing
less than biblical: do the meek really have what it takes to inherit what's
left of the earth? The setting is the fictional island city of Fiddler's
Green (which shockingly looks a lot like Pittsburgh with its three rivers
providing a natural defense against outside intruders). The richest
survivors in FG have taken up residence in a Trump Tower-like building at
the city's center. They live an opulent lifestyle, still have servants,
still drink the finest wines and eat great food. The leader of this decadent
group of elitists is Mr. Kaufman (Dennis Hopper). I'll confess, one of my
biggest reservations about this movie going in was Hopper. The guy has
effectively been playing variations of the characters he created in Blue
Velvet and Speed since those films came out. His straight-to-video titles
over the last 10 years haven't exactly topped my must-rent lists lately. But
the man still has it in him to create a vacuous character who has forgotten
that no amount of money can protect you from a zombie in you face.
The rich folk rely on teams of paid mercenaries to drive fortified vehicles
to neighboring towns for supplies. The risks are obvious, but they seem to
have developed a system of distracting the zombies using fireworks while
snatching up food, medicine, and few items for the black market. The leader
of one of these teams is Riley (Simon Baker), with his second in command
Cholo (John Leguizamo, clearly having the time of his life here). Riley is
considered a marginal ally of those that live life in the shadow of
Kaufman's high-rise. These are the people without money, power, or
influence. Kaufman has given them enough to stay interested in protecting
his best interests, but not enough to enter the front door of his building.
As in Day of the Dead, Land begins with a recon mission that gives us a
sense of how routine dealing with the zombies has become (and an idea of how
great a job Greg Nicotero and his KNB crew have done with the rotting flesh
makeup). But it's during this sequence that we meet the new wrinkle in the
zombie threat. Again, expanding on the ideas first touched on in Day, Romero
introduces us to “Big Daddy” (Eugene Clark), a muscular black man of a
zombie who represents the most dangerous kind of undead, the kind who can
think and communicate. He's no Einstein but Bid Daddy has figured out the
tricks of the city dwellers and will exploit them to get to his next meal.
There's a distracting action-adventure plotline involving Cholo stealing the
armored vehicle (named Dead Reckoning, a nice in-joke for anyone who's
followed Romero's struggle to get this film made over the last few years)
and Kaufman sending Riley to retrieve it. But this threadbare plot is simply
a means to get the human and the inhuman together and led the blood and guts
fly. If some of you are contemplating waiting to see this film on DVD (for
the promised unrated version), you needn't worry about the film pulling any
punches in the violence arena. The zombies' teeth are sharp and the biting
is constant. Intestines are everywhere. Heads are ripped from bodies with
shocking regularity. And it goes without saying that headshots are as common
as breathing.
Also on hand to spice things up is blazingly sexy Asia Argento as a hooker,
(thank you, God) who joins the mercenaries to capture Cholo. Once the job is
done, they all just want to drive up to Canada, where apparently all the
zombies have come to their senses and migrated to warmer climes. I wish
there had been more for Argento to do in Land of the Dead, but just having
her around makes the film a little better. Of all of the semi-famous actors
in this movie, she's the one who deserves to be here.
As rewarding as it was to see the films George A. Romero made outside the
Hollywood system, it's nice to see what he does with a little money. There
are actual special effects in this movie, created by computers and
everything. What's going on here? I'll tell you: Romero's status as a
groundbreaking director of great horror is finally being recognized. Horror,
and in particular zombie films, are no longer a marginal product. These
movies make money, and by giving us a film that both new and long-time fans
of the genre can get behind, Romero and his team of gore hounds have given
us a worthy rallying point. They cover us in skull fragments and brain
matter, and we leave the theatre smiling. As in The Shining, the elevator
doors have opened and the tidal wave of blood is rushing toward us. It's
about fucking time.
Capone
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Here's FooboyX
Hey I saw Land of the Dead at a press screening last night. I have
seen Night of the Dead at least 20 times, Dawn of the Dead at least 30
times, and I really hated Day of the Dead (only saw it twice). I
enjoyed the Dawn remake for what it was and even dug 28 Days Later.
Shaun of the Dead was pure genius. Land of the Dead takes it all to a
new level of technical and visual sophistication.
All in all in all, it's a cross between The Road
Warrior and Dawn of the Dead. The uber rich control a protected city.
They use the poor and paid soldiers to protect the city from the
zombies. A search and recover team uses an armored APC to recover
supplies from zombie infested towns. All is going well until the
zombies get smarter and the rich get greedier. The resulting is a
zombie metaphor for post 911 America.
Tons of action. Tons of zombies. Gorgeous cinematography. Great
pacing. This was (expectedly) gory, gory, gory and had some real
shocks. Curiously, some of the more grisly things moments happen
offscreen or in shadow (showing some unusual restraint for the Romero
team). It had better characters and dialogue than I expected and in
fact Romero cured some of the problems with his earlier films by
employing solid actors and injecting some much needed humor into the
mix. This is by no means a perfect film (Romero's style feels
unpolished in places), but it's smarter, scarier, and more fun than I
thought it would or should be. I had a great time. I'd give it a "B"
for general audiences and an A- for zombie fans. If you use this call
me FooboyX
now we have Adam of ZBoneman.Com
GEORGE A. ROMERO¹S LAND OF THE DEAD
While I’m sure this will no doubt evoke laughter from many readers out
there, I have to say that I was every bit as excited to see this new zombie
epic as I was at the prospect of seeing Revenge of the Sith. Why? Because
director George A. Romero is a true pioneer in very much the same way George
Lucas is. He too is an independent film maker in every sense of the word.
And notice that the title of his latest zombie opus isn’t Land of the Dead, but rather George A.
Romero’s Land of the Dead. A fair title given that Mr. Romero is the
godfather of the zombie picture. But what really sets this brilliant
independent film maker and horror meister apart from his vast array of
imitators is his crafty ability to lace his undead works with social
commentary.
Night of the Living Dead, while truly terrifying, works on several levels.
What makes the monsters in this film so horrific is the knowledge that
they’re us. They aren’t hockey mask-wearing maniacs, chainsaw-wielding
sociopaths, or razor glove sporting ghouls (this isn’t to say I don’t like
those particular films–I really do). They are, quite simply, us. What’s more,
Romero makes bold statements about race and Vietnam era inspired
paranoia. The end result is a chilling tale of survival - shot on the cheap,
but effective beyond belief.
Dawn of the Dead (my personal favorite of the series, and one of the best
horror films of all time for that matter) took things even further. In that
film, living humans are quickly becoming the minority, as the undead rise to
incredible numbers. Once again, Romero shocks and scares with one of the
most gleefully gory films in history, but he also forces the audience to
think in what is essentially a shrewd satire on consumerism. Zombies are
drawn to the same thing they were drawn to in life, so the notion that the
undead are drawn to the mall is downright hilarious. Dawn of the Dead is
punctuated with an ominous sense of dread that remains unmatched. Whenever I
watch that film, I feel, in a sense, like I’m witnessing the end of the
world. An amazing piece of work.
Day of the Dead is often the most debated film of the series. While it does
offer up some truly breathtaking make up effects, it suffers from a sluggish
pace and obvious budgetary problems. Does this make "Day" a lousy film? Hell
no. There’s a terrific sub plot involving a domesticated zombie name Bub,
and the fate that awaits the villainous military man at the end of the film
is one I’ll never forget. Day of the Dead is a movie made up of moments
while "Night" and "Dawn" work as a whole. Still, it does deliver on various
levels.
This brings us to Land of the Dead, an entertaining, crowd pleasing slice of
zombie pleasure that excels where crap like Resident Evil and House of the
Dead fail miserably. Where Romero begins this film, feels like the next,
proper evolutionary step. As was the case in the last two films, the zombies
are clearly the majority now, but unlike "Dawn" and "Day, this time around,
they’re more of an obstacle. That’s not to say that people and zombies
co-exist, but the living have certainly found a way to adapt. Not only that,but,
as is typical with the human race, people have once again broken into
various social classes. You have your rich folk and you have your poor folk,
and neither are terribly fond of each other. The plot line revolves around righteous
loner Riley (played by Simon Baker who rebounds nicely from his blank of a
performance in The Ring Two) and his team of salvagers. They cruise around
in a mighty tank deemed "Dead Reckoning" foraging for supplies. The true
villain of the story is rich mogul Kaufman (a playful Dennis Hopper). He
believes that money makes the world go around and has enough cash to back up
this theory. When a poor but tough scavenger (played by John Leguizamo)
revolts against Kaufman and steels "Dead Reckoning", Riley is brought in
to prevent further disaster.
Meanwhile, the undead have taken an evolutionary step of their own. Lead by
a dead gas station attendant named Big Daddy, the zombies are starting to
become free thinkers. No, they can’t drive cars or utter Shakespearean
dialogue nor do they run around like the ghouls in that overrated Dawn of
the Dead remake (a movie that trades horror and satire in for Michael Bay style
action), but they are becoming more self aware, and in fact, Big Daddy even
begins to feel sympathy for his mistreated brothers.
Land of the Dead clearly has a bigger budget than the other Romero zombie
pictures, and God bless Universal Pictures for allowing this film maker to
realize his vision. They obviously recognized that Romero created the zombie
genre as we know it, and they’ve given him the proper tools to tell the
story he wants to tell.
Furthermore, God bless Universal for not skimping on the gore. Make up effects
artist Greg Nicotero (who dropped out of school to work on Day of the
Dead) is an absolute mad man. His work here is true genius and will
have gore hounds grinning from ear to ear. There are many great shots to
speak of, but I’m not going to reveal them here because I hate spoilers. Let’s just say that
the audience erupted in cheers on several occasions. Unlike the previously
mentioned "Dawn" remake, this picture has many scenes in which people are
served up for dinner. We¹re talking blood by the gallons people. You’re
going to love it.
As usual, Romero laces this tale with social commentary, and in the case of
Land of the Dead, a post 9/11 world is clearly the inspiration. And while
there are decent people to be found in this movie, most of the human race
appears to be driven by selfishness.
In terms of technique, Romero walks that fine line between horror and
comedy, effortlessly. Land of the Dead has great scares, but it also has a
wicked sense of humor. This film is painted on a much bigger canvas then one
might expect. One of my very favorite shots in the picture features hundreds of
zombies emerging from the depths of a dark, watery beach. It’s a great
sequence.
If I must compare this outing to the others, I’d say that it’s better than
"Day" but not quite on par with "Night" and "Dawn." Romero certainly takes
elements that worked in those pictures and applies them here (legendary
effects artist Tom Savini even gets in on the act), but the tone that was so
prominent in the first two movies isn’t quite as potent this time around. I
also expected a bigger, more grandiose death for a major character in this
film.
Still, it’s exciting to have Romero back. While his return to the zombie
genre isn’t quite as clever as last year’s creative Shaun of the Dead (watch
for a cameo by "Shaun" creators Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg in Land of the
Dead) it is worlds better than the countless (and worthless) other zombie
pictures we’ve seen in recent years (note to horror fans; I don’t consider
Danny Boyle’s outstanding 28 Days Later a zombie movie even though it was
clearly inspired by Romero’s works).
Before the screening, Romero (whose made other great pictures as well
including Creepshow, Martin and the underrated Monkey Shines) was given the
CineVegas Vanguard Director Award. He gave an insightful speech about his
career. He discussed his reluctance to work inside a studio system and even
revealed that he was offered a $7 million budget for Day of the Dead if he
promised to deliver an R rated film. He opted to take $3 million and do the
movie his way instead. And as much as he’s struggled with the studio system,
he was quick to show his appreciation towards a very game Universal Pictures.
Finally, he had nothing but kind words for CineVegas chairman and Land of
the Dead star Dennis Hopper. The two film makers have a lot in common as
Easy Rider and Night of the Living Dead were highly influential in the
world of independent film, and while these movies are quite different in
terms of thematic approach, they’re undoubtedly seminal works.
Following the screening (which was met with resounding approval by hundreds
of cheering fans), Romero mingled with a crowd that included the likes of
Rob Zombie and Nicolas Cage. In a master stroke, I somehow managed to shake
his hand. He even autographed my Dawn of the Dead Laserdisc. While I’ve
never been one for autograph seeking, I figured what the hell. This is
George A. Romero dude! He’s back and he’s bad.
Adam
Zboneman.com
Harry,
It's like some dreadful, morbid christmas morning. I just got to see Land of the Dead for free at the Bridge theatre in Culver City (scored my ticket from Dark Delicacies!). I was really nervous at first because almost a third of the theatre was empty as they rolled the previews and I'm thinking, "FUCK! Big G.R. is going to have a lousy pull at the box office this weekend if he can't even fill a free screening!" I want this movie to do phenomenal (it deserves to). I calmed down when I realized that most of the tickets were give-aways on some hip hop radio station and as expected, the last third of the audience showed up about fifteen minutes after the movie started.
I loved the film. To me it felt a little detached from the previous ones. I'm not sure where it falls on a timeline but the fact that a caste system seems to actually be functioning is very interesting. Life really just seems to go on in this movie. As I get a little older and go a little balder here, I 've been very sensitive to life and death scenarios as well as my own mortality. This movie pushes the parallels of zombies to humans further than any previous Romero film. It's got all the survival, deciet, and gore of the classic zombie films and even though all of that made me extremely giddy, it's not the most interesting notion.
What I find really fascinating is that any time you have a concept where this negative status washes over our race and reinvents us rather than simply killing us for good, it makes that negative force less of an evil threat and more of an unfortunate fact of life. Just like in John Carpenter's THE THING. You have this ecological blob just absorbing anything organic, turning us into it. It looks hostile, yes. It looks unnatural, perhaps, but it is fearful and vulnerable just the same. It always presents the idea: How are we to know that it hasn't already overtaken us. What if we are, as we exist today, the living dead of a previous mortality. Is being a zombie so much worse than being human?
That did it for me. That's all I needed out of this movie. That and more beautiful practical effects than you can shake an idling jackhammer at. I want to reinforce the idea that WE NEED TO SUPPORT THIS MOVIE THIS WEEKEND AT THE BOX OFFICE. We must have more!
CODENAME BACON
then there's this last one...
Hey guys
I caught an advance screening of Land Of The Dead tonight in LA.
I'm a long-time huge Romero fan, and I'm heading back home (to Boise, ID) tomorrow night for a trip, and since just about every movie i have to see in Boise gets ruined by the people i have to see the movie with, I found an advance screening to go to while i'm still in LA. This is the movie i've been waiting years for -- the last thing i want is to have my experience ruined by some idiot bringing their four children to the movie. Interestingly enough, this showing appeared to be presented by a local rap radio station, and so certain parts of the audience were and behaved like you might imagine. But it still wasn't enough to ruin this experience.
Anyway, to the movie.
I had high expectations - the kind that come with looking forward to a movie for what seems like forever. And i can easily say that I'm extremely happy with the movie. It's been stuck in my head since i left the theater, and i actually still feel pretty creeped out because the way the city that the people hold out in, including Fiddler's Green, is presented really realistically, as is the way things unfold when the "stenchers" manage to start wreaking havoc and eating people.
Since the movie comes out the day after tomorrow, I guess there's probably no big demand for some spoilers or a long drawn out review, so i'll keep this short.
Basically, I feel that 95% of the movie worked, and that 95% is some powerful, excellent stuff. For reference, I think that only about 75% of Day Of The Dead worked, but i still love it and watch it all the time. The original Dawn is still my favorite, but i don't want to give a "works" percentage on that one because then this will turn into "oh this movie is better than that one" - which is not what i'm saying. I suppose i'm just talking mostly about the script and presentation.
The 5% that didn't work -
- I felt that Big Daddy, or, I should say, the actor that played him, did a pretty awful job. I was pretty cool with the idea of the zombies continuing their evolution and becoming "smarter", as if there was nothing like this introduced, there's a good chance the movie would just follow another formula that's been done already, and not have as much significance. However, I never really felt like I was seeing the head zombie "learning". It was really hard to even see him as a zombie .. it looked more like a guy dressed up as a zombie with a really bad sickness/hangover. I think he was a little too smart, and it was a bit hard to believe, with the way it was presented.
- Also, there is a part where one character dies, and later is seen as a zombie. This character in zombie form is still somehow one of the "intelligent" zombies, which doesn't make sense because I thought the whole intelligence thing was supposed to be their evolution since they had all been roaming around with nothing to do and nobody to eat for so long. This guy had just died.
- Dennis Hopper. I agree with earlier reviews in asking, "what happened?" Some of his lines are just delivered plain poorly. There are one or two that are knocked out of the park, but there are also some that are like a bunt that missed and became a strike. It's ok, though, because he really doesn't have that many lines, and most of the stuff he says is to himself or zombies. For instance of a "knocked out of the park" line, watch for, "LOOK OUT OVER THERE! GET DOWN!" The audience cracked up at this sequence.
- And finally, in the movie you see in theaters, there is way less gore and mutilation than in day of the dead. BUT, this isn't a REAL problem with the movie, cause i'm sure that it's just because it's the "theatrical R rated cut" or whatever. By the way, thanks for the interview with Nicotero - I actually noticed several of the scenes in which there were zombies that walked in the way of a little bit of gore, and knew what the deal was. Really interesting.
All in all, I feel like the stuff i didn't like that much is mostly nitpicking, especially when considered in comparison to how AWESOME the movie is. I'm saying that those negative things i listed are the ONLY negatives i could think of. And they're really pretty small and inconsequential. EVERYTHING else kicks ass - the zombies (except maybe big daddy), the makeup, the effects, the ATMOSPHERE, the acting, ASIA ARGENTO (unfortunately, clothed throughout [marry me, asia!]), the locations, and the pacing, the thoughtfulness of it all. On the drive home, i had a fun time thinking back to different parts of the movie and thinking about the political or social meaning it may or may not have carried. Aside from one or two lines, it's not as ham-fisted as you may have heard, and some of it is like, "do i take this as part of that metaphor, or is this just something entirely different?"
The movie is a very, very worthy successor to the previous trilogy, and it does more than just drop you back into the universe - it advances the story. For those expecting to see a modern version of Night, Dawn, or Day, you are in the wrong state of mind. It's a continuation of where Day left off, just like that was a continuation from Dawn, it a continuation from Night. It makes me wonder where it will go from here.
I could go on and on. What it all comes down to is, this movie is AWESOME, and if you've read this far, you probably already knew before reading this whether or not it was going to get your money. And it deserves your money!! Let's get romero the box office power he deserves! I'm definitely going to brave the boise living dead to go and put some money into the little window slot at the movie theater to see this excellent zombie movie again.
LLEPHEN SPM
