Posted: 06/23/2005

Land of the Dead

(2005)

by Gary Schultz

In 1968 George Romero changed the face of the American Horror genre by bringing to the screen “Night of the Living Dead”. Many of us know the story of NOTLD; a small black and white film made on $120,000 that played drive-ins and double bills for years before George really got recognized for his abilities and what he had done. You see, up until that film most mainstream horror was still about giant mutated bugs or aliens invading Earth. Romero made his horror film about people, and even more so dead people. He brought horror into our homes, into our families and watched on a children ate their parents flesh. He brought us a relentless horror film that set new standard for how far the limits should be pushed. NOTLD wasn’t the first time zombies were portrayed on the big screen, but it was the first time zombies ever ate the flesh of human’s. Romero showed that you could satisfy the audience with a grim ending, by creating anti-heroes and using an African American as the lead actor, which was still a rarity in 1968. Now sure horror geeks will argue that the Vampire films of the 60’s, known as the Hammer Films with Christopher Lee also helped push the genre but that was different. Dracula was an established horror icon. Zombies are you neighbors, your parents and children. This opened the envelope to other films such as “The Exorcist”, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “The Omen” to really explore the chaos of mankind and push the limits of horror even further.

In 1978 George Romero made his second zombie film “Dawn of the Dead”, an epic hailed as a cult classic and arguable the best American zombie film ever made. In 1985 Romero made “Day of the Dead”, which wasn’t received as well in the box office, but I consider it to be one of the most underestimated horror films of all time. “Day of the Dead” also features Tom Savini’s best Special FX work of his career. Hard to believe it took several successful non-Romero zombie films (28 Days Later, Resident Evil, Shaun of the Dead) and 20 years for Romero the creator of this genre to get a chance to make another zombie film. The studios even remade “Dawn of the Dead” in 2004 and gave it a 29 million dollar budget but Romero had to fight to get 15 million to make his fourth installment, titled “Land of the Dead.”

So now it’s 2005 and Land of the Dead, Romero’s new zombie film is upon us. The movie stars Simon Baker (The Ring 2), John Leguizamo (Assault of Precinct 13, Spun), Asia Argento, daughter of famed horror director Dario Argento, and crazy Dennis Hopper as the power hungry villain known as Kaufman. This is some of the best acting you will see in a Romero film; given this is the most experienced cast he has ever worked with. The film is beautifully shot and Romero doesn’t compromise his classic style, especially in today’s fast cutting makes it scary style of horror. Romero proves that he can make slow moving zombies scary and terrifying. He proves that with smooth camera placement and moves he can utilize his traditional style and frighten the audience.

The make up FX are fantastic, Greg Nicotero (Ray, From Dusk Till Dawn, Scream) continues to prove himself as the staple in modern horror make up. I guess all that experience under Tom Savini paid off. The story is rather simple. All the rich people live in a high rise, eating expensive food, sip champagne and ignore the zombie problem the has plagued most of the planet. The poor people live on the fenced in streets of the city. The major problem is the zombies are running out of food and are now learning how to work together. After John Leguizamo’s character gets screwed out of a small fortune he steals the cities most powerful-armed vehicle the Dead Reckoning and threatens to use it against them. Simon Baker’s character is called in because he is the vehicles builder and former leader of the Dead Reckoning crew. Thing is he has his own agenda and it has nothing to do with returning the The Dead Reckoning.

Tons of gore, some great flesh eating scenes, some great stunts and very charismatic zombies make this film fun to watch. The typical Romero pop culture and political references are all there. Each previous Romero zombie film has reflected the decade in which it took place and this is no different. Where my criticism lies is with my anticipation of the movie. Twenty years in the making I wanted an epic zombie film, what we got was a great zombie film but nothing epic here. The storyline only takes place over a 3 hour time period and entirely at night. It’s very hard to be epic on such a small scale. The compassion for how our characters relate to the zombies is at times silly and unjustified. Kill the dead bastards already.

In the past two years at Film Monthly I have signed off each and every review with a catch phrase if you will, “Here’s what we’ve learned so far…”. It’s good to have a catch phrase that summarizes the review and adds amusing anecdotes. Allow me to introduce you to my new closing phrase…

Here’s the Bottom Line:

Land of the Dead is great, but not amazing. It’s lacks the epic feel of Dawn of the Dead but is still better than 90% of the horror movies coming out. I think this film would have been better suited for a Halloween release as originally planned. I hope Romero gets to make another zombie film. Tom Savini makes a cameo along with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost of Shaun of the Dead. Asia Argento is hot and kicks zombie ass. Eat some brains and get out to your local theatre and support the zombie mast George Romero.

Gary Schultz is a filmmaker in Chicago.

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