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So it was in 2005 that Romero revisited his old stomping ground to complete a fourth part - Land Of The Dead. Where would this one go as a logical extension to the first three parts? Would humankind have finally begun to understand how to control these zombies, perhaps even live alongside ... Read review
An all-new chapter of horror is about to begin... George A. Romero's Land of the Dead is ... more
the acclaimed director's long-awaited return to the genre he invented beginning with the seminal Night of the Living Dead followed by Dawn of the Dead and Day of...
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It has been two decades since master filmmaker George A. Romero's zombies have scared the ... more
audiences around the globe. For years, fans have been eagerly awaiting his return. And now the day is here. An all-new chapter of horror has arrived. Now that zom...
Land Of The Dead:After 20 years, an all-new chapter of zombie horror has arrived.Zombies ... more
rule the world - except for one walled-in city of the living. But a revolution is set to overthrow the city leadership, with the zombies ready to pounce.Director George A. Romero's Land of the Dead marks his long-awaited return to the screen. Be Scared.Shaun Of The Dead:No-hoper Shaun spends his life in his local, The Winchester. When girlfriend Liz dumps him, he finally decides to get a grip.Unfortunately, The Dead are returning to life and eating the living. Facing a Zombie Epidemic, Shaun sets out to rescue his mum and Liz, and take them to the safest place he knows, The Winchester.
Production Year: 1980 - Horror - Director: Stanley Kubrick - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd
Advantages: Extras on the disc Disadvantages: The film
...complete a fourth part - Land Of The Dead. Where would this one go as a logical extension to the first three parts? Would humankind have finally begun to understand how to control these zombies, perhaps even live alongside them? Would the zombies have run out of food, with only a small legion of them still roaming and ambushing the odd unsuspecting human group? Or would the remaining human survivors have ventured from below ground, seeking fellow ... ...pains me to say that Land Of The Dead is a terrible film. Pure and simple.
That's not to say that the acting and direction is substandard. Romero handles things perfectly adequately as you would expect. Dennis Hopper provides yet another one of his excellent over-the-top villains roles and the rest of the largely unknown cast (look out for Asia Argento in there - daughter of Dario - stealing a poor show) perform adequately also. Oh, ... more
I must confess, when news of George A. Romero beginning a fourth instalment in his long running zombie saga broke, I was more than a little apprehensive. The first three films in the series (Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead and Day Of The Dead) are now rightly lauded as classics, each with their own distinctive storyline, yet linking together exceptionally well.
Look at 'Night'; the first unsuspecting humans happen across the new terror of this soon-to-be zombie plague. Immediate shelter is needed to ride out what presumably for them will be only one night of terror, so get holed up where you can. The film even ends with hope, with local hicks piling up the corpses of these re-dead monsters.
Battle won then? Yes, but as we were to discover with 'Dawn', not the war. 'Dawn' skilfully moved the series on to a time where zombies are now over-running most cities, towns and villages in the US. Hope of a quick fix of cleaning the zombie plague has all but gone and zombies now roam freely across America. Survivors have learnt they must fight or die themselves, that they must re-kill any of the undead they happen across. It's now not a case of holing up for a night. Instead, hole up for a year and help will eventually arrive. Hopefully.
Again, not quite, as 'Dead' moved the action below ground, remaining human survivors holed up this time in an underground nuclear silo. Hope of normal human life now all but extinguished, every day's aim is to simply survive another day. Throw into the mix this time a captured zombie, with a small team attempting to study and appreciate what makes these zombies tick.
So it was in 2005 that Romero revisited his old stomping ground to complete a fourth part - Land Of The Dead. Where would this one go as a logical extension to the first three parts? Would humankind have finally begun to understand how to control these zombies, perhaps even live alongside them? Would the zombies have run out of food, with only a small legion of them still roaming and ambushing the odd unsuspecting human group? Or would the remaining human survivors have ventured from below ground, seeking fellow humans above ground knowing that time is limited in a subterranean world?
It's not quite turned out like any of that. Romero has decided to place part four in a desolate state where a large group of humans have built a walled city with a thriving community behind it, protected from the zombies outside by said wall. The city naturally has its usual mix of rogues, criminals, good guys and leaders.
Has the film worked? Well, let me state initially that I do admire a lot of Romero's previous work. I'm even prepared to defend his films like Monkey Shines where others are ready to pan it immediately. I wouldn't call myself a huge Romero fan, but I am a huge fan of his zombie saga.
So, it pains me to say that Land Of The Dead is a terrible film. Pure and simple.
That's not to say that the acting and direction is substandard. Romero handles things perfectly adequately as you would expect. Dennis Hopper provides yet another one of his excellent over-the-top villains roles and the rest of the largely unknown cast (look out for Asia Argento in there - daughter of Dario - stealing a poor show) perform adequately also. Oh, and the special effects are pretty good too.
What's missing then? A decent basic storyline for one. Land Of The Dead is horror-by-numbers. Let me fill you in:
a) good people hide behind walls to protect them from monsters
b) bad people within the good people try to ruin the community - leading to that usual question, who are the real monsters - us or the zombies outside?
c) bad people within the city want more money/rewards/power so steal an armoured truck that provides further protection for the city (the truck's called Dead Reckoning for God's sake!) and threaten to wipe out the walled city unless their demands are met
d) hero of the good people leaves the city with a mismatched band of companions to rescue the truck and save the city/day.
And that's basically your lot.
Does the hero save the day? Of course he does.
This entire film, right from its opening to its closing credits, has the feel of a made-for-TV movie. It looks cheap, sounds cheap, is cheap.
If you can stay awake till the end you'll see the truck Dead Reckoning (originally to be the title of the film) drive off into the distance victorious with fireworks exploding all around it. Jesus, Romero cannot be serious.
If I take into account the standards of Romero's first three zombie films, then this is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Certainly the most disappointing. Take away all trace of the first three films and have this as a stand alone film, and it's merely poor and instantly forgettable.
Will I keep the DVD in my collection? Of course. It'll sit on the shelves with the other three, though not sit comfortably with them.
Incidentally, news has broken recently of a possible fifth Romero zombie film, probably to be called Diary Of The Dead. The story? A group of teenagers head off into the woods with video cameras and stumble upon zombies. Romero bills it as his Blair Witch Project with zombies. The only word that springs to mind when thinking of 'Diary' is simply, why? Oh, and apparently Romero wants this to go straight to DVD so he can keep all the gore in. Again, why? It can always be put back in on the DVD version after a cinematic release for fans. Or is Romero admitting that his cinema days are numbered and he's a made-for-TV director nowadays?
DVD EXTRAS:
The DVD reviewed here is the Director's Cut (perhaps the non-director's cut is the greatest horror film of all time?) and has fairly decent extras listed on the cover. Director's commentary, making-ofs etc. are all present and correct. Pretty decent looking extras in fact. Mind you, there's what appears to be a desperate British cash-in with a George Meets Shaun Of The Dead featurette. Oh dear.
Have I watched the extras myself? No, I'd lost the will to live by the end of the film so cannot comment on the quality of them.
If you must have this DVD/film to complete the Romero zombie collection as it stands at present (and hopefully this is the last), by all means buy it. The disc is good, the film is not.
If you want this DVD/film purely as an enjoyable stand alone horror film, avoid.
Advantages: Plenty of Blood & Gore for zombie lovers Disadvantages: Not the best zombie movie out there
Land of the dead is George's 4th zombie movie on his list of 5, even after all this time he can still today portray the zombie genre that I believe he created in todays movies. Land of the dead is somewhat unoriginal from the rest of his movies, he leaves alot of the thinking to his audience. From the very beginning of this movie he jumps straight into the zombie apocalypse. We dont know where they came from or how it happened, but there everywhere..... ... ...a good zombie movie. Land of the dead was a brilliant come back for George A Romero and he will continue to make brilliant movies to scare his audiences all over the globe. I would definately put this high up in the ranks for best zombie movie, however its not number 1. ...
plainpaul 22.02.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Land Of The Dead (Director's Cut) (DVD)
Advantages: fun and scary Disadvantages: not as good as dawn of the dead
I watched this film after Dawn Of The Dead and i have to say that i dont think that the story is quite as good or quite as scary but i still really enjoyed this film. The special affects and gory scenes were really exciting and although not on the same level as films such as Hostel, they were just enough and not too over the top.
The fil;m is about a world where people are trapped as zombies rome the earth, groups of people have to go out and search ... ...However, the zombies get clever and learn how to fight back, i know this sounds a little cheesy but i do think it was well done and a film i would watch again and again.
I personally would choose to buy this film from a "choices" store as their films are generally good value for money, however i can not remember how much this film was on sale for there.
The acting was reasonably good and the characters were interesting and exciting. Camera angles ...
loz1145 06.01.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Land Of The Dead (Director's Cut) (DVD)
Advantages: Good make-up, flashes of Romero at his best Disadvantages: Too short, lacks the dread of the previous films in the series
...were mixed. Shunning any continuity, Land is not a direct sequel. The zombie crisis doesn't seem any worse than it was in the underrated Day Of The Dead and the characters in this film have modern technology - if society had collapsed in 1985's Day then surely this would be impossible. The centrepiece of Land is Fiddler's Green, a huge shopping mall with luxury apartments. The world as we knew it may have ended but capitalism still thrives. Dennis ... ...the zombies gatecrash this sanctuary. Land is about 'ignoring the problem' - zombies in this case a problem to turn a blind eye to like homlessness. Romero also makes some comments about the recent war in Iraq and veers a fine line between heavy-handedness and political thought. I love Romero and his series and have to admit Land is not the film I was hoping for. Romero's series is based around minimal characters that we care for and a feeling of ...
arthurpringle 16.07.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Land Of The Dead (Director's Cut) (DVD)
George A. Romero the man with such heavy weights under his belt as Dawn Of The Dead and Night Of The Dead how does his return to the genre stand against his classics?
Story
The living dead have inhabited the world, and a group of surrivors hide out in a walled city, the wealthy hide in skyscrapers and the poor face chaos in the streets. Riley (Simon Baker) and Cholo (John Leguizamo) belong to a team that patrol outside of the city in a giant machine ... ...to the people. When Cholo is betrayed by the big cheese Kaufman, he steals dead reckoning and holds the city hostage, its up to RIley to find dead reckoning and save the city. If that wasn't enough zombie's are rapidly approching the city, showing signs of basic intelegance, the barriers won't hold out forever and things are going to turn ugly. The story sounds good, and at parts its really enjoyable, I especially enjoyed the momments in the underground ...
Codgin 09.02.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Land Of The Dead (Director's Cut) (DVD)
Advantages: gore and zombies, just what a zombie film needs Disadvantages: Storyline or lack of
George A. Romero is definitely the best zombie-movie director of all time. His "night of the living dead" through to "day of the dead" are all now classics and now he's made a fourth, "land of the dead".
The film is set in a walled up city surrounded by water where the rich live in a skyscraper and live as though nothing has changed and the poor live out on the streets with basic supplies thrown down to them my the big guy who runs it all. The borders ... ...fences. This outline is what you would expect in the fourth instalment, humans have adapted to live in a world of zombies and some rich guy has gained all the power.
The trouble is, this isn't the main feature, the storyline follows a zombie uprising where they learn how to use tools and even guns and head towards the walled up city to… well I don't know, one zombie seems to get upset by seeing other zombies being killed so he leads them in to battle, ...
srenton88 31.01.2007
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Land Of The Dead (Director's Cut) (DVD)
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Advantages: Some of the extras included on this DVD are quite interesting, decent special effects. Disadvantages: The film is very dull, the acting performances are incredibly poor.
poor excuse for a zombie film. It's really quite ridiculous how well this film fared, I personally am actually quite ashamed to have paid good money to have purchased this DVD and yet had to really in order to complete the collection.
The best thing about this DVD has probably got to be the extras, their inclusion make this purchase seem like a little less of a waste of money to me. I'm not generally one to watch extras, but when a film is particularly poor I do tend to make an exception in order to feel as though my money has gone a little further. This Director's Cut edition of 'Land of the Dead' contains a total of ten extras and some of them are actually quite good. The first of these is 'Undead Again: The Making of Land of the Dead', an interesting insight into how the film was made including insights from some of the actors ...
With 2005's LAND OF THE DEAD, George A. Romero positions the bulk of his story in a giant skyscraper which houses the last humans left on the planet and the film appears to be Romero's commentary on the post-9/11 political landscape. The zombies only bother crews who venture outside the makeshift city for supplies, but the people are kept sedated by their leader, the irascible Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), who exaggerates their threat. What Kaufman doesn't realise is that the zombies are learning skills they half-remember from their old selves, leading to some impressively blood-soaked scenes of tumult.
Undead Again: The Making Of LAND OF THE DEAD, A Day With The Living Dead featurette, Bringing The Dead To Life featurette, When Shaun Met George featurette, The Remaining Bits, Bringing The Storyboards To Life, Scream Tests: Zombie Casting Call, Scenes Of Carnage, Zombie Effects From Green Screen To Finished Scene, Feature audio commentary
Welcome back George - You've been away too long (Empire, )
The film reveals that Romero remains the master of a genre he reinvented (Los Angeles Times, )
A bloody provocative enjoyable return from the don of the dead himself (Total Film, )
The film does have an 'old friends' dimension that warms the heart as its familiar-looking zombies eat hearts (USA Today, )
DVD Description
Zombie movies slip in and out of fashion, but it's always a special occasion when the man who helped turn the undead into a worldwide phenomenon decides to add an instalment to his ongoing saga of flesh-eating films. George A. Romero's zombie movies have all appeared in different decades, beginning with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1968, DAWN OF THE DEAD in '78, and DAY OF THE DEAD in '85. Romero skipped the '90s, but a zombie renaissance in the early 21st century (28 DAYS LATER, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) finds him back in the directors chair. Often seen as allegories for their times, Romero's films have been connected to societal events such as the consumerism of the '70s (DAWN OF THE DEAD) and the spread of the AIDS virus in the '80s (DAY OF THE DEAD). With 2005's LAND OF THE DEAD, Romero positions the bulk of his story in a giant skyscraper which houses the last humans left on the planet; although his intentions are foggy this time, LAND appears to be Romero's commentary on the post-9/11 political landscape. The zombies only bother crews who venture outside the makeshift city for supplies, but the people are kept sedated by their leader, the irascible Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), who exaggerates their threat. What Kaufman doesn't realise is that the zombies are learning skills they half-remember from their old selves, leading to some impressively blood-soaked scenes of tumult. In an unusual move for Romero, Hopper is joined by name actors such as John Leguizamo and Asia Argento. The film greatly benefits as a result, successfully portraying an atrophied civilisation that has regressed to a primitive state, allowing its undead tormentors to sense that a free lunch may be just around the corner.
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