Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead

Directed by George A. Romero

Although the fourth installment in George A. Romero’s influential zombie series may not have the overall impact of the groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead, 2004 entry Land of the Dead proves that after four nearly four decades, he’s still got the undead touch. The horror maestro has come a long way since his seminal 1968 classic, and Land is a satisfyingly splatter feast of gore and new ideas. Witty, clever and action-packed, this time around Romero benefits from the backing of a major studio. Playing with bigger stars - Land is the first Dead picture with name actors – and a higher budget of about $15 million, the slick production values and larger scope allow the director to more fully express his violent visions. Romero has a gift for lacing carnage with social commentary, and here he creates a radical and rebellious scenario that few contemporary filmmakers could ever dream to emulate.

The film begins some time after the zombie apocalypse, with a group of survivors led by Riley (Simon Baker) scouring the wastelands for supplies to take back to a heavily fortified city. The place is Pittsburgh (in reality Toronto), which uses surrounding water and a long electric fence to keep out the undead. It’s within the walls of the city that the classes have been separated into the poor and the rich courtesy of greedy businessman Kauffman (Dennis Hopper). Kaufman employs a mercenary army to watch over his fortune, and keep the citizens who live in the city’s slums away from the exclusive Fiddler’s Green high-rise.  Society, while not fully rebuilt, has at least found a sort of capitalist, classist equilibrium. But this is a zombie movie, so that can’t possibly last long.

The zombies, led by the undead Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), slowly develop the ability to think, and begin communicating in a rudimentary way. They promptly organize a full out attack on the city. Meanwhile, the ambitious Cholo (John Leguizamo), former right hand man to Kaufman plans his own attack on Fiddler’s Green. Kauffman’s only choice is to hire Riley to save Fiddler’s Green and the city below it.

Considering the number of subplots and themes in the film, Romero clearly has a lot on his mind. Dealing with issues of class, segregation, capitalism, and corporate greed, Romero separates his movie from the usual Hollywood horror films. Unfortunately, too many plot points involve too many poorly developed characters, and the script, at times, seems formulaic.

The violence in Land may not seem as shocking as that seen in the original Dawn Of The Dead(1979) and 1985′s Day Of The Dead, yet the gore shows little signs of compromise to avoid an R-rating. Twenty years after Day, it’s hard for Romero to easily shock his audience, but he’s still got a few tricks up his bloodied sleeve. In Land, he relies heavily on shock moments and surprise ambushes, aided by the super-sharp editing of Michael Doherty. Despite the script’s shortcomings, the urgent montage, queasy, claustrophobic tone and invasive terror elevate the film. Gregory Nicotero’s ingenious effects find new and fresh ways for the zombies to die and kill, such as an apparently headless zombie who attacks by whipping his dangling skull from behind his back. Add a few dozen exploding heads, piles of steaming intestines, botched rescue attempts and relentless lurching corpses gnawing on freshly-killed humans and gore fans will find a lot to like. Miroslaw Baszak’s nuanced lensing accentuates Arvinder Grewal’s chilly production design at every turn. Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek’s score is serviceably grim, nicely accompanying  the biting social satire.

It’s no accident that Romero cast ’60s poster child Dennis Hopper as the greedy head of Pittsburgh’s capitalist empire. The actor hams it up throughout, delivering hilarious ex-hippie dialogue like “zombies, man . . . they creep me out.” In a nice, ironic touch, zombie leader Big Daddy is black, suggesting that he may end up becoming a hero, as all the previous Dead films cast African-American actors as their lead protagonists. Apart from Bub in Day, Big Daddy is by far the most memorable zombies in the series. As he moans and roars in protest of the slaughter of his fellow dead, used for target practice, Big Daddy demands viewers to sympathize with the ghouls.

The rest of the cast performs well. At first, Baker seems a bit bland, but he quickly grows on the viewer, and Robert Joy delivers the most sympathetic role of the cast acting as Riley’s sidekick. Asia Argento makes her tough persona seem authentic while Leguizamo is surprisingly compelling and charismatic.

Romero continues to use the genre to comment on society, and although Land is first and foremost a Hollywood action film, he stills has his audience thinking. If anything, Land can easily be compared to John Carpenter’s early 80s work, and that’s always a good thing.

- Ricky D