Director: George A. Romero
Written by: George A. Romero
Cast: Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Asia Argento, Dennis Hopper

Year / Country: 2005, Canada / France / USA
Running Time: 93 mins.

Twenty years after Day of the Dead, zombie king George A. Romero returns to his roots with the fourth part of his classic ‘Dead’ series. The story of Land of the Dead takes place years after Day. How long exactly is not specifically stated, but it’s long enough for two civilizations to have erupted.

The first civilization in Land consists of the living dead who are no longer the ‘mindless walking corpses’ they once were. They have evolved, and have even become relatively intelligent (for walking corpses that is). The zombies can now communicate with each other and use basic strategies in attacks. They also have a leader, a gas pump attendant named Big Daddy, who knows how to display emotions. Especially anger.

His anger is directed towards the other civilization in Land: the humans. They live in a fortified city protected by walls and electric fences which is dominated by macho behaviour and corrupt politics. Like the zombies, the humans also have a leader, the corrupt businessman Paul Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) who occupies the city’s tallest building. At night, the humans go out on a zombie killing spree to clear the surrounding area and gather supplies. For this purpose they use a massive armed vehicle called Dead Reckoning. During the nightly expeditions, the humans commit cruelties against the zombies which makes them (especially Big Daddy) very angry. But the humans commit crimes against each other as well.

John Leguizamo plays Cholo, a young and reckless entrepreneur who makes a few bucks by bringing in booze for Kaufman. When Kaufman cheats Cholo in a deal, Cholo steals Dead Reckoning and demands five million to bring it back. Kaufman hires expedition leader Riley (Simon Baker) to bring in the vehicle that he designed himself. Riley sets out to find Cholo, but does so for different motives than Kaufman thinks. On his journey Riley picks up the female soldier Slack (Asia Argento), while the zombie army launches an attack on the city.

When Land of the Dead came out it was received with mixed emotions. Some felt that Romero should have left his old trilogy alone, while other fans couldn’t wait to see it. Those who were expecting too much were initially disappointed, but in retrospect saw more of Romero’s signature qualities. The overall reaction from critics was mostly positive. Once again Romero created a metaphorically rich film that contains plenty of humour, violence and stylish visuals. The downside is that the film’s plot is a little too thin to really involve the viewer, making this a slightly less enjoyable film than other ‘Dead’ entries. But with Romero that still means one hell of a good time. It might not be groundbreaking. But entertaining? Hell yes.

Rating:

Biography: George A. Romero (1940, New York), who lived in Pittsburgh, made his feature debut with Night of the Living Dead. It was a low budget zombie movie that was both groundbreaking and shocking in its time. Quickly, it became a major horror classic. He then directed some smaller, personal films in which he often combined horror and social commentary. In 1978 he topped the success of Night of the Living Dead with his brilliant follow-up Dawn of the Dead. In the eighties his career stagnated a bit when he created the third part in his zombie series Day of the Dead. It was a failure both commercially and critically. In 2005 Romero made a small comeback with Land of the Dead. Romero died in 2017.

Filmography (a selection): Night of the Living Dead (1968), There’s Always Vanilla (1971), Season of the Witch (1972), The Winners (1973, TV episodes), The Crazies (1973), O.J. Simpson: Juice on the Loose (1974, TV doc), Martin (1977), Dawn of the Dead (1978),Knightriders (1981), Creepshow (1982), Day of the Dead (1985), Monkey Shines (1988), Two Evil Eyes (1990) [with Dario Argento], The Dark Half (1993), Bruiser (2000), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), Survival of the Dead (2009)