Power to the (Undead) People

This weekend I caught George Romero’s Land of the Dead. This was supposed to be the filmmaker’s triumphant return to the genre he created, movies about zombies. Who don’t like zombie movies?!

The past few years have been very, very good to us zombie fans. 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead and the balls-to-the-wall, ass kicking remake of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead were all fun movies. I was really looking forward to seeing this.

I hate to say it, but Land of the Dead is a bit of a disappointment. While it’s not terrible, it’s very underwhelming.

Many zombie movies begin with people living their ordinary lives, then zombies show up (usually unexplained) to eat their brains. Havoc ensues. In this movie, zombies have been around for awhile. People have barricaded themselves into the city to avoid unpleasant encounters with the undead. Going one step further, the wealthy people (led by Dennis Hopper’s character) live in a luxurious complex away from the living and dead riff-raff. The zombies make their way into the city and cause all kinds of trouble.

What’s good: Hopper has some amusing moments, and there’s plenty of high quality gross out scenes.

What’s not so good: We get to know a few of the zombies. I don’t want to know the zombies. I just want hordes of them chasing our heroes. I want to see them getting killed in brutal ways.

In the first few frames of Land of the Dead we meet Big Daddy, a former gas station attendant and current zombie. People from the city are hired by the rich to scavenge zombie-filled outlying areas for supplies and luxury items. While gathering items, they blast though quite a few zombies. Big Daddy isn’t going to sit there and take the treatment the undead receive from the living. He unites them and leads them in their attack of the city. When the zombies go after Hopper and his people, they become the heroes. Romero’s message is clear. Rich people can be greedy and deserve to be eaten by zombies. Lame.

Posted by chuck at June 26, 2005 8:29 PM