After countless retreads, remakes, knock-offs, spin-offs, or any other film adjective you can think of, even George Romero runs into problems trying to innovate the very genre he created. Land of the Dead is fine as far as zombie movies go, as the undead continue their hungry march on the living now barricaded inside a small portion of Pittsburgh. Even though it’s new, it simply feels like a generic retread of countless other zombie romps.
Romero does bring some new ideas along with him. The zombies are slowly growing more intelligent, though as to why is never explained. The audience is apparently supposed to accept this on a surface level even though it’s one of the most critical aspects of the story. That said, the zombie revolt means a city previously well barricaded is no longer held down as tightly as much as the survivors wish it to be.
Dennis Hopper leads the cast, playing his flawless evil character you love to hate. His character Kaufman owns a giant tower that is the final piece of luxury left in the city. His death, given how heartless he becomes, is nowhere near the expected painful finale. Kaufman also creates more questions, namely where he plans to escape to when the zombie hoard becomes a real threat to his property.
Gore is of course on a level you can only expect from collaboration between Romero and longtime make-up master Greg Nicotero. Certain characters go down due to their own stupidity (particularly a soldier dumb enough to repel into a crowd of flesh-eating undead), but if the end result is what the audience came to see, human idiocy is a small price to pay.
Land of the Dead deals with a plot that doesn’t offer much either. In a world in which humans are nearly extinct, the quest to capture a stolen vehicle hardly seems like a priority even when it’s loaded with weapons. A quest for food risking some of the few lives left has a purpose; an armored car is a tough sell.
Article comments
1 - Daniel Woolstencroft
"He’s finished a Day of the Dead remake due for a release this year."
Romero isn't involved in the Day remake in any way, shape, or form. Unless you count the fact that he made the original - which, by the sound of it, doesn't have very much in common with the remake.
2 - Ian Woolstencroft
The armoured car is their means of venturing out into the world to get food (among other things) so wanting it back isn’t that hard to understand.
The remake of Day fills me with dread for all the wrong reasons. For example the producers were under the mistaken impression that the zombie played by Sherman Howard in the original was named Bud (his name was Bub) and one can only assume they thought they were remaking C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud instead. And as Daniel said Mr Romero has wisely stayed as far away from this impending disaster as he can (the remake is helmed by Steve Miner).
Diary of the Dead is now complete and I’m keeping my fingers crossed it does the rounds of the horror film festivals (particularly FrightFest).
His next project should see him return to Stephen King country (he previously made Creepshow and The Dark Half) with From a Buick 8.