George Romero's Land of the Dead!

Jordan

I saw this last night at Midnight and it ROCKED! I'm a huge fan of Romero's other films (including the original "Night of the Living Dead" films, "The Crazies," "Martin," "Creepshow," and "Bruiser.") And I had a warm feeling in my heart as I watched the film unfold before me.

The Plot: It's been years since the undead epidemic swept across our planet and now it seems that humanity may be making a comeback.... well sort of. In old Pittsburgh PA, the city has been blocked off from the undead. The rich and elite live in the center of the city in a huge fortified tower while the masses outside try and scratch a living on the streets. But soon, everything is going to really go to hell.

A zombie, dubbed as Big Daddy, has shown to have the ability of cognitive thought. While this may not seem like a big deal to most of the film's human characters, a few are worried by this. Their fears are soon realized when Big Daddy leads a horde of the undead into battle against those living in old Pittsburg. Will humanity survive the onslaught of more intelligent zombies?! I can't tell you that! SEE THE MOVIE!

What I liked: Almost everything! Romero wastes no time in starting things up and he refuses to insult the viewers' intelligence with expository dialogue. As one reviewer noted, Romero doesn't spell out character relationships like most Hollywood films. In other words, he doesn't waste any dialogue to show that two people are rivals, friends, lovers, etc. He relies on the way they act toward each other to do that. So what we get here, is a competently made and well-written film full of horror, action, and drama that pleases on all fronts and doesn't make you feel stupid!

There's a lot of dark humor in the film, but not to the point where it detracts from the horror and drama elements.

The zombies look awesome and there's plenty of gore to satiate anyone's bloodlust for an hour and a half. One thing I did like is that when something explodes, people (and zombies) are thrown about like ragdolls. There's no slow motion explosions here folks. It's gritty, in your face, realistic violence!

Cameos by Tom Savini (Blade zombie - As soon as he hit the screen, a good chunk of the audience began to chatter and cheer!), Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright (stars of SHAUN OF THE DEAD- they're the photo booth zombies!), and Phil Fondacaro (Chiahuaha. I completely forgot that Phil was in the film, and he goes out with a bang, to say the least! ROCK ON PHIL, ROCK ON!

The zombies come off as sympathetic characters? Yes and no. They are the dreaded foe of humanity sure, but their charge on the walled human city is not unwarranted. Big Daddy was just sick of seeing his "species" being exterminated wantonly and decided to do something about it.

Pillsbury is a bad ass! He should get his own movie! To understand this line, you must see the movie... repeatedly!

Dennis Hopper by far, has the funniest scene in the movie. All I can say is "LOOK OUT! GET DOWN!" ::BLAM!:: and..... YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!

Ok, ok, I better stop the fanboy rant before it reaches critical mass. Essentially, I'm telling you that you need to see this movie.

What I didn't like: The movie was just way too short in my opinion. It goes at such a quick pace and it leaves you wanting MORE. As my buddy Mark S. said after the film, "I foresee an extended director's cut once Land of the Dead hits DVD."

CGI! DAMN IT TO HELL! The movie utilizes CGI only a bit, but it's still noticeable! Thankfully it's only a very minor issue because the film relies mostly on old-fashioned makeup and gore effects.

And that's it! SEE THIS MOVIE NOW! I COMMAND YOU! If you have seen it, let me know what you think! I'm actually going to scrounge together 8 bucks in change so I can see this movie again tomorrow!
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Jordan Garren
Webmaster:The B-Movie Film Vault
Staff Writer: Rogue Cinema

Shadowfyre · Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 4:37 pm Post subject:

I just got back from seeing it. Awesome! I love zombie flicks and any zombie flick from the KING of zombie flicks is going to be worth the wait.

The only thing I did not enjoy while watching it was the wife squeezing the hell out of my hand in fright. Its still numb. Shocked

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Shadow's B-Movie Graveyard

Jordan · Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:51 pm Post subject:

Hahahahaha. You'll get feeling back in that hand in no time.

Little more info. on my night at the theater here:
The crowd was a mixed bag of people from all ages, races, and walks of life. But there was a huge number of Latino folks there (and some of those girls were SMMMMMMMMMMMMOKIN'!). It was a very lively audience and everyone shouted, cheered, screamed, gasped, laughed, etc. at all the right parts of the movie. Anyway, the only reason I bring up the Latino members of the crowd is that every time John Leguizamo (Cholo) would say something in Spanish, they would all start laughing and I was just like... "DAMN! I wish I knew what he was saying!" However, I didn't dare ask anyone nearby what he said; I didn't want to pull their attention awayfrom that screen. The movie was just too damned good to miss!

So uh yeah... no moral to the story... no point really.... uh... VIVA ROMERO!
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Jordan Garren
Webmaster:The B-Movie Film Vault
Staff Writer: Rogue Cinema

Jordan · Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 10:14 pm Post subject:

Just wanted to share this with anyone interested:

Tim Martinez (aka Shadow from Shadow's B-Movie Graveyard) has just completed an awesome review for George A. Romero's classic "Night of the Living Dead." What makes his review even better (in my eyes) is that he borrowed a blurb from my first forum post regarding George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead:"

Josh · Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2005 1:51 pm Post subject:

I'm still not sure whether I liked it more than Day of the Dead, but if I had beef, it was that there was no "massive" feel to the film. It was like the beginning of a bigger story, not one big epic packed withing the running time like Night, Dawn or even Day. The ending felt like the middle. Kind of anti-climatic for me. If Romero can get more funding, I'd love to see a continuation of the series... I just hope he doesn't make Canada out to be some homeland where all is bright and shiny for our leads. I prefer a desolate wasteland of the entire earth.
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Josh Samford
Webmaster - Varied Celluloid
Staff Writer - Rogue Cinema

"I've thought about things that Kings and Queens cannot spell." - Gary Busey