This is the last of the Romero series, there are two others, Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead. If there is some kind of timeline to follow, it seems like Land of the Dead is the finale. A quick word and I will tell you Diary of the Dead follows a group of people who are filming everything as it happens, it seems to almost work as a reboot, overall it is great. Survival of the Dead, not so good, it takes place on an island and deals with some kind of dispute over two families, good title worst film of the series. On the Documentary for Day of the Dead, Romero states, “I am still waiting for people to come around on Survival.” Sorry George, it is a snooze fest.
Land of the Dead takes place a long time after the events of Day of the Dead or so it seems. As far as I can tell they never mention time. Of course the film was released 20 years after Day. Now every survivor is in a city surrounded by water and life seems to go on as it was, the people with money live in a tall sky scrapper building and the people with no money live on the street and have to do whatever it takes to survive. The film follows a couple of guys who work for the big man, played by the late, great Dennis Hopper, anyway Riley wants out of the town, Fiddler’s Green and to move on his own. Then there is Cholo, he wants to be a big shot and live in the high rise above Fiddler’s Green. The main plot and the most interesting thing in the film, zombies seem to be able to communicate with each other and eventually gang together to take Fiddler’s Green, showing no one is safe, no matter how high the walls. Cholo steals the main vehicle and threatens Dennis Hopper if he doesn’t let him move in and Dennis Hopper sends Riley after Cholo. Dennis Hopper’s character’s name is Kaufman.
As I said, the zombies are able to communicate with each other and the main zombie, a gas station attendant leads the charge on Fiddler’s Green. It is actually pretty awesome to see an evolution from Bub in Day of the Dead. Before the charge, the zombies seem to be doing the same ole routine they probably did before they died. It was cool to see Tom Savini as Blades again, this time as a zombie.
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Th12e film isn’t bad it seems to follow the success of the remake of Dawn of the Dead from 2004. I really believe it is not a bad movie, not the best. Land of Dead feels like its missing something. There is no character that sticks out like Rhodes in Day of the Dead, the location is in some big city. I don’t know, something felt like it was missing.
I personally think it may be time for one last go from Romero even if his is 76, I bet he could make one more better than the last, don’t leave us with Survival of the Dead as your last film. Survival of the Dead is not how I want him to go out, but shit 76…He still has one good one, a semi-sequel to Land of the Dead would be great, although, it has only been 11 years. Between Night and Dawn 1o years, Dawn and Day 7 years and Day and Land is 20 years…so it should be like 14 years, so expect End of the Dead in 2019 when Romero is 79.
Even if it is his last, the legacy speaks for itself. Zombies are at an all time high right now and it is due to the success of Night of the Living Dead and Romero coming back with great films. I said in the Night of the Living Dead post that it is responsible for so many great things. Resident Evil game series, the Walking Dead comic and show are just a few things that have been in my life because of Night of the Living Dead. Romero is king, just read the Horror Icons post for George Romero.
IMDB.com has a rating of 6.2, fair.
I have a rating of 6.8.
