Land Of The Dead
January 11th 2007 00:26
1968: Night of the Living Dead … 1978: Dawn of the Dead … 1985: Day of the Dead.
2005: Land of the Dead.
George Romero’s fourth installment in his cult zombie series didn’t receive the warmest reception when it was first released; in fact in many critics’ circles it was treated like tepid congealed blood. After I saw it at the cinemas I too felt the cold slap of disappointment.
However after this second viewing (the “Director’s Cut" DVD edition), I was pleasantly surprised. I anticipated that a second viewing would only reinforce the displeasure I had experienced from the initial viewing; that the film was ultimately too tame, a rather hollow film with ill-conceived casting and an ending that smacked of “feel-good”ness.
I’ve changed my mind. I do like that in a movie; when it actually improves on repeated screenings, keeping in mind, however, that the DVD version of the movie is slightly different than the theatrical release. Different in that it is much more graphic in it’s depiction of zombie carnage. Yes!
Zombies roam the land in the hundreds of thousands, and they are starting to learn and remember. A wealthy fascist-like man, Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), who welds great power, has claimed a residential tower and mall and has the immediate citadel barricaded. In the streets below are the “peasants”.
Riley (Simon Baker) leads a ragtag group of mercenaries who supply the Fiddler’s Green tower with supplies brought in from the zombie-infested wilderness beyond the barricades and over the surrounding body of water, safe in their armoured vehicle known as Dead Reckoning. But there is trouble brewing. One of Riley’s men Cholo (John Leguizamo) is set for dissent.
Eventually, like in the previous Dead movies, all Hell breaks loose.
Land of the Dead plays with levels of power and trust, greed and betrayal, and has strong undertones of a modern holocaust. Kaufman’s security is dressed similarly to WWII SS officers, and much of the visual motifs and thematic content suggests a kind of concentration camp and the horrors of war.
I still have trouble with some of the casting, but this could be more to do with the acting than anything else. It must be unintentional, but a lot of the performances are downright wooden. Dennis Hopper, Simon Baker and Asia Argento, who plays Slack, a Goth-esque “peasant” recruited to Riley’s renegade Dead Reckoning team, all fail to deliver the goods. Leguizamo goes for the jugular, but feels like he's hamming it a little. Pass the mustard.
There are moments of badly judged comedy as well, almost as if Romero felt he needed to comply with some unwritten law of humour-in-horror. But I let these slide, as there is much to relish as a hardcore horrorphile.
Here's the original teaser trailer superbly edited for maximum effect:
The DVD edition features numerous graphic hardcore zombie gore sequences and shots not seen in the theatrical version. SFX supervisor Greg Nicotero, once a young protégé of Tom Savini’s on Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985), now arguably the best technician in the business and co-founder of KNB FX Group, has created some truly astonishing work, even stuff to rival Savini’s ground-breaking work.
Apparently in the theatrical release the more gory footage was obscured by digitally composited foreground images, or the blood was shaded more black, rather than red (an MPAA no-no), or the footage was simply trimmed.
On second viewing the movie moves swifter, the action is slicker, the atmosphere is more consistent, and overall the movie delivers more punch, more tear, more grind, more rip, shred and devour!
The DVD features numerous extras; including an entertaining featurette on Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (the co-writers and director of cult horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead) who are featured zombie extras. There’s a featurette on Greg Nicotero and his workshop, plus deleted scenes, one of which has a zombie teenage girl kissing then tearing the lips off a teenage boy – owwww!!! Other featurettes include an obligatory Making Of and audio commentary (Romero is in his twilight years and has a few wise words to spill), and a blackly comic short montage called "Scenes of Carnage" set to classical music.
Land of the Dead might not be as good as the previous three Dead movies in terms of characterization and/or pared back narrative, but it certainly comes up scarlet trumps in the horror department. Perhaps it’s a slow burner, like The Thing and Blade Runner, and even Day of the Dead, movies that were criticised heavily on their initial release, but which slowly and steadily built a huge cult following.
Here’s to Romero not throwing in his bloodied towel just yet. I feel a Twilight of the Dead lurking in the shadows, moaning for some kind of mortal closure …
For the gorehounds, here's a few more precious seconds of lip-smacking zombie carnage:
* images on this page are courtesy of www.sancho.asia.com
2005: Land of the Dead.
George Romero’s fourth installment in his cult zombie series didn’t receive the warmest reception when it was first released; in fact in many critics’ circles it was treated like tepid congealed blood. After I saw it at the cinemas I too felt the cold slap of disappointment.
I’ve changed my mind. I do like that in a movie; when it actually improves on repeated screenings, keeping in mind, however, that the DVD version of the movie is slightly different than the theatrical release. Different in that it is much more graphic in it’s depiction of zombie carnage. Yes!
Zombies roam the land in the hundreds of thousands, and they are starting to learn and remember. A wealthy fascist-like man, Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), who welds great power, has claimed a residential tower and mall and has the immediate citadel barricaded. In the streets below are the “peasants”.
Riley (Simon Baker) leads a ragtag group of mercenaries who supply the Fiddler’s Green tower with supplies brought in from the zombie-infested wilderness beyond the barricades and over the surrounding body of water, safe in their armoured vehicle known as Dead Reckoning. But there is trouble brewing. One of Riley’s men Cholo (John Leguizamo) is set for dissent.
Land of the Dead plays with levels of power and trust, greed and betrayal, and has strong undertones of a modern holocaust. Kaufman’s security is dressed similarly to WWII SS officers, and much of the visual motifs and thematic content suggests a kind of concentration camp and the horrors of war.
There are moments of badly judged comedy as well, almost as if Romero felt he needed to comply with some unwritten law of humour-in-horror. But I let these slide, as there is much to relish as a hardcore horrorphile.
Here's the original teaser trailer superbly edited for maximum effect:
Apparently in the theatrical release the more gory footage was obscured by digitally composited foreground images, or the blood was shaded more black, rather than red (an MPAA no-no), or the footage was simply trimmed.
On second viewing the movie moves swifter, the action is slicker, the atmosphere is more consistent, and overall the movie delivers more punch, more tear, more grind, more rip, shred and devour!
Land of the Dead might not be as good as the previous three Dead movies in terms of characterization and/or pared back narrative, but it certainly comes up scarlet trumps in the horror department. Perhaps it’s a slow burner, like The Thing and Blade Runner, and even Day of the Dead, movies that were criticised heavily on their initial release, but which slowly and steadily built a huge cult following.
Here’s to Romero not throwing in his bloodied towel just yet. I feel a Twilight of the Dead lurking in the shadows, moaning for some kind of mortal closure …
For the gorehounds, here's a few more precious seconds of lip-smacking zombie carnage:
* images on this page are courtesy of www.sancho.asia.com
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Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
I haven't taken a look at this movie...but I think I'll give it a go.
Comment by Anonymous
Drummer Hoff.
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Ms. Argento is captivating!
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile