What can I say about Land of the Dead? It is a George A Romero zombie movie. What you see is what you get, This one does have a bigger budget than some of his previous Dead outings and some name actors, such as Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo and Asia Argento (daughter of Italian horror maestro Dario Argento, and a director in her own right). In this episode of the story, the zombies have started to develop a certain amount of awareness beyond mindless consumption of human flesh. They now have a leader who is showing them a more organised way to consume human flesh and recruit new members.
At the superficial level it could be seen as humans versus zombies slaughterfest, making it ideal fodder for the video-games market, but being a Romero film it has a much deeper subtext of political and social commentary.
With the living having fortified themselves on an island, they are still divided into the haves and have-nots, with a very dapper Dennis Hopper at the top of the food chain. The haves manage to maintain their so-called luxury lifestyle within the confines of a high-rent tower block, complete with the all-important shopping mall. Meanwhile the have-nots live on the streets trying to eke out an existence that is still under Hopper’s control.
With different interconnecting storylines, we see both the zombies and the humans struggling to get enough food to survive, with the humans raiding the deserted towns to salvage whatever food they can get, without ending up as dish of the day. We see the various power struggles amongst those who want to lead, and the results of their actions as everything starts to fall apart. We also see the zombies unified under a leader and picking up arms (both limbs and weapons) to great effect as they converge on the city.
I am not a fan of horror films, but this was not scary (at least not in the way The Exorcist was), although there was plenty of blood and gore. The action was well executed and a good amount of tension is maintained throughout the film, that is balanced with moments of humour. Although it was not played for laughs like Shaun of the Dead (look out for cameos from Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright as photobooth zombies), it is a little hard to take it seriously,
If you are a fan of the Dead’s previous outings I’m sure you will not be disappointed. If you haven’t seen any of the previous movies (like me), this is still a good action film with a bit of meat on its bones if you care look for it. Or you can simply enjoy it as a shoot-‘em-up.