Land Of The Dead
February 10, 2008
Myself and many other horror fans were especially disappointed by this finale to Romeros’ Dead series when it first came out, and since I picked up the DVD on release I just haven’t had the motivation to see it again. However, having watched dozens and dozens of dross Zombie films in the past year I figured that I should give it another go. I look at Zombie films in a different light having seen so many, so perhaps a 2nd viewing of this one would go down better than I expected.
Not only was it not as bad as I had remembered, but I was surprised just how much I actually enjoyed it. Sure, the story is pretty dumb, and Dennis Hopper is incredibly annoying - it just reeks of Hollywood Studio pressure to get a big name star into the film - the actual horror aspects of this film were pretty top notch. The creepy Zombies marching ever closer to the city, the scenes where the humans walk into different buildings and you just know that there will be Zombies just waiting in there for them, and of course the gore. Man, the gore in this film is spectacular! Way more to it than I had ever remembered, with heads ripping off, guts being pulled out, fingernails being scraped off… Urgh, it was awesome, and some of the best gore in a zombie film that I have ever seen. Plus something that I had forgotten, this Romero film actually has some Norks in it (albeit very briefly). Pity they don’t belong to Asia Argento though.
The film could be improved on by getting rid of the main ’star’ zombie, because intelligent zombies just don’t seem as scary as the regular shuffling sort. All his ‘urrrrr’ calls are just annoying, and make him sound like a mong.
Still, the other zombies are fantastic. Great makeup effects, and inventive gore scenes. (Such as an arm being ripped in half - vertically by the fingers!)
So basically ignore the plot and the dull ending and just sit back, admire Asia Argento, and become engulfed by the gore. For gore is what we all love, and Romero delivers spectacularly.
Gore Score 5\5
Norks Score 2\5
Overall Score 4\5
Whilst I agree with you in some part, I like the idea of having a zombie that leads the rest. In Day of the Dead (I know another Romero film) we see Bub has the ability to learn, so why not have a lead Zombie that is pretty much Da Main Man!! Something different.