land of the dead script online

sweet

sweet, indeed.

A very compelling script, I like it, and I'd like to see it in theatres some day.

very cool, thanks.

Lots of ass kicking and blowing shit up? Check.

I like.

if this really is the scrpit my ass will be inline the first day

Romero purists have waited too long for this movie to happen. Hopefully the finished product turns out like this, but I will be there on opening day regardless.

Lots of action, which is surprising.

I think there are some cheeseball lines, and the thematic elements were disappointingly dated, but there was some neat gore and a fun action story. Leguizamo, I assume, will be the crossbow-toting Cholo, and if not reigned in, he'll be Joe Pilato 2.0.

Luis Guzman needs a role in this.

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Okay some thoughts on the script:

My thoughts on the living characters: The characters to cling to in this film are the mercenaries of course, the blue collar people. And Kaufman (whom I am thinking will be Dennis Hopper) and his ilk are the aristocratic evil eilitists who believe that money should determine who lives and who dies (or becomes undead!) We root for these pukes to become zombie-chow.

Regarding the zombies: This really is the next step in zombie evolution when you think about it. When left to their own devices- the zombies go through the motions of thier former lives. This was first apparent in Dawn of the Dead in the Monroeville Mall. The evolution continued in Day with Bub the uber-zombie. The "Big Daddy" zombie represents the pinnacle of zombie evolution. He is a leader and teaches the zombies how to start to use firearms (much like Bub) and basic troop maneuevers. Honestly, I love what Romero is doing with the zombies in this installment. It seems like a naturalistic evolution.

The Setting: The surviving rich humans walled up in a fortress-like high rise with a landlord with a God complex? The rest of humanity left in the zombie ghettos below eeking out an existence? Sounds pretty much like what would end up happening. Very cool George! Very sly social commentary at work here.

The underlying social context: This is something that is key to every one of Romero's Dead films. In the end this movie is going to pit the haves against the have-nots, something that Romero has done throughout his Dead movies.

Overall: The movie is one that has many horror elements but is not necessarily what I'd call a straight horror film. I would dub it Horror Fantasy. The Dead Reckoning has an almost Mad Maxesque vibe to it which I think is great. Because at the root of these movies is always a basic survival story. Romero's challenge is to make us care about the "good guys" in this film. I have every confidence that he will. He has done so in every one of his Dead films thus far.

I am so very stoked about the potential for this movie!

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I think the defining scene in this movie will without a doubt be the army of zombies crossing the river by walking across the bottom, and then rising out the other side headfirst by one, two, three, four, a thousand!

here is some other stuff Romero said already re: political allegory in this film:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
ROMERO: I guess it was a long time, but the first draft I did was literally right before the 9/11 terrorist attacks - about five days before that happened. The immediate knee-jerk reaction right after the event by the studios was that we want soft and fuzzy movies and we don't want anything like this right now! Basically, I took it back and after about a year and a half I re-wrote it, to try and reflect that post 9/11 zeitgeist. All that stuff that was going on… living with terrorism.

EMPIRE MAG: There seems to be a very potent 9/11 allegory with this new Dead instalment.

ROMERO: I think so, yeah. I hope so! What [these films have] always been about is 'ignoring the problem'. Prior to 9/11, it was about that, but the threat wasn't as… seriously felt. Post 9/11, I mean, God, we have a guy -re-running for President on the basis that 'I'm great because they haven't hit us since then!' and, like, give me a break. I mean, it's not gonna happen someday? I heightened some of that thematically. What it's about is the folly of people thinking they can just a build a huge wall against a threat and then living the way they have always lived. Forget about that!

(from Empire magazine via Fangoria.com)

Good call! Yes this should be spectacular with today's capabilites. There are so many potentially great gory moments. The only thing that I fear is that I highly doubt this will get past the MPAA unchopped. I wish that Romero would just stick to his guns and release it unrated instead of R. Oh sure, there will be a director's cut but I want to see this in its entirity on the big screen.

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one question I had was the zombie rats. I didnt think anything but humans turned into zombies. Also if theres tons of zombie rats why havent they tried to attack the city? very minor nitpick on a very good script but something that just bugged me.

Just read this. Excellent script, plus gore galore. Hopefully this makes it to the big screen intact.

The script makes a great read, and I hope the movie turns out to be what we have all been waiting for...


But....


I had a big problem with one element of the script - it's reliance on money to motivate the characters. In an apocalyptic environment money would become meaningless, replaced by resources such as food, medicine, practical skills etc.

Presumably, when the apocalypse happened, the city was able to cut itself off, then deal with it's own zombie problem, like with the mall in Dawn, on a larger scale. Over time some sort of monetary system might have been developed, with Fiddler's green printing its own notes.

But what good would this be to Cholo after stealing the Dead Reckoning and going outside? Even if FG was using standard currency, he could just use DR to raid any bank vault in the US, but really, it would just be worthless paper.

Romero seems to be using the rich v poor metaphor as his primary message in LOTD, but it just doesn't work because it doesn't make sense when you are talking about actual money - as illustated in Dawn when Stephen and Peter fool around with the banknotes - 'Just in Case' - they are acknowleging that society is breaking down, and with it any economy as we understand it.

Does anyone know where I can get to read this script?

Uhhh yeah man just click the link in the first post at the top of the page.

It appears that the link is no longer working but this guy has a downloadable zip at Joblo. It is a great read!

LOTD script

"Sky flowers"

That will make some fucking fantastic imagery, all these rotting ugly corpses staring into a sky filled with beautiful colours...

I loved the script but a couple things lead to believe this is an older draft. Romero recently said he was going to use CGI for a scene in wich a bridge was destroyed, but that scene wasn't in the script?! It also made very specific references to Pittsburgh locations. The script that was leaked was supposedly revised in August, but Romero knew before then that they would be filming in Toronto, why didn't he change those scenes to fit the new location?
Good God! October never seemed so far away.

This film will kick so much ass!
It has been foretold by Nostradamus.

Nino, thats a great idea! I don't know if thats ever been done or not.

go steelers