Land of the Dead

I remember when the Dawn remake came out....thread was up to about 20 pages before the movie even hit the theatres.

Good days....

To be fair, 80% of it was by thedudeabides and he was a complete tool.

Yah, I seem to remember a lot of trolling in that thread.

It's difficult to get too wound up in the Land of the Dead discussions while stuck in the UK with no release date in sight

BTW Anneka, we did use to have discussions here in the Corner, completely separate from the main CHUD site. Used to.

I just got home from the multiplex and I'm proud to say, while this thread is still young, that LOTD has completely lived up to my expectations and have exceeded them greatly! I have tingles!

Like one of the walking dead revisiting the mall, I return to these scared boards ... and I must say, I have missed it here ...

Sadly, the fact that LAND OF THE DEAD was the catylast is where the positives end ...

The fact that I hold films such as DAWN OF THE DEAD, LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE,ZOMBIE and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in such high regard has nothing to do with my disappointment and LAND ........ LAND OF THE DEAD is so completely void of style, dialog, or really anything that remotely resembles a decent film, it is not disappoint via expectations , but just disappointment ...

For starters, whether you enjoyed the film or not, I don't think that in watching it, the viewer could say "yes, that film looks like George Romero" ... the entire movie comes across as generic junk, poorly written with music that I cannot even remember ... Is it as interesting or worthwhile as the DAWN remake or 28 DAYS LATER ??? ... absolutely not, and those are 2 films that I wasn't really crazy about either ...

The message and social commentary are juvenile, and the ending, in contrast to NIGHT'S nightmareish climax, is quite naive ( that's putting it kindly )

For years, George Romero has bitched about Hollywood and budgets ... His ability to make more with less has been completely reversed here ...

Why George would you put that character on a skateboard ??? Are you trying to gather in a younger audience by putting a character on something you feel is youthful symbol ??? ...... it's pathetic ..... and the entire film is full of that type of thing ......

I would enjoy a film that can truly say something, however, at this point, taking social commentary from George Romero is akin to getting your political views shaped by U2's Bono .....

I'm about to shoot a Independent film in the fall. Tonight I'm meeting with the main cast and getting their contracts signed at dinner. Afterwards, we're all going to see Land of the Dead. I'm going to treat Land like I treat Star Wars.....I'm going in with no expectations what so ever. Looks like it could be a fun movie, I'll let you know.

Yes I said fun, a movie hasn't scared me since 1980.

I'm with elmie, the more I think about this movie, the less I liked it.

I saw it and while I did enjoy it, I wasn't entirely impressed. Fact is, I was a bit let down.

what the hell?

I don't get it. Is there something wrong with me? Are my tastes as a horror fan not sophisticated enough? Am I missing the point of the genius of the first films? Or is trashing new high budget movies just trendy?

Well whatever, I thought LAND OF THE DEAD was freaking amazing and I stand by that.

All you malcontents are real killjoys.

Yep, fun movie. Lots of good laughs and a few severe ouches! One of the actress' sitting next to me had her belly button pierced. When they showed that scene of the belly button piercing getting ripped out she grabbed her belly and said that's it, I'm getting this thing out when I get home.

I really didn't see anything to bitch about. When Tom Savini made his cameo I yelled out "Look, it's Sex Machine!" And everybody got it too. All in all it was a good ending on a great night.

You win at the internet.

Now please stop playing.

I win?! Seriously?!

But back to the point, LOTD made me nippley. I'm done now.

A friend of mine put it far better than I did when he said it was like John Carpenter's Land Of The Dead. And that's not bad.

I thought the script, when I first read it, was sleek, lean and badass. And while the action doesn't translate, the rest of it came through. I think it's far more stripped down, but both less and more complicated than it's predecessors, and while it doesn't hold a candle to the previous DEAD installments, it's still sleeker and (much) sexier, and it feels like a natural progression.

In the current zombie wave, this is probably as good as 28 DAYS LATER, better than the DAWN remake, but not as good as SHAUN OF THE DEAD.

I'm hanging out for this in a major way. I'm not expecting some sort of master piece, but hoping for something good.

Putting the previous 3 films up on a pedestal doesn't help peoples chances of liking it. It's like when a band has old school fans, and with each album the fans seem to think they are getting worse and worse. It may not be the case, but that's what it seems like to them because they don't like change.
Things evolve, and 20 years is a very long time for things not to change.

I could be wrong here, but I don't think the movies were ever really targeted for the older crowd. How old were you when you saw the first 3 movies? Do you think if you were much older back then (or when you first saw these movies) you would have reacted in the same way?

Pretty much everyone I have ever spoken to saw the first 3 movies when they were anywhere between 14 - 20ish. Is it so wrong to have characters the target audience can relate to?
It may seem corny (I think so too), but you have to face it, there is a new generation of kids watching these movies these days, so things will be geared towards them.

Who knows, in 20 years these kids might be talking trash about movies butchering their beloved Land of the Dead.

This had a completely different feel than the others and yeah it in some ways felt like a Carpenter film but without the great score. I was disappointed in the dialogue it was played too straight. Gone were the over-the-top characters and dialogue that made Day such a great film. I was really hoping for a Blue Velvet era Hopper. Loved the gore by Nicotero though I wonder what it would have been like had Savini done it instead of his 30 second cameo.

It wasn't the epic finale I was expecting and felt rushed and too short. I wonder if the studio releasing the film 4 months early had anything to do with that. I guess it only made $10 mil over the weekend so what are the chances of another one. It was a tough spot being in between Batman and War of the Workds but who would have thought that Bewitched would outdo it?

Overall I enjoyed it, It was a good time and I'll be looking forward to the DVD but it did fall short of my expectations.

it really did feel like a Carpenter film at times, didn't it?

uneven and easily the least of the Romero zombie flicks, but still A GREAT MOVIE. felt weird watching it because it was the first Romero zombie experience I've had since total desensitization, and I had to make allowance for that. also the first Romero zombie movie to have the quality/known actor sheen.

but I loved the movie. what would have made it better was longer running time, a better hero (Baker's a good actor, just inappropriate), and better lead zombie (it really needed someone as capable and expressive a physical actor as the Bub actor)

yes, Romero's still got it. and Asia still looks like Dario. balance is restored.

The desensitized point you bring up is good. I was thinking the same thing. I saw Night, Dawn and Day when I was a kid and since have watched hundreds of other horror films so at this point even though Land seemed to have more gore than any of the others possibly even combined it didn't grab me like the others did. I'm going to have to watch this one a bunch of times on DVD to really get a feel for it and put it into perspective.

Yes, my older sister somehow got me in the theater when I was 12 back in 1979 to see the original DAWN .... But remember, that film was given the X rating, and as a kid, I felt as if I were seeing something taboo ... and not only because of the rating and the work it took just to get in: it had ( and still has ) that incomprable underground aura surrounding it, from the look and sound to the feel ......... I never felt ( and still don't ) that George ( and Dario, for that matter ) ever made an attempt to pander to anyone with the original DAWN, and that is a big reason why it appealed to me as a kid - I was seeing something that was not supposed to be seen by kids my age ...

But I don't feel comparisions are fair, no matter what the film(s) ... I just don't think LAND was a good film, period ........

It certainly isn't ending up in the Smithsonian as NIGHT did ...........

Elmie you always surprise me with the movies you like and dislike. I just can't see how you could not find it entertaining in the least. It is lightyears better than that pretentious POS that is 28 Days Later. I think George made the best zombie film since, when was Day released 1985?. I agree it lacked that something that makes the other three so great and I can't remember the score either if it even had one but dammit man it's still a great flick as it is?

I think having a well known cast was part of what made it feel different but I think they were all fantastic. I especially liked Luguizamo.

It's impossible for me to judge this film based on the others as I have seen them numerous times and this once. Once I get the DVD I'll no doubt watch it a dozen times then I'll be able to say for sure where I think it lies with the rest.

I don't know about you man.

Floyd, I don't think George had any intentions on making a horror film .... that, or he just completely lost sight of it, concentrating more on this hokey naive message he was trying to get across ... Either way, it resulted in a total meltdown for me ...

For a horror film to be successful in my book, the person making it must be coming from a sort of mean-spirited or taboo angle ... and with George, he seems to leave all the "horror" up to the makeup and effects dept : almsot as if he was making a film based on social commentary, and leaving the horror element up to a completely different team ... George was too busy showing how sorry he feels for those treated injustly in this country, so he steered clear of getting down into wonderfully politically incorrect world of the horror film ...

And I hated the zombies too - "casting call" zombies they were ... Everyone walking around in their overdone latex appliances making the exaggerated Fangoria faces ... it looked cheesier than the Thriller video .... geesh, I don't know, it just seemed so forced and overplanned to me ...
I don't need a million dollar animated corpse that looks like a leftover from the Tales From The Crypt warehouse .......

For me, the entire movie felt as if you could tell that there were 1,000 crew members standing just off camera ...

Hey Floyd, one more thing ... John Leguizamo was excellent in SUMMER OF SAM ... If ya liked him in LOTD, I highly recommend SOS if you haven't already seen it ...

Haven't seen that. I'll check it out.

Isn't that what the first three movies were doing? Especially Dawn and Day...well that's what it seemed like to me.




Sorry if it seems like I'm picking on you, it's hard to discuss something with so few people around :P

I was very dissapointed in this film. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I thought the dialouge and one-liners were silly, and the F/X inferior to Day. Still better than most Hollywood horror films. I think Dawn is still the best.

Elmie I can see where you're coming from. If I seperated myself from "this is a George Romero zombie flick" idea then I might come to the same conclusion but it's a George Romero zombie flick and I love it.

Well my GF and i saw Land last night and we both came out of the movie agreeing on 2 things. A). The Gore scenes were really good in this film. B). The remake of Dawn was so much better then this.

When I saw Dawn the remake, I was scared shitless, that the zombies ran (for one thing) and they were brutal and fast. That was a good film.

Here in Land the zombies decided ok lets walk now on and do the old zombie thing. Communication? what thought they were brain dead and can do one thing and that's eat. What the zombies are going to live in that town now and have there own lives back? What's next Zombies making Pornos or having zombie Kids?

I liked Land, but didn't like it at the same time. I did like that cameo that Tom Savani (how ever you spell it) that was neat. Othe then that, well I probably would buy it on DVD, hopeing that the DVD will have an unrated version or something better.

Re:

Here's my stab at it, and I'm a Dead trilogy fan, Dawn being my fav. "Sorry if that pisses some of you off but if your honest with yourself you know its true." This being from a review from the corner, sorry, but I Am honest with myself. Great film, understandably I hardly call anything a masterpiece, but a great film in the george saga. I also feel this movie was better than the Dawn remake. I liked the dawn remake, but this film had so much more substance than the dawn remake. You got Hopper and Luigizamo(whatever his name) palying characters the dawn remake didnt even come close to having. There's a certain old school cheesiness of horror that this film showed rather than the dawn remake. I too saw the film oepning day with my g/f, and we both agreed that the only thing we didnt like about it was Big Daddy moaning in the sky stuff. I understand his pain and all, but it's hard to sell that to a huge audience nowadays to the younger generation and up. Maybe in the 80's, but not now. Fiddler's Green was an awesome idea, loved those shots of the building and the commercials and seing everyone in the theater is like "WTF"? Dead reckoning was also a cool idea. Kinda sci-fi ish mad max style. The lovely argento should have done more, but was lovely to see on screen. Everyone in the theater freaked out on the Savini scene with the greanade blowing up the dude. Dont get that in the dawn remake or Shawn of the dead or 28 days later. the band playing in the beginning, target zombies, the gore compared to the dawn remake or anything else, considering this was a movie shown in alot of theaters to kids. Seems alot of people were like this during Day of the dead as well. Now it's a favorite to a following. Great film, cheers to Geaorge, cool movie, But........Big daddy can blow me. Bub kicks his ass anyday of the dead week!
-For All the Sin-

Just saw this yesturday. I liked it a lot and I saw it in really bad quality video (might be a while until it makes its way round here).

A few random thoughts.

Some of the one liners were a bit hard to swallow but nothing too corny. Overall I thought the movie was well done with a few minor things here and there that could probably have been handled better (imo) but a damn solid flick.
The effects on the main thinker zombie were a bit meh, which kind of sucked.
I really liked the evolution of the zombies.

The style of the first three Dead movies were all different so I didn't expect Land to be anything like the others. No only that but lots of fans of Dawn didn't like Day when it first came out, including myself. Now it's hard for me to say which of those I like better.

With that in mind I went in the see Land on it's opening night. I loved it! I am looking forward to the DVD and will get it the day it comes out.

Man, I've wrestled with my thoughts on this film for awhile before I decided to post. Even saw it twice to make sure of my opinion. I wanted so bad to like it, tried to convince myself that I did, but in the end I just don't. I'm surprised to find other people here that didn't care for it since what I read on the main discussion seemed mostly in favor. My problem is that, for once, Romero finally let his alegories and underlying messages overshadow the film and it's story. I've always loved that Romero's films had some brains and some weight behind the zombie horror. It was a treat that you got a kick ass horror film with something to think about when you were done watching it. In the past films, Romero was far more subtle and intelligent about it. They never got in the way of the the characters or the story. They were hand in hand with them. In Land, he beats you over the head with them. It's as if he doesn't have any respect for the audience and their ability to figure out his themes like the used to be able to. Maybe he does feel that way and maybe the multiplex crowd doesn't get it, but fuck them and fuck Romero for not respecting the rest of his audience. Give the multiplex their violence and give the rest of us the smart way of feeding us ideas. This film dumbed things down both on a subtextual level and on a storytelling level. I can accept zombies evolving, but this "they just want a place of their own" bullshit is insulting and it just doesn't fit. There was a time when Romero was making a movie and slipping a message in underneath. Now, he's making the message first and trying to fold a movie around it. That's not only sloppy and lazy, it's just a waste of the talent he once displayed. I expected better.

Some people are just impossible to please I spose!

This film is anything but shallow, like Sacriligious Supersucker is trying to suggest. It's got a million times more substance than all the non Romero zombie movies put together! I loved it!

Have to admit, I was very sceptical about this film. Especially when I heard that the zombies were evolving into 'more sophisticated' creatures. I should have had more faith in George, as it all worked very well indeed. Eugene Clarks 'Big Daddy' zombie really stole the show!

Great movie! Better than Day of the Dead, and quite worthy of a place alongside Dawn and Night IMO.

After 20 year of waiting, I unashamed to say I was let down.

If your assessment of the movie while comparing it to a JC movie isn't as a negativism and more of a compliment then I agree.

In the recent years many zombie movies came out, and in my mind this is the weakest entry.

Shaun, 28 days later and even the remakes of dawn are a lot better.

On many levels I actually thought “Uwe Boll” when I watched this movie.

Zombies that think (better than most human in the movie), that know how to use tools, run, jog, use machine guns, and look 20 times stronger than normal human, and that are just looking for a place to leave in pieces, K’mon.

Bub was funny in Day, and the good doctor spent a lot of time just to teach him to salute, but this was ridiculous.

Plainly put this zombie movie really wreaked (pun intended).

BTW something that always surprises me in zombie movies is the fact that main heroes or/and people in general are always surprised to see zombies popping out 2 feet from them, just the stench of decomposition should warm you 20 minutes in advance, not to mention their clumsy movement and moaning.

I think house of the dead as some fierce competition

I liked this film - - - but it was a little too "action" & not enough omghorrorz!!11

"Walking dead" movies are #1 in the horror genre, for me; & it didn't have me squirming in my seat. I think it had to do with it not being NEARLY as claustrophobic as it should've been ('Stench' to 'live' ratio not skewed enough?).

Sorry if this has been brought up already. Sleepy time.