 [news] [reviews] [features] |
|
|
LAND OF THE DEAD (2005)
Director: George A. Romero. Hacktors: Dennis Hopper, Simon Baker, Asia Argento. Rating: 
The lowdown: It seems like George Romero has been talking about this movie forever. And indeed, it's been two f**king decades since the excellent Day Of The Dead hit screens. That's terrifying. And kinda obscene. George Romero not making a zombie movie for 20 years is like a songbird not singing for all that time. Ahem. Or something. Anyway, this is the darkest Romero flick yet: we arrive in an appropriately lifeless state where the rich hole themselves up in a luxury highrise complex, leaving everyone else to fend for themselves, faced with dwindling supplies and a shitload of zombies wandering around. Riley (Baker) is a charismatic tough guy who leads scavenging runs out into the wilds, bringing back the goods and killing any dead folk who get in his way. In the film's opening sequence, Riley's latest run involves massacring a whole host of zombies, which pisses off a gigantic, former gas station mechanic named Big Daddy (in the credits only). This oddly sympathetic character leads a vengeful army of 'stenches' (the human's slang for them) towards the city, where Kaufman (Hopper) runs the affluent and supposedly secure Fiddler's Green tower block. Good points: First of all, it has to be gore, let's be quite frank. There's a hell of a lot of it, even considering that Romero occasionally utilises the trick of showing us an atrocity in silhouette against a wall. Heads come off, countless bullets splatter undead skulls, flesh is munched, limbs are chopped and navel piercings are ripped out. In perhaps my favourite bloody moment, a butcher zombie chops off a soldier's forearm as he's about to throw a grenade, causing him to fall on it and be blown to smithereens. Genius! Baker makes for a compelling lead as Riley, if a slightly unknowable one, although maybe that's what makes him interesting. Robert Joy, though, is superb as his right-hand man Charlie who has had the right-hand side of his face disfigured by fire. Charlie's such a sympathetic character - a little slow-minded, but an expert marksman and loyal to the end - that I spent most of the movie extremely concerned for his safety. And no, I'm not saying if he makes it or not... Land Of The Dead also looks great. After Day Of The Dead's basic production values, which were scaled down from the original script's epic vision, this one comes a hell of a lot closer to showing us the Romero movie we wet-dreamed about. The zombie make-up is uniformly superb (no extras in talcum powder here) and Romero goes for broke with his matte paintings and landscape effects, giving us a real sense of space between the fortress-like city and its surrounding turf. Bad points: For a 93-minute movie, there's a little too much plot. John Leguizamo is great as Cholo, one of Riley's men who goes astray, but you wonder if his involvement is strictly necessary. Similarly, Asia Argento might look good and acts just fine, but her character Slack is also surplus to requirements, in terms of plot. Come the end, Romero doesn't seem entirely sure how to wrap everything up and as a result the ending isn't quite as satisfying as, say, Rhodes' comeuppance at the climax of Day Of The Dead. While the very presence of Dennis Hopper is always a joy, there's occasionally the sense that he's just reading the lines. This isn't a 'Blue Velvet' moment for our Den. Overall: Land Of The Dead might have a little too much stirred into its cauldron, but it's a superbly intoxicating brew, even with those flaws. Gore hounds will love it (there's hardly a CGI effect in sight - or, at least, nothing too obvious) and zombie fans will turn a figure-eight in mid-air. One of the best zombie movies ever, and probably Romero's best. It's a joy to see the man finally get the budget he deserves. Release Date: Has already chomped its way through US theaters. Hits UK screens on September 23, 2005. [Home] © Copyright Slasherama 2002-present |