I am a huge George A. Romero fan and I think that his entire ‘Dead’ trilogy is memorable, outstanding, awe-inspiring and brilliantly crafted. Even though Day of the Dead was a flop and some consider it to be his weakest film, I look at it differently and I think Day of the Dead is my personal favorite Romero zombie film. However, in 2004 George gave us Land of the Dead; a sequel to Day of the Dead making his zombie films a quadrilogy. A lot of film critics liked this movie and some consider it a great achievement but then you have regular people who just didn’t like the movie because it didn’t have the moxie as the original 3 films did.

I don’t remember where I heard this (probably a podcast or something) but the person stated that they think that George A. Romero is becoming a cynical old man and that his previous 3 zombie films still retained some hope that the living will prevail over the dead. In Land of the Dead, the problem that this guy had was that there is no cure, there never will be a cure and that the dead WILL inherit the Earth and there is no stopping him, almost as if it’s a metaphor for Romero’s own view of the world. I completely respect this person’s view (a very interesting view, really) but I think that’s exactly what Romero’s aim is. He is making a political statement about the war and that there is no hope for humanity of the coming change. Romero may become a cynical old man but I think that his point is very valid. Plus, considering that if you take is ‘Dead’ movies and put them together, realistically speaking the zombies would eventually take over us.

People have stated that they hated the movie because it has a heavy, heavy political statement and I agree with them 100%. But, they have stated that it too political and it’s not very subtle as his earlier films were so I guess their complaint is subtlety. I don’t think that Romero’s films were really all that subtle especially in his first and second zombie film. The one thing that I will agree on is that he is taking a very cliché statement but he did it effectively.

Minor complaints rage from CGI blood and the lack of cleverness in this movie. Okay, I will admit that the CGI blood was pretty unnecessary but I won’t let that ruin the movie for me. That’s like saying: “I don’t like spelunking so I HATE The Decent.” Now, about the cleverness, honestly I don’t know what people are talking about when they are talking about this. Sure, it’s not as creative as Dawn or maybe Day but Romero still has some good zombie gags in this film. Hell, Romero introduced us to a Bub-like zombie that we love or are rooting for.

Land of the Dead will not be as strong as Night of the Living Dead or even Dawn of the Dead but it’s a good movie and I don’t understand where all the hate is coming from. The characters themselves are not memorable but it’s still a great edition in the Dead series.

Land of the Dead is available at Amazon

Land of the Dead Poster

One of the original movie posters for Romero’s Land of the Dead.
“The sizes of these poster is approximately 27x40inches, rolled and in very mint condition never been used or hanged. These are original posters, not a reprint”

Snag one today from Amazon.

Land of the Dead

“Legendary filmmaker George A. Romero returns to unleash his new zombie masterpiece! Starring Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo, Romero’s latest undead epic finds humanity’s last remnants battling to survive the unspeakable truth: The ravenous zombie hordes besieging their fortified city…are evolving!
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