George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead
Studio: Universal Pictures
Rated: R
Website: http://www.landofthedeadmovie.net/
Release Date: 2005-07-01
Cast: Simon Baker, Asia Argento, Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo, Robert Joy
Director: George A. Romero
Screenwriter: George A. Romero
WorkNameSort: George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead
Our Rating: 4.00
How zombie godfather Romero can still manage to set himself apart from his legion of imitators is a mystery to me, but he’s done it again. Re-entering apocalyptic terrain he hasn’t visited since 1985’s Day of the Dead, Romero peels off yet another worthy amalgam of the two essential elements in his oeuvre: an obvious yet spot-on central metaphor and a creative approach to bodies going splat. This time, the setting is a luxurious residential/shopping complex that protects its well-off inhabitants from the outlying zombie hordes … and from some slum-dwelling humans who would love to live there, too. It’s class warfare gone Grand Guignol, and though its juxtaposition of social conscience and sadistic cheap thrills should come off as profoundly hypocritical, it somehow doesn’t; Romero instead makes his story of urban siege feel like a reassuring throwback to the days when we all needed our protest statements underlined in blood. Maybe we still do: Imagine an army of Parramore undead descending on The Waverly and try to deny that the idea thrills you just a little bit.
This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2005.