Land of the Dead

George Romero
2005

Seeing George Romero's "Land of the Dead" on opening night was the most important cinematic event of my life, and it did not disappoint. The only thing that comes close was seeing "Jurassic Park" in the theater with my old man (it was the first PG-13 movie I was allowed to see in theaters believe it or not). It is a spectacular treat to see a modern zombie film by such an unparalleled genius in the field. "Land of the Dead" is chock full of bizarre nightmare fantasy coupled with a realistic portrayal of human pathos in crisis situations.

LOTD finds the world largely overrun by the undead menace with small communities of humans living in isolated fortresses. The film's action centers on Romero's own beloved Pittsburgh, a city that's geographic triangle acts as a gated border against harm. Post apocalyptic Pittsburgh has been developed by wicked business magnate Kaufman (memorably played by Dennis Hopper), who creates Fiddler's Green, a luxurious complex for the city's elite. While the wealthy live it up in their exclusive paradise the working class booze, gamble, and ingest drugs in the grim reality of the times. Kaufman's idyl finally begins to unravel when he screws over members of his personal army (Simon Baker, John Leguizamo)...and when a horde of zombies storm the city.

A tremendously entertaining aspect of the picture is its none-too-veiled political jabs and taunts towards our current administration. Let's face it, a post apocalyptic society provides a fertile gold-mine for political satire what with the global climate and all. Hopper's megalomaniacal, disaster-profiteering, upper crust business tyrant wears the same red tie Bush wears, and when everything starts to go fubar he still makes it perfectly clear that his policy is to not negotiate with terrorists.

As far as the progression of the series is concerned, die hard fans may have a few questions reconciling LOTD with the earlier "Day of the Dead," which seems far more apocalyptic in contrast. In light of LOTD's great achievement however, all criticisms in this vein are reduced to tired quibbling. When one considers the fact that there are no mainstream american directors working in the horror films genre with the same amount of thoughtful intelligence, high production quality, and brilliant creativity, Romero's accomplishment seems more of a golden ringed benchmark that all horror director's should strive to achieve. The success of moody atmospheric Japanese imports and knockoffs like "The Ring," "The Grudge," and the forthcoming "Dark Water" are all already tepid bores angled to spook teens on dates and sell popcorn. When George Romero loosed "Night of the Living Dead" on the world he opened the door for a new era of visceral, tangible horror that is as important to cinema now as it was in the late 60's. Let us never forget the gift George Romero has given us.

Review by Brett A. Scieszka