It took George Romero 20 years to file the fourth installment in his zombie series. And it was worth every second of the wait.
I went to see Land of the Dead not knowing exactly what to expect. I’d read that Romero didn’t film in Pittsburgh, which was weighing heavily on me. It was that Pittsburgh tie that scared the hell out of me the first time I saw “Night of the Living Dead” as a child. But even though the production didn’t happen in Pittsburgh, it still was set there. They refer to Mount Washington, and the city under siege clearly is Pittsburgh, up to and including the three rivers.
In this installment, the zombies are evolving and developing a bit of smarts, with Big Daddy leading the way. The film also is infused with the bizarre social commentary that has made Romero’s flicks so much fun to watch. During it, I kept thinking about the Wall Street Journal’s recent series of articles on the widening gap between rich and poor in America. Romero nails it in this flick.
Dennis Hopper is great, but John Leguizamo’s portral of Cholo is awesome. Also loved the fact that Tom Savini had a role as “machete zombie.” Don’t need to say much more than that …
The special effects are the best I’ve seen. The gore flows freely, and Romero doesn’t jump on the fast-moving-zombie bandwagon of “28 Days Later.” While I liked that film a lot, there’s something about that tottering zombie amble in the Romero flicks that consitutes the definitive zombie.
This one is a must-see …