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BackFire
Blood. It's nature's lube
 Gender: Male
Location: Huntington Beach, CA Moderator |
Land of the Dead Review
****NOTE**** Please post your reviews of LOTD in this thread, thanks!
Fans of every genre have had a movie made for them recently, that they are always extremely excited for. The one genre that always seems to be left out, is horror. Die hard horror fans have had very little lately to be excited for when it came to theatrical releases. In fact, a few years ago people were saying "Horror is dead, there will never be another horror genre film for the fans that gets a big release". For a while, it seemed as they were correct, while star wars fans got their new trilogy, horror fans got Wrong Turn, Sci Fi fans had the Matrix while horror fans got Cursed, fantasy fans got Lord of the Rings, we got the Dawn of the Dead remake made for a more mainstream audience, Comic book fans got Batman Begins and Spider man, while we got House of Wax. For a long time, it seemed the critics were correct, Horror seemed dead, all of the former big names had either seemingly given up their genre or simply lost their touch. Don't get me wrong, there have been some solid horror films lately, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead and what not, have been quite solid, but we had nothing major, really, we had no equivalent of the big genre film that everyone who loves the genre is just dying to see. Finally, our prayers and hopes have been answered, A new zombie movie from the master, the creator of zombie movies. Horror fans, let me tell you now, THIS, Land of the Dead, is your Star Wars.
I just returned from the midnight showing of Land of the Dead, and I won't beat around the bush, it was excellent. It was gory, funny, interesting and was blistering with Romero's classic touch of social commentary.
The story of the film is a bit different from the other romero zombie films. This isn't about trying to maintain a settlement or start up a place to live. In this film, everythings set up, the settlement is set up,the living live comfortably in a walled off town, ignoring the hordes of undead that walk outside of the city. The story is basically this - Zombies are evolving, they are learning to think, in the most seemingly irrelevant and primitive ways, they are learning basic reasoning and beginning to use basic tools to get their objective completed. Much of the film concentrates on this aspect. In this, the zombies are the stars. The story involving the humans is a bit more linear then his other films. Basically, the town the humans occupy is held by rich, and poor. The rich live in a tall sky scraper, more or less, where they continue their rich lives, living in luxury. The poor live outside, in the slums. Doing the bidding of the man in charge, the "boss" rich man, so to speak, named Kaufman (played by Dennis Hopper). The other main players are all poor folk, living in the slums. There's Cholo (John Liguizamo), who's trying his damndest to become and upper class citizen, and he's willing to screw over other people to get there. Riley (Simon Baker) is more or less satisfied with his station of life, he's of sound heart and spirit, and is the "good guy" of the film. Then, there's slack (Asia Argento) a hooker who becomes one of Rileys team, a team of poor people who go about and raid the outside towns of supplies for the rich people. Anyways, the human story is this -Cholo is sucking up to Kaufman trying to get under his good graces, doing chores for him for money. Apparently Kaufman owes him a good chunk of change, but when he asks Kaufman for it, he refuses and kicks him out of the building. Cholo then hijacks "dead reckoning", a huge fortress on wheels that houses two extremely powerful missiles and uses it to threaten kaufman into giving him the money he's owed. Kaufman hires Riley to go get Dead reckoning back, though Riley is more concerned for the safety of the Innocent people in the city who's lives are in danger should the missiles of "dead reckoning" fire. He accepts and sets out after Cholo.
Now, to the gore. Let me tell you, right now, the gore was excellent, this is far and away the goriest "R" rated film I've ever seen. How this gore got into an R rated movie is beyond me, I've seen unrated films that have less gore then this. In fact, this is the goriest film in Romero's series of the dead. Plus, there is some extremely unique gore scenes, I won't spoil them here, but you'll know them when you see them. One of them involves a chicks belly button ring.
As should be expected this film had some great social commentary. Since Romero didn't make a zombie film for the 90's, he had to tackle two decades worth of social commentary. This is accomplished by the two extremely different types of people inhabiting the city. It has the 90's type yuppie who simply ignore all problems and only worry about money, of course, when confronted with a problem, they can't handle themselves because they're so used to other people doing it for them. It also tackles the post 9/11 fear based mentality. Relying of falsities and lies to make people feel safe, ignoring the threat outside of their walls, making the poor people in the slums feel safe through propaganda and lies.
All in all, this was an excellent film, it was funny, had some great cameos (keep an eye out for Tom Savini and Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright), good action, great social commentary and some of the best gore I've seen. I was giggling like an excited little child when the gore took place on screen. In fact, I felt more excited during this film then ever before. Through much of the film I noticed that I had a huge smile on my face.
If you're a horror fan, just go see this movie. It's true Romero through and through. This is your day in the sun, fellow horror fans, this is your Star Wars, this is the biggest horror release in the last 20 years for us hardcore horror fanatics. Enjoy it people, it truly delivers the goods.
__________________
"God has no place within these walls! Just as facts have no place within organized religion." - The Simpsons
Last edited by BackFire on Jun 24th, 2005 at 10:02 AM
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Jun 24th, 2005 09:51 AM |
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Luetchyboy
Resident Superhero
Gender: Male
Location: United Kingdom |
thats a nice review right there. I really can't wait to see this movie except I have one little problem, UK Release date: 9th September 2005, oh well I am sure I will see it some other way...
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Jun 24th, 2005 10:26 AM |
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Kram3r
Senior Member
 Gender: Male
Location: Australia |
Very convincing review, I recently saw NOTLD and DOTD although I didn't like DOTD, I thought NOTLD was great. I might just go see it. Thanks.
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Jun 24th, 2005 10:32 AM |
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Neo_Version 7
Smile (:
 Gender: Male
Location: |
Backfire, what didn't you like about it?
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Jun 24th, 2005 06:58 PM |
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BackFire
Blood. It's nature's lube
Gender: Male
Location: Huntington Beach, CA Moderator |
I wish it were a little longer. Some of the "Zombie evolution" was a little wierd. The characters weren't all that great.
Other then that, I loved it.
__________________
"God has no place within these walls! Just as facts have no place within organized religion." - The Simpsons
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Jun 24th, 2005 07:48 PM |
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MildPossession
Senior Member
 Gender: Female
Location: England |
Are you sure you are not over hyping the gore, because it has just received an official 15 certificate here in the UK, Dawn of the Dead remake got a 18 certificate here.
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Film spectators are quiet Vampires
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Jun 24th, 2005 08:47 PM |
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BackFire
Blood. It's nature's lube
Gender: Male
Location: Huntington Beach, CA Moderator |
Unless they cut out some stuff for the UK release, it's extremely gory. Far far more gore then the DOTD remake.
__________________
"God has no place within these walls! Just as facts have no place within organized religion." - The Simpsons
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Jun 24th, 2005 09:13 PM |
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Luetchyboy
Resident Superhero
Gender: Male
Location: United Kingdom |
I still can't believe we have to wait until september the rest of the world will have it between now and july and we get september
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Jun 24th, 2005 09:23 PM |
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Neo_Version 7
Smile (:
Gender: Male
Location: |
Longer, eh?
Well, is it at least going on your Top 10 list of scary movies?
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Jun 24th, 2005 09:25 PM |
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tabby999
Music Idiot apparently
 Gender: Male
Location: Melbourne, Australia |
i dont know when were going to get it here in aus, knowing our media and politics there'll be a public outcry about how people shouldn't be allowed to see the movie because of the violence. god people suck
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If you dont like Frenzal Rhomb, your a whore!
I am aware that "your" should be "you're," and while I know I should change it as not to offend the grammar fans around the boards, school always said not to bow to peer pressure so it stays as it is
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Jun 24th, 2005 11:06 PM |
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Cory Chaos
AmStar 14 Manager
Gender: Male
Location: Mooresville, NC |
The 1990's were a decade full of presidential scandals, outrageous verdicts, and the birth of "nu-metal". What was sorely missed was an installment in the Horror genre by the zombie godfather, George A. Romero. Having last offered us his brand of gory goodness in 1985's "Day of the Dead", a personal favorite, Romero returns 20 years later, and with a vengeance.
"Land of the Dead" once again delivers Romero's signature scathing social commentary, this time, and a double dose. The world over has reached critical mass. While the well to do's enjoy their lifestyle in a lavish penthouse, soon, both zombies and the lower class are forced to live in morbid harmony, with the rich not even giving it a second thought.
Cholo, played by John Leguizamo is the hired hand of one Kaufman, Dennis Hopper. Having been denied a place in the sun, the Kaufman run utopia, Leguizamo's character takes matters into his own hands by stealing the prized Dead Reckoning with plans to destroy the complex, since if he can't have it, nobody can. In the meantime, the most evolved zombies to ever grace the silver screen make their way into the city. But, should Riley (Simon Baker) and crew have say, it's their town to defend. Hired to stop Cholo retrieve the mammoth vehicle, and save the city, the crew sets out into what was to become the Land of the Dead.
What I appreciated first and foremost was the surprisingly strong commentary of Romero. It used to be somewhat underlying, inconspicuous in his films. This time, it's in your face, and rings true of society on all counts. The main characters, as always, all played an integral role, and were effective in reflecting all walks of life, which helped with the relation. Instances of empathy displayed towards the zombies towards the end, however, was a little contrived, and out of place, given the plot of the film. That emoted by "Big Daddy" was oddly triggering. And I felt it. Weird, I know.
The zombies! Not that "realistic" is the term I'd normally use to describe Nicotero's work, but, they were. Eerie, and easily the best zombie apps I've seen on screen. I found the gore to be pretty generous and decently executed, but nowhere near the greatness of Savini's work in "Day". Granted, it's 2005 and CGI is inevitable, the computer-generated gore was pretty noticeable, and at times, really robbed the scenes of that "Oooh!" feeling.
If you were to ask me what stuck out cinematically, as the scene that all will remember it by, it would have to be the zombies creeping from out of the sea. It was reminiscent of the end of Fulci's "Zombie", just 1,000 times more effective..and creepy as hell. The realism of the undead, the execution of their march, the cinematography of that particular scenes, it was sheer Romero greatness. Unforgettable.
Overall, "LOTD" was a very straight forward, totally enjoyable film with a classic Romero commentary that won't go unnoticed. The ending, as disappointing as it may have been, speaks stronger in retorspect, and delivers great food for though. Well acted and executed, with the score and make up application really complimenting the movie overall, which is a rarity for a Horror movie.
Romero never really fails to deliver, and he's helping make 2005 a fantastic year for Horror with this one.
Last edited by Cory Chaos on Jun 24th, 2005 at 11:28 PM
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Jun 24th, 2005 11:20 PM |
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BackFire
Blood. It's nature's lube
Gender: Male
Location: Huntington Beach, CA Moderator |
Glad you enjoyed it C-Dic.
Also, I forgot to mention that the midnight showing I went to was PACKED. The theater was pretty much completely full. If it was any indication of how well the movie will do financially, it should do quite well.
__________________
"God has no place within these walls! Just as facts have no place within organized religion." - The Simpsons
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Jun 25th, 2005 12:19 AM |
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Deano
I am me I am free
 Gender: Male
Location: In the New World Order |
good review
cant wait to see this
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Viddy well
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Jun 25th, 2005 01:13 AM |
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Smasandian
Smell the Ashes
 Gender: Male
Location: Canada |
Looks pretty nifty.
(Sorry, I was replying to a different thread and when I hit post, it made the post in the this thread. It must be voodoo magic or something)
Last edited by Smasandian on Jun 25th, 2005 at 06:47 AM
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Jun 25th, 2005 06:44 AM |
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MildPossession
Senior Member
Gender: Female
Location: England |
It has been passed with no cuts here in Britain, so we will be getting exactly the same here.
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Film spectators are quiet Vampires
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Jun 25th, 2005 12:48 PM |
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MildPossession
Senior Member
Gender: Female
Location: England |
I can't wait till September to know, but can someone put in a spoiler if Asia Argento's character is in it for most of the film or not.
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Film spectators are quiet Vampires
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Jun 25th, 2005 01:43 PM |
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Cory Chaos
AmStar 14 Manager
Gender: Male
Location: Mooresville, NC |
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: Actually, she is, and she's pretty good, too. Everyone in supporting roles really pushed the movie along.
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Jun 25th, 2005 02:16 PM |
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MildPossession
Senior Member
Gender: Female
Location: England |
Thanks for that, I am a very big fan of Asia Argento and was happy when I heard she was going to be in Land of the Dead.
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Film spectators are quiet Vampires
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Jun 25th, 2005 03:25 PM |
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Bluesteel
Wanted Dead or Alive
 Gender: Male
Location: The Faroe Islands - Thorshavn |
Wow seems like this'l bring back the horror genre a bit ontrack again, nice, hope they'l be showing this at out theater here
__________________
"He who controls the past commands the future, He who commands the future conquers the past"
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Jun 25th, 2005 04:41 PM |
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Zilverz
Senior Member
 Gender: Male
Location: Jacksonville, FL |
I have never been a movie review pro.. so you read at your own risk (:
This movie definately strayed from the path of realistic zombies. It was recieved well, and i know this line had to be crossed for Romero to present his message, it just didnt get as high marks as possible with me.
The acting was good like everyone had said, but I did not feel as strongly for cast as say, Dawn of the Dead remake. I understand DOTD remake was more of the "zombie shooter" style movie without the romero depth, but I simply did not feel much for the cast of LOTD. I did like them, but i just didnt care really who was getting bit. It was probably with the short run time and the movie never really ending. It just had a whole "Series" feel to it. It left me unsatisfied in that respect.
Gore was great! There was some scenes that just brought a nice big smile to my face.
Asia was hot and one of the more likeable characters.
The Bottom Line:
Day of the Dead is still my favorite Zombie movie.
I will purchase the LOTD DVD
Overall, I enjoyed Dawn Remake more than LOTD
7/10
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Jun 25th, 2005 08:10 PM |
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