FrightFest Movie Haiku - Land Of The Dead

www.makezombieshistory.com


Dir: George A. Romero


Cast: Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Asia Argento, Dennis Hopper


The daddy is back

killing zombies in big truck

watch out for the priest


It's humans vs. zombies again. So, Romero's back with a new chapter of his Dead movies; this time we're in the walled city of Fiddlers Green, governed by the ruthless Kaufman (Hopper). His band of mercenaries , led by Riley (Baker) patrol the city streets in their 'Dead Reckoning' truck taking care of any zombie action. But then Cholo (Leguizamo) starts a revolution, steals the truck, and of course Kaufman gets Riley to go after him. Meanwhile the zombies are learning and find their way across the river and into the heart of the city... Sadly Land Of The Dead just didn’t have quite the impact that I’d hoped for. Right from the start of the year this was the one movie that we all wanted to see at FrightFest, but even with a sold out audience of die-hard horror fans, and the director himself in attendance, it just didn’t cut the mustard. That’s not to say it’s a disaster, far from it, but with its concise running time there just isn’t enough build up or time to get to know the main characters. Leguizamo is definitely the most charismatic of the bunch, so it’s a shame that the weight of the film falls onto the shoulders of Simon Baker, who sadly doesn’t possess the gravitas required to carry off the leading role. Asia Argento looks the part but is given little to do. It was left to Tom Savini to receive the biggest cheer of the evening, although I’m sure Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s cameos would have got a bigger response had anyone actually spotted them (they’re the two zombies chained up at the photo booth, trivia fans). Land Of The Dead cracks along at a fair pace and certainly looks good on its modest budget. The zombies look the part, and even with its 15 certificate, the film delivers enough blood and guts to keep the gorehounds happy – although of course, there’s always the unrated DVD release to look forward to. Maybe I’ll grow fonder of it over time, but my initial reaction is that this modern take on the zombie film could have come from any Hollywood director, there’s just not enough of George’s personality in this one – and that’s a real disappointment.

soulmining Rating: ***