Zombie fans, unite, partake of the alcohol, partake of the party, the (arguably) Godfather of the genre is back, and I tell you now, it does not suck.
Okay so what happen to Mister "Night of the Living Dead" last time out? Well he made a little film called "Land Of the Dead", starring, as I am sure you could have guessed by the wonderfully straight forward title, zombies. Difference between this and his (insert choir) "Living Dead Trilogy" [Night, Dawn, Day] was that someone gave him a budget. Okay, Romero with a budget? I was worried but the film was actually pretty decent until, oh my god, until the last thirty seconds, when, after surviving waves of the undead, the lone heroes of the film, armed with a super tank thing, come across a large group of Zombies. There, faced with the chance to re-dead the undead horde, for whatever reason, they decide that the dead, well "They're just looking for a place of their own"... and they freaking let them go. My brain broke, my heart exploded with betrayal... on so on. How could Romero do something like that? His statement has always been an examination of us as a civilization, our brutality, hate. Never has there been a doubt that dead things, are well, dead. And hence, deserve to be underground, not given a reservation... so finally Romero returns, back to his roots, no money, crank up the make up gore... and do this.
Film follows a group of film students, who, on the eve of the Zombie outbreak (how? No explanation needed, zombies are here, and go...), head out in a large motor home. First destination, collect one's girlfriend, and then help for an injured ally. Things go gradually down hill, and much more gory once they get to the hospital, where they all begin to accept what's happening. From there they embark towards the home a girl's parents, that they be travelling with. As imagined they meet all kinds of people and situations along the way. Military become thieves, gang bangers and others uniting, and taking over a town. A kick ass Amish mute deaf guy, who might just be the best small role in a horror flick I have seen in quite sometime. Eventually, they find themselves at a friends, trying to decide the next, if not final move, as zombie hordes close in.
The gore in this film is fantastic, I mean your usual zombie stuff, head shots, neck blood chunkness. But Romero really cranked it up here, finding all kinds of inventive ways to off folks... I think the heart charger paddle things to the head, and exploding (I'll let you guess) was just swell. And the Amish guy, well, he has that grim reaper blade on a stick thing, that a can't seemed to remember how to spell, but you can imagine the fun there.
Film is directed brilliantly. It is shot first person through a handheld camera, but they tell you at the beginning they've edited, and added sound effects to make the film more realized, and effective. So basically you get cheap hand held technique, but still get the soundtrack, and cool TV clips of the zombie apocalypse, worked in. Brilliant. Romero has you on the edge of your seat more than once, playing around, jumping from handheld camera, to recovered security camera footage. Just fun to watch what a great director can do in his zone, and with more than a little freedom. The writing is bang on for the most part, as per the usual, George "A+" Romero, he gets a lot out of a fairly unknown cast.
If you like zombie flicks, I pretty sure this will find a way on to your shelf. Blood, scares, typical social commentary, and a really enjoyable pace, and plot.
Dig it bitches, dig it.
Movie scale 3.5 out of 5 stars
Horror/Zombie scale 4.5 out of 5 stars
One of the greats, reminds us why he is that damn good.
Boony is happy, covered in zombie remains, and hungry, lata bitches
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