George A. Romero freaked out audiences in 1968s Night of the Living Dead which was destined to be a cult classic. Night of the Living Dead is still watched by pre-teens and horror gurus today like some of us watch Disney movies. Has Romero given us another classic horror flick?
I don't know about the rest of you, but I was caught jumping in my seat. And at the showing I saw I heard screams of "EEWW" and "UCK". On more then one occasion a girl in front of me said "Oh NO!" and the guy behind me accidentally kicked my chair.
Now some of you may be saying, I've seen these movies and the zombies are all the sameâ€. Well not this time. Instead they aren't mindless walking corpses just craving something to eat. The zombies have evolved and can now communicate. Now before some one out there goes and says something negative about thinking zombies, remember, anyone who goes to see this film has already turned off their sense of logic.
If a dead body were walking then wouldn't it be alive? If something were dead why would it need to feed? Since zombies eat human, why don't they eat other zombies? If someone gets bitten on the hand, why would they shoot the zombie in the head first instead of cutting off their arm? I'm sure you can add your own logic driven question here. Putting logic aside, this movie poses the question, what if the dead started to walk the earth and learned to organize?
It's an interesting plot twist, and one that separates this from all the other zombie movies. The only problem with the movie was the ending... but you'll have to see it to find out why.
The acting was well done and while some people may have expected Denise Hopper to out shine his cast, he really takes a back seat. For the most part he delivers a solid performance, but John Leguizamo, Simon Baker, & Robert Joy really steal the film.
And of course the zombies do too. The zombie makeup and CGI is masterfully done. There were zombies of all kinds of people, in all different states of decay. Those of you that love gore will not be disappointed. Especially when the zombies start their feeding frenzy.
THIS is a must see in the theaters. If you see one zombie movie this year, Land of the Dead should definitely be it. It was a solid movie, well acted, well written, and has awesome special effect. I highly recommend it. This is one to look forward to on DVD, as I'm sure there will be plenty of deleted scenes and behind the scene footage!
Just when you thought zombies had no other story lines left, the zombie master comes back and proves us wrong, again!
"Land of the Dead" opens June 24, 2005 and is rated R. Horror. Directed by George A Romero. Written by George A. Romero. Starring John Leguizamo, Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper, Robert Joy, Asia Argento.
