It’s a rather curious fact that both I and my charming wife have a thing for zombie movies. You name it, if it has a zombie theme, we are out there watching it on opening weekend. It was then with considerable anticipation that we trundled off to see George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead. After all, it was Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead which practically invented the genre. Other directors have gone in many directions, but Romero’s influence can be seen in literally every horror film since then.

His new film begins years after the first zombie attacks. Living humans exist only in isolated pockets surrounded by seas of the undead. The very rich have surrounded themselves with barbed wire and electrical fences, and live as the lords of the Dark Ages did, by exploiting the perpetually poor and downtrodden around them.

A band of mercenaries discover an interesting fact: the zombies are slowly becoming more intelligent. They are displaying a larger range of awareness, and are slowly unifying themselves into an army of the dead.

That’s where complication sets in. 🙂

This movie is a pure zombie film: it’s plot is somewhat thinner than some. It’s got a large variety of shuffling, decaying, flesh eating monsters, all bent on making a quick snack of our heros. It’s got very archetypal (some would say stereotypical) characters, but I’m inclined to be forgiving, since Romero invented the archetypes. It’s got some pretty serious gore effects, minor amounts of drug use and flashes of nudity, but you shouldn’t be going to a zombie film if you aren’t braced for that.

Both Carmen and I enjoyed the film a lot. I frankly think that 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead are two zombie films with greater originality, but Romero still has the touch. I give it 8.5 out of ten, a solid B performance.

You can also download the 1968 Night of the Living Dead in its entirety from archive.org.