PopHorror Let's Get Scared
George A. Romero is top tier for me, maybe even the reigning king of my horror interest. I first watched Night of the Living Dead when I was six years old. It moved me into an entire world of monsters, creepy killers, and most of all, zombies. It is hard to believe, but Land of the Dead got my mind flowing again. I asked myself questions like “Since when did zombies shoot people?” “How do they swim?” However, we have seen that scene in Lucio Fulci’s film Zombie where a zombie fights a shark. Let’s dive into this celebrated film.
Synopsis
Years after a zombie outbreak, the surviviors do what they do best, the rich control the city, and the poor are left hungry and homeless. After a chance meeting in a raid for supplies, the zombies learn to fight back. When the zombies reach the city, who will die first?
The film stars Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, and Dennis Hopper.
The Rundown
Keeping the idea that zombies eventually decompose fully, instead of blue bodies. We are introduced to the entire George A. Romero universe. This is how legendary films are made. Land of the Dead was a non-stop puzzler. You are left on the edge of your seat the entire movie. Whereas most of Romero’s films were more of a slow burn, however, I still love them all to death. I was instantly attracted to the vehicle known as “Dead Reckoning”. How could you not love this train of destruction?
The cast was absolutely perfect; they understood the assignment. The film has a bunch of easter eggs, including Asia Argento, daughter of the legendary filmmaker Dario Argento. The film also features a cameo from Shaun of the Dead actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, the comedic main characters.
Land of the Dead was a passion project. It was one of the last of a generation of zombie films. These days, zombies run, and it’s a shoot ’em up. That’s not the style I fell in love with. Zombies, to me, are rotting corpses who take the spotlight at the climax of the movie. I miss the zombies I knew before Resident Evil had a movie come out. his isn’t a review for that stuff, but I added it in anyway. I have always had a passion for monsters, anything spooky, even as a kid. Zombies just fit my taste buds as a young kid. Years later, and I still watch Land of the Dead at least 4 times a year, just to look back on the good times. The ‘simpler times’ AKA my early twenties.
Land of the Dead is legendary to me because it broke so many rules that were applied in the early two thousands. We were given two more films in the universe, but they don’t hit as hard as this film. I fell right into the storyline, waiting for George A. Romero’s classic kill scene, and I was not surprised; there were some real cringeworthy moments where you get that really weird feeling in your stomach.
This is how I still feel watching Land of the Dead. May George A. Romero bask in that big cloud in the sky, watching us celebrate him.
