Land of the Dead

Coming from a fan of George Romero zombie flicks, his fourth visit to the genre is moderate fun, but a bit disappointing. While Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead stand as horror classics, Day of the Dead took the zombie film in a slightly lame direction with Bub, a zombie who learned how to use a Walkman and fire a gun. Land takes this silly notion of zombies becoming more aware a bit further, and while Romero seems to be looking for zombie sympathy, the result is unintentional zombie laughter. Dennis Hopper plays a tycoon living in a secure high-rise building that becomes a zombie target, some sort of symbol for American greed and ego. Whatever. Romero is at his best when he just concentrates on the scares (the film has some good ones) and the zombie gore (pretty gross, but a bit toned down for Romero). Zombies are sad characters as they stand, but having them perform sorrowful wails when fellow oppressed zombies are dispatched is just too funny. I’m thinking there’s an unrated director’s cut in the making for DVD.