Tonight’s film, Land of the Dead, garnered very mixed reactions from viewers. Personally, I love it.



The movie starts out well into the zombie outbreak. In fact, the first shot after the credits is of a small town completely overrun by “stenchers” (the term used in this movie). We see them going about mindless activities, including what I am assuming was an old ragtime band trying to play their instruments. It is here that the ideas of zombies who can almost think. We see a zombie step on one of those cords at a gas station that rings a bell, and the zombie attendant comes outside to… well… attend. This is this movie’s main zombie, Big Daddy. After he comes out and grabs the gas pump and notices there is no vehicle, we see two humans scouting the area. They are discussing how the zombies are pretending to be alive. Then, Big Daddy notices the humans. He calls out to the teenage zombies who are holding hands. The two guys leave, and we find out that they are part of a raiding team out for supplies. We find out that one of the guy’s names is Riley (pretty much the main human here). We meet Cholo (John Leguizamo) and Charlie. The party of humans figured out that they can shoot fireworks up into the nighttime sky to distract the zombies. They are all distracted except for Big Daddy, who starts to figure out the trick. He even tries to push other zombies out of the way of the raiding party’s gunfire.



Some people are killed, some supplies are gotten, and the raiders leave, noticed by Big Daddy. Yeah, you can tell where this is going. The raiders end up back at Fiddler’s Green, a safe haven, a fortress if you will, where people are trying to live normal lives. There is a huge class division here too. The rich live in the fortified skyscrapers, and those who don’t have money live on the streets. They have parties too, full of depravity. Like zombie cage fighting. Run by a midget pimp. They even have a couple of zombies chained up and you can get your pictures taken with them. These chained up zombies also happen to be Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg. How cool is that?



Anyhow, backs get stabbed, zombies attack, and it’s a whole lot of fun. There is even a cool scene with a man who hung himself then turns into a zombie.

In case you couldn’t tell, one reason people were split on this one is because of the inclusion of thinking zombies. This isn’t the first movie to introduce this concept. Hell, it isn’t even Romero’s first stab at it. Remember Bub? Return of the Living Dead, another great zombie movie, has zombies who can think. They even have their memories. And they can talk. More on that soon, as Return of the Living Dead is coming soon.



Anyway, if you haven’t watched this yet because you aren’t sure about it, go rent it. You will at least get some satisfaction out of it, and I think at the very least, you won’t hate it.

Coming Soon:

Return of the Living Dead
Dead & Breakfast
The Monster Squad
Double Feature Finale!