“Zombies, man. They creep me out.”
I think this was the last George Romero zombie film I really liked. I didn’t much care for Diary of the Dead or Survival of the Dead. Not to say that I was completely happy with Land of the Dead when it came out – in all honesty I was pretty disappointed. And yet, I’m now hard pressed to say why. It may have had something to do with the release of the Dawn of the Dead remake the previous year. I enjoyed the hell out of that modernization, even if the film failed to make much use of Romero’s deeper themes. I was, perhaps, expecting a little of that edge, that frenzied, more modern pace. Maybe I was expecting that a bigger budget – Land was Romero’s only studio-produced Dead film – would create a bigger film than what we got. Maybe… ah, hell, it doesn’t really matter. The bottom line is that I was disappointed – but I still liked the movie.
In the years since, Land of the Dead has actually increased in my estimation. It still feels a little small, but the themes of haves and have nots, of self-absorbed, dictatorial leaders insulated from the average person, and of a maligned and neglected “other” who are way more capable than expected, seem to resonate ever more clearly as time goes by.
I also have a soft spot for this film because two of my friends from Toronto are in it as extras, appearing as both zombies and humans. It’s fun for me to try and pick them out in their various scenes, even if they’re wearing zombie masks for most of it.
This is a Romero zombie film, even if it’s got less gore than previous installments, so this is your warning that we’re taking a trip down:
(This means gory descriptions and images below.)
The Medium
I ended up watching Land of the Dead via my “Unrated Director’s Cut” DVD. Despite opportunities, I’ve just never got around to picking up one of the Blu-ray versions. The 2017 release from Shout Factory looks to be loaded with extras, though, so I may have to break down and upgrade. The unrated version adds back in a few choice bits of gore – like a zombie ripping out someone’s naval ring – but nothing that adds to the plot or backstory. For streaming options, only Starz currently offers Land of the Dead for subscribers. Otherwise, you’ll have to rent or purchase it at the usual online vendors.
The Movie
Set several years after the events of the previous Dead films, the primary action of Land of the Dead takes place in and around Pittsburgh’s “Golden Triangle” – a real feat, since it was shot in and around Toronto, Canada. Protected on two sides by rivers, the city provides enough safety from the dead (‘stenches’ in this film – why does every zombie franchise have to use a different term?) to allow for civilization – of a sort – to reassert itself. The city has stratified into the haves and have-nots with the rich living in a luxury high-rise called Fiddler’s Green and everyone else living in abandoned buildings, shacks and tents in your standard post-apocalyptic ghetto.
In a lot of ways Land of the Dead feels like an eighties film – a thematic cousin to movies like The Running Man, They Live and Robocop. Romero’s always used his films as a way to talk about larger issues – consumer culture, urban alienation, societal nihilism – and with Land he’s focused primarily on class struggle and wealth stratification, something those 80’s films were also concerned about. It’s also pretty simplistic in its concerns – the poor are good, the wealthy are bad, and those who attempt to elevate their station betray both their roots and their own survival. I’ve got no problem with the message – I just wish there had been a bit more subtlety. Of course, when you’ve got Dennis Hopper as your big bad that may be asking for too much.
The biggest addition to Romero’s Dead canon here is actually a logical continuation of Bub, from Day of the Dead. The zombies in this film are starting to remember who they used to be – and they spend much of their time acting out old habits and behaviors. An undead band struggles to carry a tune in the old bandstand, a long-dead couple still holds hands as they stagger around town, and Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), a former gas station attendant, shambles to the pump as if it was still working. In some ways it’s almost an idealistic society – nobody wants, nobody struggles and best of all, nobody dies. Again, that is.
Except of course the zombie society and the human society end up in conflict. In order to maintain the human community, groups are sent out to raid surrounding towns for resources. Their leader is the clean-cut Riley (Simon Baker), a man whose do-gooder nature is juuuust this side of saccharin. (I mean, he brings antibiotics for the preacher’s ill son.) His second in command is the more pragmatic – if not mercenary – Cholo (John Leguizamo), a man for whom death is part of the job description, as long as it’s not his. We join the story on the night of Riley’s last job. He’s bugging out, leaving the rat race (and the rats) for the quieter climes of Canada. All he wants is for things to go smoothly on his last job.
And of course it doesn’t. Cholo isn’t out getting food or medicine for the community – he’s getting cigars and liquor for the guy who runs things, Kaufman (Hopper). His inattention leads to the death of a young man, which is bad, but the behavior of the group as a whole – running roughshod through the town, shooting zombies and setting fires – inspires the ire of Big Daddy. And this is one zombie you do not want to mess with.
Leguizamo’s Cholo is actually my favorite character, primarily because he’s the only one that shows any sort of complexity. I like Baker as an actor, but he’s so straight-laced in this I’m surprised he’s not wearing a white hat. Hopper is just as bad on the other side of things, but he hams up the sleazy CEO shtick so well I tend to cut him some slack. Cholo, on the other hand, is mercenary and self-centered and ambitious to a fault – but he also tries to help people (Kaufman’s neighbor), inspires a twisted sort of devotion in his men, and is genuinely hurt that Kaufman doesn’t consider him ‘worthy’ of the Green. He just wants to live the American dream, man!
With his dreams of “movin’ on up” quashed, Cholo steals a military truck called “Dead Reckoning” and threatens to shell Fiddler’s Green with missiles unless he gets the money Kaufman owes him. (The whole idea that money still means anything in this wasteland is laughable – but hey.) Riley is drafted to take him out before he can do it – which Riley agrees to only to save his friends.
Meanwhile Big Daddy and his growing army of zombies moves steadily towards the bright lights across the river. And they’re learning as they go.
Things get apocalyptic, of course. It’s a Romero zombie film. Though the zombies actually have a bit more agency in how things go down than is usual. (I expected more direct human screw-ups to be the cause of zombies getting in.)
The supporting characters are thin, but well handled by Asia Argento and Robert Joy. Eugene Clark as Big Daddy is also a standout – you don’t often see outrage, grief or satisfaction in a zombie, but Clark manages it through an iconic makeup job. He’s no Bub, but he’s still pretty damn good.
My main complaint about Land of the Dead is in how small everything feels. Even when they’re shooting exteriors it all feels… claustrophobic. I don’t feel the scope or sense of place – if it wasn’t for the occasional establishing shot of the Pittsburgh skyline it could be anywhere. Maybe that’s the point, though…
The Bottom Line
Out of the first series of Dead films (Diary serves a sort of re-boot) this is my least favorite. I feels too small for the scope of the story and too broad in its message. It’s still a ton of fun, though, and there’s plenty to enjoy – it’s a Romero zombie movie, after all. And I must admit it’s disturbing how every time I watch it, it gets more and more relevant.
