Land of the Dead

[Samwise]

Saw it this weekend. 

Possibly the best zombie movie ever.  At least, I can't think of any off the top of my head that I liked better. 

Discuss.

[Teleku]

Yeah, I got excited when I first started seeing commercials for this.  Romero is awsome.  How do you feel this stacks up against Dawn of the Dead?  (The original.  Haven't seen the new one, though I heard it was good).

[stray]

Call me crazy, but I actually liked the zombies in the new Dawn of the Dead more than the original (not talking about the movie itself). I'll never be "scared" of a Romero zombie again. The faster zombies in the remake changed the entire rulebook as far as I'm concerned, so now I'm a little hesitant to check this new one out.

edit: At first glance, the only draw for me right now is Asia Argento.

[Ironwood]

Apparently, they get guns.  Scary.

Not.

[Samwise]

To my everlasting shame, I have not yet seen the original Dawn of the Dead - it was way to far before my time to see it in the theater, and I have great difficulty getting the girlfriend to let me get stuff from the horror section of the video store.  

I did think it was better than the Dawn of the Dead remake, though.  More memorable characters, more funnay, more gore, less "ooga booga".  Really just an all around winner.

(edit: damn you, Stray)
Re: fast vs. slow zombies, it's true, fast zombies are a bit scarier.  On the other hand, slow zombies are funnier.  And they're still pretty scary when there are hundreds of them all pounding your door down.  So I'd say it's a fair trade.

(edit: damn you, Ironwood)
The gun thing is very brief and worked well for me (though the jackhammer scene was even better IMO).  It's not an entire army of gun-toting zombies.  That would have been an entirely different movie.

[Triforcer]

This is the only movie I've seriously contemplated going too twice in theatres in a long, long time.  Dennis Hopper and the fat Samoan make the movie for me.  When Cholo said "nah, I want to see how the other half lives" the whole theater laughed- when a horror movie can do that and still scare the shit out of you, you know its gold. 

[Teleku]

Damn, have to go see it.  Though exactly how graphic was the gore?  I have this very wierd problem of loving horror/zombie movies, but getting really sickened by gut ripping gore.  Lots and lots of blood, fine.  Great.  Brains and intestines being ripped out........

[Triforcer]

Damn, have to go see it.  Though exactly how graphic was the gore?  I have this very wierd problem of loving horror/zombie movies, but getting really sickened by gut ripping gore.  Lots and lots of blood, fine.  Great.  Brains and intestines being ripped out........

This isn't just blood spraying gore.  This is two zombies grab opposite sides of someone's hand and rip their arm in half vertically down the middle  and zombies messily eating their own arm type gore. 

[Samwise]

There was also ripping out of intestines and chewing on them.  A good number of decapitations.  Oh, and one scene with several zombies pulling someone's internal organs out through his mouth.  All extremely graphic.

 

[Polysorbate80]

I thought it was OK, I preferred the remake of "Dawn of the Dead".

The learning-zombies bit bugged me a little, as did the ending where the lead says not to shoot the zombies.  Fuck that noise; they're zombies, and you've got a full rocket-launcher...light them sumbitches UP!

[Sky]

I still like Shaun's buddy playing video games in the shed.

[Samwise]

It's true, Ed in the shed was one of the best bits in that movie, and when I said "possibly the best zombie movie ever," Shaun did give me pause.  On the other hand, Land had zombie cage fighting, zombies as novely photo backgrounds, and a zombie trying to play a tuba.  So that kinda tips the scale.

[Velorath]

Hmmm... I had kind of the opposite reaction regarding Land of the Dead.  It had some good ideas, but the overall story was complete crap.  I like zombie movies because I like watching people trying to survive against the zombie hordes.  I'm sorry but I don't look to zombie movies for political or social commentary and while gore is nice, I grew out of being impressed by it in movies after watching God knows how many horror movies as a kid.  The zombies don't really have much involvment in the plot until they rampage through the city near the end.  Everything else in the movie from the divide between the rich and the poor in the city, to trying to get Dead Reckoning back felt pointless. 

Some of the characters were ok, but Romero chickens out of actually killing any of the likable ones.  Part of a good horror movie to me is the feeling you get when a good character gets killed.  Land seems to go for more of a Hollywood type happy ending.  The bad guys gets killed along with most of the other rich guys allowing the poor to take back the city, the good guys get to ride off in Dead Reckoning looking for a new start for themselves, and even the smart zombie is allowed to leave with some of his zombie buddies.  It was a horror movie without any real sense of horror or the hopeless feel a zombie movie typically has to it.

[schild]

I've been told by a lot of people Land is total shit.

But I loved the new DotD. So I'll go see it. I like fast zombies.

[Samwise]

It was a horror movie without any real sense of horror or the hopeless feel a zombie movie typically has to it.

I think that was part of what I liked about it, actually.  All of the rampaging zombie goodness, none of the emotional downer.  I can see how a fan of more "hopeless" horror would be let down by that, though.

[OcellotJenkins]

Zombies are real man...

[Ironwood]

  I'm sorry but I don't look to zombie movies for political or social commentary

Then why the hell were you watching a Romero Zombie Film ?

[Llava]

Zombies are real man...

Pft.  Doesn't count.  Their bodies aren't damaged, their hearts beat, their brains show normal activity.  Those aren't zombies.  I'd even hesitate to call them undead.

[Soukyan]

Yeah... they had quite a fun little opening night party here in the 'Burgh (Pittsburgh). Romero, Tarentino and a bunch of other famous type folk were hanging out and there were lots of zombies in the street. Fun time. I haven't had the chance to actually see the movie yet though. ;)

[Yegolev]

What the fuck is a boffin?  IT MAKES NO SENSE!  ARCTIC BIRDS CANNOT BE SCIENTISTS!

[Samwise]

What the fuck is a boffin?  IT MAKES NO SENSE!  ARCTIC BIRDS CANNOT BE SCIENTISTS!

That made my day.  Thank you.

[HaemishM]

Romero is a hack. Always has been, always will be. None of his films have been all that entertaining, and the "political and social commentary" everyone fellates him for is so goddamn obvious, it's like having a copy of High Times nailed to your fucking forehead. Give me the new Dawn of the Dead anyday.

[Velorath]

  I'm sorry but I don't look to zombie movies for political or social commentary

Then why the hell were you watching a Romero Zombie Film ?

Because in the original Dawn of the Dead I could ignore the supposed social commentary in favor of watching the people fighting zombies.  In Land of the Dead the zombies are pretty much pushed way into the background.  They never seemed to be a credible threat since you don't really get a sense that there's THAT large a number of them attacking the city.  With all the weapons the humans had, the only reason the zombies caused the problems they did was because of complete carelessness on the part of people who are supposed to be on guard.  Even in the dark and being completely careless though I can't believe people were caught off guard by the zombies the way they were.  Zombies aren't exactly the masters of stealth, what with the shuffling and moaning and all, and yet they don't seem to get much notice until they're right on top of people.

[Triforcer]

  I'm sorry but I don't look to zombie movies for political or social commentary

Then why the hell were you watching a Romero Zombie Film ?

Because in the original Dawn of the Dead I could ignore the supposed social commentary in favor of watching the people fighting zombies.  In Land of the Dead the zombies are pretty much pushed way into the background.  They never seemed to be a credible threat since you don't really get a sense that there's THAT large a number of them attacking the city.  With all the weapons the humans had, the only reason the zombies caused the problems they did was because of complete carelessness on the part of people who are supposed to be on guard.  Even in the dark and being completely careless though I can't believe people were caught off guard by the zombies the way they were.  Zombies aren't exactly the masters of stealth, what with the shuffling and moaning and all, and yet they don't seem to get much notice until they're right on top of people.

I take issue with those saying there is a lack of hopelessness.  Humanity, in Romero's world, is dying in a slow bleed.  A handful of humans eke out a temporary but inevitably doomed existence- even a small amount of people trying to survive exclusively on looted canned food and with finite ammunition and fuel will inevitably be overrun.  In the other movies, you could take comfort in the fact that there was still scientists, military, perhaps even a government out there somewhere that could conceivably wage and win the war.  But this is way past the resource tipping point- the zombies have won, and both the people in Dead Reckoning and those who stayed are doomed to extinction within a generation or two at most.  This movie conveyed that in a way the others never could.   

[stray]

I dunno....I think "Fast Zombies" conveys hopelessness better than anything else. Screw all this "resource tipping point" crap -- The point is driven home much easier when you see a thousand brainsucking maniacs running with the speed of a pack of rabid wolves. There's no hope in surviving that.

In a "Land of the Dead remake" scenario with fast zombies, the humans are pretty much dead within a couple years.

[Velorath]

I take issue with those saying there is a lack of hopelessness.  Humanity, in Romero's world, is dying in a slow bleed.  A handful of humans eke out a temporary but inevitably doomed existence- even a small amount of people trying to survive exclusively on looted canned food and with finite ammunition and fuel will inevitably be overrun.  In the other movies, you could take comfort in the fact that there was still scientists, military, perhaps even a government out there somewhere that could conceivably wage and win the war.  But this is way past the resource tipping point- the zombies have won, and both the people in Dead Reckoning and those who stayed are doomed to extinction within a generation or two at most.  This movie conveyed that in a way the others never could.   

We must have been watching different movies then when we watched the originals because I never took comfort in the fact that the military or the government might magically show up to save the day.  During the period of the first three movies, mankind is caught off guard.  Everthing happens so fast that there is no time to organize.  What we have in LOTD is a fairly fortified city with a good amount of weapons with pretty good knowledge of how to stop zombies, that was only invaded by zombies, not because that one zombie was so smart, but because Romero wrote all the humans who were on guard duty as being dumb as dirt.  It was what they call an idiot plot.  A story that hinges on a lot of the people involved being written as mind numbingly stupid.  That whole horde of zombies could have been mowed down with a couple of machine guns since they were all moving in one big pack in fairly confined areas a lot of the time.

And fucking finite ammunition?  I'd be willing to bet that there are enough gun shops and army bases in the US alone to provide enough ammo and explosives to wipe out every zombie on Earth a couple dozen times over.

[Paelos]

And fucking finite ammunition?  I'd be willing to bet that there are enough gun shops and army bases in the US alone to provide enough ammo and explosives to wipe out every zombie on Earth a couple dozen times over.

There's probably enough just in Texas.

[TheWalrus]

A county in Texas.

[stray]

I'm cool with that.

Stupid zombies 

[Azaroth]

New movies, bah. Oldschool Dawn Of The Dead 4tw.

[Pococurante]

A county in Texas.

The gun locker for my neighbor, Burt Gummer.

[Jain Zar]

I really liked it.  But ive liked all the Romero zombie films.  See in his movies the zombies are merely a large problem.  Its other people that fuck everything up.  In all 4 movies its generally assholery that brings the world crashing down on them thus giving the zombies an all you can eat buffet.  On their own the zombies are generally laughable if you have a gun and know to aim for the head.  In hordes with your fellow humans being as much of if not more than a contrary asshole than you are they become very dangerous.

And im sorry, the Dawn of the Dead remake was mediocre at best.  OOH RUNNING ZOMBIES MAKES IT BETTER.  The cast was a band of characterless zombie fodder types that out stupidified even the most colossal dumbasses in the Romero films.  With less reason to be such dipshits.  That whole character and personality thing dontchaknow.  I can give the remake thumbs up till Sara Polley's car crashes into the tree, but after that its inferior to all of Romero's zombie films.

Im sorry, Metrosexual Steve has NOTHING on Tom Savini as a leather clad biker badass, Rhodes, or Dennis Fucking Hopper.

[stray]

Metrosexual Steve was great, man. I both loved and hated him at the same time. He was so not the typical one dimensional character type I thought he was going to be. It's not Brando or anything, but the movie DID have character.....And it's not like I should be expecting a lot of that anyways.

Same goes for the rent-a-cop dude.

EDIT: What I mean is....I REALLY wanted these guys to die the minute I saw them. Towards the end of the film, I was kind of sad to see them go. They ended up being portrayed much deeper than what you make them out to be.

Polley is the cheaper version of Uma...And y'know, that's good enough for me.

The most well known actor in it was probably the most one dimensional (Ving....But nonetheless, he was OK too).

OOH RUNNING ZOMBIES MAKES IT BETTER

Why yes, it does. It's a horror movie. "Fast" is scary. The last thing I need in a horror movie is a monster that poses no threat whatsoever.

[HaemishM]

Now, I'll give you Tom Savini, because I just dug him from the first time I saw him as Sex Machine in From Dusk til Dawn. But the DotD remake had lots more style and character than the original. Romero's thing about people fucking things up... we get it already. People suck. Brains. MMMMMMM.

No.

[Teleku]

No movie has more style and character than the original Dawn of the Dead. NONE!