MovieChat Forums > Land of the Dead (2005) Discussion > It was the best of the dead. It was the ...

It was the best of the dead. It was the worst of the dead.

posted 6 years ago by artguylarry (498)
2 replies | jump to latest

So yeah, obviously I am torn on this one. On one hand, this was visually the best of the dead films (in my own opinion). I liked the characters, the look of the zombies, the overall feel of the film. The kills were good and the gore, little as there was, was done very well. More than anything, it had awesome suspense. But here is my problem:

All of the "creepiness" of the zombies went straight out the window with the added element of functionality and reason. To me, this is only akin to adding the element of comedy in horror - something I have always been firmly against. When a zombie can learn to strap on and use a gun (yes, I remember Bub and I didn't like it then either), it's no longer a Romero zombie film. It's "Die Hard of the Dead." And no, that's not something I want to see LOL.

[–] Chloe (127) 5 years ago

'Die Hard of The Dead' lol! That's genius!

I get where you are coming from. This has it's merits, but on the whole it's a miss for me. I like the characters, the 'world' portrayed on-screen. But ultimately the story falters in the second half and there are some really odd narrative points (like the big guy knocking out the female mercenary as a bluff, but still knocking her out for real resulting in her death??). I also can't stand the look of Greg Nicotero's zombies in this. Big Daddy, the baseball girl zombie and other featured zombies look terrible and fake. Big Daddy especially. The way he moves and acts is really off as well. Too far removed from what Romero established as a zombie. Bub pushed the boundaries in Day of The Dead, but he still moved and acted like an established zombie in Romero's universe.

I really wish Romero had gotten to make his original Day of The Dead back in the '80's. I think it would have taken the best parts of 'Day' and 'Land' and been greater than the sum of it's parts. Also, the finale in the original script was epic!

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

I was okay with the look of Big Daddy and the baseball girl. The acting and theme was what lost me. Romero was a little too on the picked nose for this one. I always thought this was like Ghosts of Mars. An 80's flick made way too late.