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Land of the Dead Details

2005 DVD Certificate 15.gif
  • Rated:
  • 60
  • from 23,433 members

Zombie movies slip in and out of fashion, but it's always a special occasion when the man who helped turn the undead into a worldwide phenomenon decides to add an instalment to his ongoing saga of flesh-eating films. George A. Romero's zombie movies have all appeared in different decades, beginning with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD .. Read more

Starring Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento
Director George A. Romero
Genres Horror

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Land of the Dead

Zombie movies slip in and out of fashion, but it's always a special occasion when the man who helped turn the undead into a worldwide phenomenon decides to add an instalment to his ongoing saga of flesh-eating films. George A. Romero's zombie movies have all appeared in different decades, beginning with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1968, DAWN OF THE DEAD in '78, and DAY OF THE DEAD in '85. Romero skipped the '90s, but a zombie renaissance in the early 21st century (28 DAYS LATER, SHAUN OF THE DEAD) finds him back in the directors chair. Often seen as allegories for their times, Romero's films have been connected to societal events such as the consumerism of the '70s (DAWN OF THE DEAD) and the spread of the AIDS virus in the '80s (DAY OF THE DEAD). With 2005's LAND OF THE DEAD, Romero positions the bulk of his story in a giant skyscraper which houses the last humans left on the planet; although his intentions are foggy this time, LAND appears to be Romero's commentary on the post-9/11 political landscape. The zombies only bother crews who venture outside the makeshift city for supplies, but the people are kept sedated by their leader, the irascible Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), who exaggerates their threat. What Kaufman doesn't realise is that the zombies are learning skills they half-remember from their old selves, leading to some impressively blood-soaked scenes of tumult. In an unusual move for Romero, Hopper is joined by name actors such as John Leguizamo and Asia Argento. The film greatly benefits as a result, successfully portraying an atrophied civilisation that has regressed to a primitive state, allowing its undead tormentors to sense that a free lunch may be just around the corner.

Starring Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento
Director George A. Romero
Studio UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK VIDEO RENTAL
Run time Blu-ray: 1 hr 37 mins
HD DVD: 1 hr 37 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate 15.gif
Genres Horror
Language English
Released DVD: 26 Dec 2005
Blu-ray: 01 Dec 2008
HD DVD: 29 Oct 2007
Production year: 2005
Format DVD
  • Critics' reviews of Land of the Dead

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  • George Andrew Romero takes his zombies seriously. And when I say 'his', that's exactly what I mean - he practically invented the genre. If Mr. Romero wants to add a fourth film to his ' read more »

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    • Tom Charity, 
    • LOVEFiLM
  • Most helpful member's review of Land of the Dead

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  • 35 out of 41 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    FUN!

    So Land of The Dead eh?

    I liked it.

    Yes it lacks some of the doomed fatalism of the other films, and yes it is very glossy (of course it is going to be pretty polished looking, they have a bigger budget than the last 3 put together, turbo-modern effects, and an A-List cast). But the claims that it scrimps on the gore and waters down the concept and content for a resident evil weaned teen audience are just a load of old rot.

    Heads explode (man can those motherf**kers pop a skull), screaming victims get torn apart by armies of decaying ghouls, yard after yard of slimy wet innards get yummed up, there really are some grotesquely inventive eviscerations on show here. The screen is regularly awash with gore. He may have higher production values this time out, but Romero has not gone soft.

    Land of The Dead is a tight, well-paced, well-executed entertainment; it’s a coffin-load of fun. Most surprisingly of all, the self aware and sympathetically presented zombies angle that they are going for that had filled my heart with fear (I really did think it was going to be total gash) kinda works. My friends and I often found our selves going “aw poor zombies” (tellingly Romero’s Black hero character that features in each film in the cycle is a zombie this time out, we are not supposed to root for the humans).

    Despite a fairly bland and generic human hero (who has some fu*king excretable lines in the last scene), the cast and characters are all uniformly amusing (Argento, Hopper and Leguzamo et al all perform nicely), with snappy dialogue and likeable quirks (the Samoan squaddie’s every line is priceless “I came here to do something. Why are we standing around? Lets do something.”)

    The heavy handed social commentary is all present and accounted for, Savini gets a cameo, it feels like a worthy addition to the series…

    yeah there are naysayers but f*ck em, they are wrong. I am seeing it again next week and thoroughly looking forward to it.

      • A customer from camden
  • Most recent members' review of Land of the Dead

    View all
  • 35 out of 41 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 4 stars

    FUN!

    So Land of The Dead eh?

    I liked it.

    Yes it lacks some of the doomed fatalism of the other films, and yes it is very glossy (of course it is going to be pretty polished looking, they have a bigger budget than the last 3 put together, turbo-modern effects, and an A-List cast). But the claims that it scrimps on the gore and waters down the concept and content for a resident evil weaned teen audience are just a load of old rot.

    Heads explode (man can those motherf**kers pop a skull), screaming victims get torn apart by armies of decaying ghouls, yard after yard of slimy wet innards get yummed up, there really are some grotesquely inventive eviscerations on show here. The screen is regularly awash with gore. He may have higher production values this time out, but Romero has not gone soft.

    Land of The Dead is a tight, well-paced, well-executed entertainment; it’s a coffin-load of fun. Most surprisingly of all, the self aware and sympathetically presented zombies angle that they are going for that had filled my heart with fear (I really did think it was going to be total gash) kinda works. My friends and I often found our selves going “aw poor zombies” (tellingly Romero’s Black hero character that features in each film in the cycle is a zombie this time out, we are not supposed to root for the humans).

    Despite a fairly bland and generic human hero (who has some fu*king excretable lines in the last scene), the cast and characters are all uniformly amusing (Argento, Hopper and Leguzamo et al all perform nicely), with snappy dialogue and likeable quirks (the Samoan squaddie’s every line is priceless “I came here to do something. Why are we standing around? Lets do something.”)

    The heavy handed social commentary is all present and accounted for, Savini gets a cameo, it feels like a worthy addition to the series…

    yeah there are naysayers but f*ck em, they are wrong. I am seeing it again next week and thoroughly looking forward to it.

      • A customer from camden
  • News and features

    View all
    Diary of the Dead

    Diary of the Dead

    • 03 Mar 2008

    Zombie maestro George A Romero proves us all wrong again: you really can flog a dead horse. Just watch that it doesn't bite you back. This isn't exactly a sequel to the unfolding Night of the Living Dead series (so far 68-year-old Romero has given us Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, and not a dud among them). Rather, it takes us back to square one and the very first night. The diary idea is similar to the first-person point of view in Cloverfield and The Blair Witch... Read more

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Rating breakdown

23,433 Member ratings
  • 100
915
  • 90
1,186
  • 80
2,379
  • 70
3,393
  • 60
4,866
  • 50
3,494
  • 40
2,988
  • 30
2,027
  • 20
1,458
  • 10
727

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