I’ve been watching dead movies for decades. That’s kind of frightening. I remember when I first saw the original “Night of the Living Dead” It was a little unnerving. The corpses walking around eating other people was most bizarre. The more unnerving part was when the rednecks showed up to shoot them like they were squirrels or something.
The “Land of the Dead” has come far beyond the squirrels. They’ve pretty much taken over everything except Pittsburg, epitome of the American industrial town. The tough folks in Pitt battle for all they’re worth. Unfortunately, when there’s so few of you left, it’s really tough. Of course that may just be George’s message too.
These movies have been around for almost 40 years now. They’ve even been spoofed in movies like “Return of the Living Dead” with B-movie queens like Linnea Quigley. Heck that one even took place near my hometown. What fun?
George Romero continues to provide exactly what his fans expect and that is corpses and lots of them. They number more and more and they’re tougher this time too. They are packing and aiming to become normal again of course by consuming flesh.
Some critics have said the movie isn’t terribly surprising and the acting wasn’t absolutely brilliant but the “Dead” movies aren’t necessarily about brilliance. These movies carry a message. Sometimes the message is the most important part of the movie.
This is the fourth installment of the dead films, sort of. He’s remade the other 3 but the imagery is much better in the second set and really each one sort of says something different. But then they should. The biggest thing I’ve always like about the “Dead” is they belong to George. They remain original. So many movie makers make so much garbage that’s unoriginal and unappealing. This appeals based strictly on his originality.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
