Horror 2024 Countdown: Land of the Dead (2005)

Land of the Dead (2005), dir. George A. Romero, Atmosphere Entertainment MM/Romero-Gruenwald Productions/Wild Bunch S.A. Rangerkim

While the dead slowly make their way back to their graves and we move into the time of turkeys and fat men in red, George Romero hadn't made a zombie film in twenty years. Would the master still have the skill?

It's been some years since the dead rose up and started eating the living. Humanity mostly died but some pockets still exist. One such pockets is the remains of the Golden Triangle in what was once Pittsburgh.

This little slice of Heaven is called Fiddler's Green and it is ruled with an iron fist by Kaufman (Dennis Hopper). He was rich before the end of the world and even now he still maintains his power, mostly because he has crews going into the ruins of nearby cities and scvanging whatever they can.

The crew doing most of the work are led by Riley (Simon Baker) and Cholo (John Leguizamao). Going out in the Dead Reckoning, a massive armored RV designed by Riley, they launch 'sky flowers' (fireworks) which distracts the zombies enough to let them work undisturbed.

One zombie (Eugene Clark), however, seems smarter than your average dead head. Riley loses a man during his last raid and is far more concerned with that. So much so he announces that he's quitting-tonight. Kaufman isn't happy, but Riley explains he's saved up enough to get his car out of hock and fixed up. All he has to do is pay the garage and he and his buddy Charlie (Robert Joy) are going to ride that road to freedom and Canada. 

So it comes to be quite a shock when he gets to the garage and finds an empty space. It seems an interested party came by and bought the car. Riley has a pretty good idea who and heads over to the local dive bar. 

There he finds Slack (Asia Argento) forced into a cage match with two zombies. Riley and Charlie free her and kill the gangster Chihuahua (Phil Fonacaro), who had bought Riley's car. This gets them arrested. Things are looking bad. 

Meanwhile, Cholo has a proposal for Kaufman. Full promotion plus an apartment on the nice part of town. After all, no Riley plus all those secret luxury goods he's been bringing in, Kaufman can see he'd be a good asset, right?

Nope and in the most passive aggressive way possible. Cholo accepts this with quiet dignity and grace, i.e. he steals the Dead Reckoning and threatens to level Fiddler's Green unless he gets five million cash. Kaufman springs Riley and his pals-with the deal he gets the vehicle back. After that he'll be free to go wherever he wants. 

All the while, that zombie from earlier? Yeah, he's been making friends and they've been walking towards Fiddler's Green. Looks like everybody is itching to settle some scores...

More Road Warrior than the last films, this came out when most zombie films were either ripping off Romero's earlier films or just being dumb action. Is it subtle? Nope and that honestly works to its advantage. You understand WHY the characters do what they do and their actions make sense. Everything is laid out but not overexplained and the spectacle doesn't overshadow the characters so we can follow what it happening. This is why Romero is considered King of the Zombie flicks.