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Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by

Universal Pictures Video

Cert:

Cat.no: 8241242

Running time: 93 minutes

Year: 2005

Pressing: 2005

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 21 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: English

Widescreen: 2.35:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras: Undead Again: The Making of Land of the Dead, A Day with the Living Dead, Bringing the Dead to Life, The Remaining Bits, When Shaun met George, Scenes of Carnage, Zombie Effects: From Green Screen to Finished Scene, Bringing the Storyboards to Life, Scream Tests: Zombie Casting Call, Movie trailers, Audio Commentary.

---

Director:

George A. Romero (Bruiser, Creepshow, The Dark Half, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Monkey Shines, Night of the Living Dead)

Producer:

Mark Canton, Bernie Goldman and Peter Grunwald

Screenplay:

George A. Romero

Music:

Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek

Cast:

Riley: Simon Baker
Cholo: John Leguizamo
Kaufman: Dennis Hopper
Slack: Asia Argento
Charlie: Robert Joy
Big Daddy: Eugene Clark
Pretty Boy: Joanne Boland
Foxy: Tony Nappo
Mouse: Max McCabe
Pillsbury: Pedro Miguel Arce
Manolete: Sasha Roiz
Motown: Krista Bridges
Brubaker: Alan Van Sprang
Photo Booth Zombie: Simon Pegg
Photo Booth Zombie: Edgar Wright
Blade: Tom Savini

George A. Romero knows just how to make a good zombie flick. And with Land of the Dead, he's in no danger of losing that crown.

Where he succeeds is that doesn't make them do daft things like running at the speed of a cheetah or flying off into space - he makes them walk, slowly... very slowly, and keeps them on Earth. Might sound a bit dull to some but if you can let yourself get sucked into one of these movies then it doesn't matter how sluggish they move when getting from A to B, it'll still be brown-trousers time when they strike their target.

The plot is simple - Big city businessman Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) has created a community for the elite and wealthy, situated in a big tower with shopping mall to match, called Fiddler's Green. He stiffs one of his employees, Cholo (John Leguizamo), who's out day and night dispatching of zombies, or 'Stenches' as they're often referred to, so instead of a large pay packet the only thing he's likely to get is a free trip to the morgue once his services have been disposed off.

Naturally, he's not happy about this and so steals Kaufman's behemoth trailer, Dead Reckoning (above), the name of which was once an alternative title for this film. Someone needs to get it back and so is called on the more law-abiding zombie-killer Riley (Simon Baker), a man who has dedicated his cause to getting supplies of food and medicine to the needy, whereas Cholo is more likely to steal booze from unattended shops in risky locations because for him, charity begins at home.

Accompanying Riley for the ride are his dim-witted friend with a burnt face, Charlie (Robert Joy) and a hooker they encounter along the way, Slack (Asia Argento, right, whose well-respected family connections - her father is horror director Dario Argento - haven't got her much in the way of Hollywood screentime, her only main outing being 2002's actioner with Vin Diesel, xXx which followed her 2000 lacklustre directorial debut Scarlet Diva).

Land of the Dead is a gross-out splatterfest, just the way you like it. Typically, redneck cowboy-types ride around killing zombies and the foolhardy go off the beaten track and fall foul of them, led by the one known as "Big Daddy" (Eugene Clark). I also loved the Zombie themepark where the undead are paraded for the public's entertainment.

There's some nice zombie-kills-human deaths such as one biting the belly ring out of a woman, which then oozes with blood, and Tom Savini, looking like a member of Kiss as he grabs hold of a guy and uses a machete to split him down the middle - that one obviously a CGI effect while most of the work is prosthetics, so even though it's as gory as you want it to be, the 15-cert has been allowed because Romero still 'goes for the jugular', so to speak, by using his tried and trusted methods and not letting standard Hollywood crap take over.

George A Romero, also responsible for Dawn of the Dead, has said in a newspaper interview that he toned down the violence for an R-rating in the US, the content of which has translated to a 15-cert here, but compared to his earlier works nothing looks toned down and the right amount of humour is thrown in when required, such as the theme park's "Have Your Photo Taken With a Zombie" stall, featuring Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg (rigtht) and Edgar Wright, at the start of chapter 8. Sure, he could make things ten times more bloody, and once or twice things happen just off-camera, but sometimes less is more and to include all these would be to overegg the pudding - it's just right as it is because it's in keeping with everything he's done before.

Throughout there's brilliant special FX and zombie design, including frequent shots of a woman whose face is half-ripped off so the teeth on one side are all exposed. Bleah! :) The conclusion also leaves the way open for a sequel.

Note: the 18-cert applies to the "Scenes of Carnage" extra on the DVD. The film itself is still a 15-cert in its director's cut form.

The picture is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and looks fantastic, but very occasionally there's a slight stutter in the picture, but it's something that wouldn't be noticed by the vast majority of the public. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is a treat throughout and complements the onscreen action as the zombies groan out of every speaker.

There's quite a few extras to get your teeth into (groan!), which are as follows:

• Undead Again: The Making of Land of the Dead (13 mins): Inbetween behind-the-scenes filming clips, key cast and crew members give soundbites to the camera, kissing Romero's butt, although - metaphorically speaking - he deserves it as he's created yet another hugely enjoyable piece of entertainment. This segment is presented in 4:3, as are most of the featurettes.

• A Day with the Living Dead (7½ mins): Take a tour of the set with John Leguizamo, checking out the props and getting more soundbites from the cast and crew.

• Bringing the Dead to Life (9½ mins): How does it look when a zombie explodes? Or do you prefer intestines falling out all over the place? Here's all the ins and outs you need to know. Cue more cast/crew chat about this aspect of the movie with praise for special make-up effects designer Greg Nicotero.

• The Remaining Bits (3 mins): Several short deleted scenes, only one of which, featuring Pillsbury, that I'd put back in.

• When Shaun met George (13 mins): George Romero was such a fan of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's Shaun of the Dead that he allowed them to have guest zombie roles in this film. If you didn't spot them in the movie, this is their story. This section is in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen.

• Scenes of Carnage (1½ mins): Lots of people being eaten to the tune of classical music. Yum!

• Zombie Effects: From Green Screen to Finished Scene (3 mins): The title of this segment says it all. In a similar style to the last extra, but with spooky music in the background, we see a 'green screen' shot where something is filmed on-set, and then the finished effect in the movie. This covers death shots as well as simple ones of characters walking down a street where you'd have thought they'd easily have found such a location out on the street but clearly it's ten times easier just to create it in a computer. Contains many shots in such a short period of time.

• Bringing the Storyboards to Life (8 mins): Many scenes from the film, some where you see the storyboard (with film sound FX on top) and then the finished scene, with others shown side-by-side.

• Scream Tests: Zombie Casting Call (1 min): CGI dancing zombies. Mildly amusing. Thankfully short.

• Movie trailers (5 mins): One each for King Kong (2005) and The Skeleton Key, both in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen.

• Audio commentary: Featuring George A. Romero, producer Peter Grunwald and editor Michael Doherty.

So, a nice selection of extras above, running for just over an hour barring the commentary. Not heaps and heaps like some directors would put on their DVDs but just enough to give you a flavour of how the film was made. And let's face it, if there was a second disc of them, running for hours and hours, when would you have time to watch them?

Basic subtitles are in English only, there's 21 chapters to the film, which is enough for something lasting just over 90 minutes, and the menus feature brief bits of motion and audio which blend in with the film's theme, but this doesn't last too long before it forces the film to start again. I prefer it when you can leave the menu on without fear of this.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2006.

The following is a list of all the Spaced material online to date :

2004	Shaun of the Dead
2004	Spaced: Definitive Collector's Edition
2002	Edgar Wright interview (director)
2002	Spaced: Series 2
2001	Spaced: Series 1

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: