Land of the Dead: Unrated Director's Cut DVD Review:

Zombie films seem to be on the rise, filling audiences in theaters to see the undead trying to eat the living. Some of the films have mixed horror with comedy (Shaun of the Dead) while others allowed the zombies to run (28 Days Later) and some even mixed action with the zombie horror (Resident Evil), but all of them have the same thing in common; they all borrow many zombie styles created by George A. Romero, the godfather of zombie movies. It is because of this that Land of the Dead deserves slightly more attention than any of the other zombie movies.

While Night of the Living Dead followed the very beginning of the living dead, Dawn of the Dead focused on the crumbling remains of society, and Day of Dead with the attempt to build society again. Land of the Dead joins society as it has been reformed, however unfortunate the situation. There is a ling structure which is built for the rich and filled with all sorts of luxuries at the expense of the less fortunate. Zombies are kept out with effective methods, mostly thanks to a group of soldiers employed by a Trump-like figure in the rich world, played by Dennis Hopper. As always happens in these movies, the zombies begin to gain control. In the case of Land of the Dead the zombies begin to think.

The unrated director’s cut not only has more gore and scares, but it has a great supply of extra features as well. The regular bonus features are already plentiful with a making of featurette, a day with John Leguizamo on the set, deleted scenes, behind the scenes of the cameo by the creators of Shaun of the Dead, and a feature commentary by George A. Romero. The exclusive features to the unrated DVD are mostly involving the zombies and the make-up or special effects used to cause the film effects. There is a featurette with make-up artist Greg Nicotero about the art of creating zombies. Going with this is another featurette that shows how a green screen is combined with the make-up to create the whole effect of the film, as well as the featurette about computer generated zombies compared to the real-life ones.

There are also a few other features which don’t have to do with the special effects, such as a storyboard featurette and a music video with some of the film’s more gruesome moments. Most of these features are interesting, but there is so much stuff that it gets old after a while especially considering how much is filled with extra footage over rock music. The actual information or stories which are worth getting are minimal to the extra stuff just thrown in so that there is a great deal to watch. Perhaps the most gratifying of the unrated features in the music video over carnage footage. It is classical music over footage which was obviously too graphic to show in theaters.



Ryan Izay

After the night, dawn and day have passed, the Dead now out number the living. The surviving humans have collected together in the only city left, with the Fiddler’s Green building at its centre. Riley (Baker) heads up the team that has go out to the suburbs to procure supplies but he starts to notice that the dead are starting to change from the mindless zombies they have been killing. Now they are starting to show some intelligence and are looking for their food source by heading to the city.

When it comes to legendary figures in the horror genre one man stands head and toe above everyone else but can George A. Romero’s return bring life to the undead?

There have been many pretenders to the throne but there is only one king with it comes to the Zombie movie. Back in 1968 George A. Romero set the standard and invented the rules with ‘Night of the Living Dead’. He followed this up with ‘Dawn of the Dead’ in 1978 and ‘Day of the Dead’ in 1985 and his ‘Dead Trilogy’ became the standard bearer for the genre and every other Zombie film would be compared to them. Twenty years later, the master returns to the genre he invented.

‘Land of the Dead’ reveals that the undead now outnumber the living. This means that the breathing now have to exist in a highly fortified cities. As with original Dead trilogy, Romero tries to input a social under story that reflects the world today and this one looks at the differences between the rich and the poor. While this might point might not be made as strongly at it was in the original three, especially in the excellent ‘Dawn of the Dead’, there is still a message here.

As horror tries to move away from the blood and guts gore and go towards to the psychological scare that has become associated with the new Asian wave of cinema but this is a George A. Romero movie. The blood flows by the bucket load as Zombies eat their way through the living and they respond by blowing their heads off. This is gore at is bloody best and no one does it like Romero. Unfortunately the rest of the film is a little too formulaic.

There are more action sequences in this movie than in the rest of the ‘Dead’ movies, making you feel that Romero has bowed to Hollywood pressure to deliver a film that will play more to a teenage audience than his established core fan base. This affects the impact of the story, making it just a device to link the action sequences together.

With a cast that does just enough to keep you engaged but never completed invested in their exploits, ‘Land of the Dead’ is more about entertainment than the advancement of the genre Romero invented. The film is a thoroughly enjoyable gore fest however and it is still better than most of the other pretenders to the king of the zombie genre.

Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts soundtracks, the movie is presented extremely well.

BONUS FEATURES

Feature commentary with director George A. Romero, producer Peter Grunwald and editor Michael Daughtery
This fun and informative commentary comes from a legend in the genre and his creative team. The trio talk extensively about the horror genre and returning to the land of the undead, which he created. For fans of the great man, this is a must listen as it really gives you an insight into his idea and methodologies behind the ‘Dead’ films.

Undead Again: The Making of Land of the Dead (12.55 mins)
Director George A. Romero, producers Mark Canton, Peter Grunwald and Bernie Goldman, special makeup effects supervisor Greg Nicotero and stars John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento, Simon Baker, Eugene Clark and Tom Savini talk about the return to the world of the dead. The cast and crew talk about working with the master of the Zombie movie, George A. Romero. Cast members reveal how they got involved and George talks about the casting and introducing another politically incorrect storyline.

A Day with the Living Dead (7.33 mins)
Director George A Romero, special makeup effects supervisor Greg Nicotero and stars John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper take you behind the scenes of the makeup department and what it is like been a zombie in a George A. Romero feature. Here we see how undead were created with all the props and body parts.

Bringing the Dead to Life (9.30 mins)
Director George A. Romero, producers Mark Canton, Peter Grunwald and Bernie Goldman, special makeup effects supervisor Greg Nicotero, stunt coordinator Matt Birman and stars John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento, Simon Baker, Eugene Clark and Robert Joy talk about the new look for the zombies in ‘Land of the Dead’. The cast and crew talk about the increase in the amount of blood and gore in the movie, as well as how the makeup and prosthetic effects were created.

The Remaining Bits (2.56 mins)
Six deleted or extended scenes that didn’t make it into the director cut. Unfortunately there is no commentary track or introduction to explain why these scenes didn’t make it in to the extended version.

When Shaun met George (12.59 mins)
A video diary by ‘Shaun of the Dead’ creators Simon Pegg and Edger Wright that covers their cameo in ‘Land of the Dead’. Like total fanboys the British pair revel in their day, as they meet their hero and become zombies. This is an excellent featurette for any fans of the brilliant British zom-com.

Scenes of Carnage (1.43 mins)
Watch extended footage of the undead feeding on their victims.

Zombie Effects: From green screen to finished scene (3.19 mins)
Watch how the some of the zombie effects were created and how the visual effects come together to create the final scene.

Bringing Storyboards to life (7.55 mins)
View the storyboard to final scene comparisons for the ‘head splat’, ‘river crossing’, ‘emerging from the other side’, ‘head shot’, ‘bitten’, ‘the bridge’, ‘the bridge attack’ and ‘the bridge escape’.

Scream Test: Zombie Casting Call
Watch the screen test for the extras wanting to be zombies in ‘Land of the Dead’

Trailers
Previews of ‘Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler’s Green Video Game’, ‘Skeleton Key’, ‘American Pie presents ‘Band Camp’’ and ‘Unleashed’

OVERALL

For a single disc release this is exceptional value and a must by for all George A. Romero fans. With excellent featurettes covering all aspects of the movie’s production and an interesting and fun commentary, this is a great package for fans of the film.

Jamie Kelwick