Land of the Dead
Short description
Land of the Dead is set in a world overrun by the living dead, where the surviving humans have retreated behind the walls of a fortified city. Inside, life continues under a strict social order: the wealthy and powerful occupy a luxury high-rise called Fiddler's Green, while everyone else scrapes by in the streets below. Outside, the zombies have begun to change, showing signs of thought, communication and organisation, and they soon set their sights on the city itself. The film follows Riley, a man who leads supply runs into the surrounding wasteland, the ruthless opportunist Cholo, and Kaufman, the self-appointed leader of the human enclave, as the growing threat closes in.
George A. Romero wrote and directed the film, the twelfth of the fourteen features he directed in chronological order, following Bruiser (2000) and preceding Diary of the Dead (2007). Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo, Asia Argento and Simon Baker head a cast of 79 credited performers, with 122 crew members credited.
Made for 15 million USD, the film took about 47 million USD worldwide. On IMDb it holds 6.2/10 from roughly 105,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.3/10 from far fewer, while the critics' rating stands at 6.9/10 from 178 reviews, noticeably above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- George A. Romero was so impressed with last year's British parody film "Shaun of the Dead" that he invited Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright to participate in his fourth film dedicated to the theme of the living dead.
- "Dead Reckoning" was the loudest working title for the film. This is exactly how George Romero wanted to name it, but he feared confusion with the 1947 Humphrey Bogart film of the same name. In addition to this title, the film had two other working titles: "Dead City", "Night of the Living Dead: Dead Reckoning".
- The original script included a scene with sewer rats turning into zombies.
- Suzanne Vlozina, a correspondent for USA Today, took part in the film, playing one of the undead. In a single scene, she interviewed her zombie colleagues. Suzanne spent about 100 minutes in makeup before she could go on set.
- Asia Argento, who played one of the main roles in the film, is the daughter of the famous Italian horror master Dario Argento. Dario was one of the co-producers of Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" (1978).
- George Romero wanted to pay tribute to his hometown of Pittsburgh and conduct the entire filming process within the city. However, the producers insisted that filming take place in Toronto. As is well known, filming is much more cost-effective in Canada due to lower taxes.
- In fact, the film became the fourth in George Romero's series dedicated to the struggle of a handful of survivors against hordes of bloodthirsty zombies (“Night of the Living Dead” – 1968, “Dawn of the Dead” – 1978, “Day of the Dead” – 1985). Thus, the break between the last works was exactly 20 years.
- "Land of the Dead" was the first film in Romero's zombie series to use computer special effects.
- George Romero's daughter Tina made a cameo in the film (she shoots a zombie “stuck” in an electric fence).
- The film is partially based on the original script for “Day of the Dead” (1985).
- The director's cut of the film has a runtime of 97 minutes.
- The film was banned from distribution in Ukraine by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
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