FILM REVIEW; 'Land of the Dead': Sympathy for the zombie

Thanks largely to George Romero, no one thinks twice when you announce your intention to go see a movie about flesh eating corpses that rise mysteriously from their graves to attack the living. The absurdity of the existence of the zombie-movie subgenre is almost entirely his fault, having made the most famous zombie movie of them all, Night of the Living Dead.

Land of the Dead, Romero’s third sequel to his original zombie classic, extends the genre into a Mad Max like dystopian future, in which humans clump together in haphazardly fortified enclaves while the undead roam the earth. Like his previous entries in the series, it’s primarily about a small band of survivors struggling with an inexplicable, unstoppable menace, but in Land he’s expanded the world around them, allowing it to grow in some clever and unexpected ways. Romero’s latest outing serves up a bloody stew of severed limbs and social commentary sprinkled with deft characterizations and a surprisingly sharp narrative – a perfect B movie.

Dead, like so many summer releases, works primarily in the mode of an action movie. An opening sequence introduces the mythology – the dead have risen to eat human flesh – and the protagonist, Riley, a strong, silent, man-on-a-mission type played with low key determination by Simon Baker. A post-apocalyptic society has grown out of the wake of the dead’s rise, leaving the masses huddled into slums while a few rich power brokers luxuriate in a skyscraper haven run by the evil capitalist, Mr. Kaufman (Dennis Hopper). Before long, the security of both the masses and the elite is threatened, leaving Riley and a crew of toughs to battle it out with the zombie hordes.

You might not expect much in the way of plot from a relatively low budget zombie movie, but Land of the Dead’s narrative arcs move the story along with surprising grace. At 94 minutes, it’s shorter than most action extravaganzas, but it feels complete. Character conflicts and plot twists arise organically out of the story; nothing ever feels tacked on. Like the concept behind the zombies themselves, it’s simple - but unnervingly effective.

With a few quick strokes, Romero fleshes out an entire society, positing on what turns human civilization might take after a few decades to adjust to the zombie nightmare. The undead threat becomes integrated into ordinary existence: surrounding towns are the source of supplies and electrified borders exist to keep the hordes at bay. Zombie cage fights are staged at seedy nightclubs. Inside Mr. Kaufman’s tower, the elite live extravagantly while the masses amuse themselves with drugs and other vices. Life, in a very mundane sense, goes on.

The societal decay allows for some none-too-subtle commentary on Romero’s part. Mr. Kaufman and his cronies are clearly a stab at an oppressive capitalist elite, hording wealth and supplies while abusing the common people living in squalor below. Romero even empathizes with the zombies, making several subtle allusions to 2001: A Space Odyssey as the zombie leader, Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), learns to communicate and operate tools, evolving from dumb, flesh-eating brute to slightly less dumb flesh-eating brute – but never quite descending into total monstrosity. In Land of the Dead, zombies are people too.

Like Night of the Living Dead, which mirrored the racial chaos of the 60s, and Dawn of the Dead, in which zombies flocked to the mall in satire of consumer blight, Land of the Dead gives audiences a strong dose of socio-political awareness along with its array of exploding zombie skulls.

But for those who aren’t interested in a civics lesson, Land of the Dead delivers plenty of glorious zombie mayhem as well. From carved out guts to creative beheadings (this is almost certainly the only film in history to feature a decapitation by drawbridge), this film must be hell on the projectionists, because every reel plays like it was dipped in blood. The movie is replete with the goopy, glossy gore that used to infest horror series but has disappeared in recent years with the popularity of the PG-13 rating. People with weak stomachs are advised to avoid the film, but for those with an unsated curiosity about what it looks like to have a zombie rip apart flesh with its teeth (and hey, who out there doesn't fit this category when you really get down to it?), this is your movie.

Three decades ago, genre directors like John Carpenter, George Miller and David Cronenberg made workmanlike action and horror B-films that were smart, scary and satisfying. Land of the Dead eschews the teen-slasher cheekiness and spooky mysticism of so much modern horror and returns to the efficiency and audacity of the old masters. Marked by wit, intelligence and organ-displacing violence, Land of the Dead resurrects both the zombie movie and the spirit of classic horror.