The empty buildings...

[frequentc]

This is the one thing that boggles my mind about this movie. We have the rich located in one big building, and the poor living on the streets it would seem... what's with all the empty buildings in between? Why not put the poor people in there? If they have the ability to get power to the one building, wouldn't they have the ability to get it to the others? Power issue aside... are they even using those other buldings for anything at all?

[Brubaker]

A good question actually. I don't know if anyone has the right answer, including Romero who may have just used them for scenery. I'll throw in two theories, which may or may not be total hogwash. 1. There could be zombies in some of them buildings, people who never made it out. For all we know, those buildings could be sealed/blocked to keep people from getting in.........and from getting out. Why didn't the men clear those out at some point? Probably too many zombies to burn all of that ammunition on, especially if you need to watch out for more zombies getting in. 2. In the event zombies were to get in the city, the last place I'd probably want to be is inside of a tall building. Let a few of those zombies get in there and you really have no way out. Pretty hard to retreat from the 31st floor if you've got 25-30 zombies wandering around and milling up the stairs after you. The power was off by then, so no way to use the elevators. Just because some places had lights and other luxuries doesn't mean there was power on in every structure. No lights, no elevator, no way I'd want to live there. Good question!!!!!

[coma]

1. There could be zombies in some of them buildings, people who never made it out. For all we know, those buildings could be sealed/blocked to keep people from getting in.........and from getting out. Why didn't the men clear those out at some point? Probably too many zombies to burn all of that ammunition on, especially if you need to watch out for more zombies getting in. ! Good answer. Food for thought

[axlish]

A piece of plot logisitics that was tossed to the side in favor of strong political and social commentary.

[frequentc]

All good theories!

[Spider Rico]

They could of at least taken some of the smaller buildings. Maybe Mr. K didn't want to spend any funds on housing unless it was for a whore house or a casino?

[rawrOTD]

they did use some buildings like the jail, casino arena thingy, military quarters im guessing many poor people did indeed live in these abandoned places really we only saw the market place type square of their squatter society im 100% sure that in reality thats what they would do i mean why else did they survive through that end battle? cos they were in their shantytown of rotting buildings and unheated rooms the rich panicked and tried to escape thats why they died cornered who would think to hide in the poor people decrepit old squats? why would it be safer than the tower? well eventualy im sure the poor would be found an sieged by zombies but they have dealt with zombies and crime, whereas the rish were pampered and cant live without the tower still the lower class eventually would be eaten/trapped but the only reason they never got found was cos they hid in their homes then the zombies were mostly destroyed by dead reckoning while feasting on the wealthy, the rest got lead away by big daddy

[Philly_SWAT]

An interesting question, with some interesting ideas about it. Here are my thoughts..... 1. There could be zombies in some of them buildings, people who never made it out. For all we know, those buildings could be sealed/blocked to keep people from getting in.........and from getting out. Why didn't the men clear those out at some point? Probably too many zombies to burn all of that ammunition on, especially if you need to watch out for more zombies getting in. I doubt that there were any zombies in those buildings. The only reason I could see for leaving zeds in there would be if they were conducting some scientific experiments, ala Day of the Dead, but we see no evidence of that in the movie. They could have easily taken out any zeds in those buildings without having to expend any ammunition. 2. In the event zombies were to get in the city, the last place I'd probably want to be is inside of a tall building. Let a few of those zombies get in there and you really have no way out. Pretty hard to retreat from the 31st floor if you've got 25-30 zombies wandering around and milling up the stairs after you. The power was off by then, so no way to use the elevators. Just because some places had lights and other luxuries doesn't mean there was power on in every structure. No lights, no elevator, no way I'd want to live there. Well, it does get rather cool in Pittsburgh during the long winter season, and I would want to sleep inside a building with no power rather than on the streets during that time. I assume that if those buildings had no power, it was because Kaufman didnt want to "spend the money" to power them for the peasants who didnt live in the Green. If zombies were to break into the building, it would be easy enough to barricade the one door that would lead into any particular office/apartment. Of course, given their situation, they could not afford to worry every second about zeds breaking in any more than we can afford to worry about dying in a car wreck.... we still have to drive our cars. They had to be wary of it, yes, but had to hope that the downtown area was relatively safe the way they had their defences drawn up. A piece of plot logisitics that was tossed to the side in favor of strong political and social commentary. This could very well be. they did use some buildings like the jail, casino arena thingy, military quarters im guessing many poor people did indeed live in these abandoned places really we only saw the market place type square of their squatter society im 100% sure that in reality thats what they would do i mean why else did they survive through that end battle? This is true, we did see power in at least some of the buildings. But, the examples you use are all areas that were important to Kaufman to have power in.

[Mutineer]

This is the one thing that boggles my mind about this movie. We have the rich located in one big building, and the poor living on the streets it would seem... what's with all the empty buildings in between? Why not put the poor people in there? If they have the ability to get power to the one building, wouldn't they have the ability to get it to the others? Power issue aside... are they even using those other buldings for anything at all? I have asked that question the moment I saw the movie Land was a travesty of all travesties of Zombie films. It's best to pretend it doesn't exist; like a Rocky 5 kind of.

[Danny]

then you sir have never seen vampires vs. zombies.

[capncnut]

<shows crucifix>

[7734]

Land was a travesty of all travesties of Zombie films. It's best to pretend it doesn't exist; like a Rocky 5 kind of. that is HARSH!

[Trin]

I think the answer to this is fairly simple. The big uninhabited area around Fiddler's Green tower is there intentionally to serve as a buffer so that the Green residents don't have to see the shanty town, or the poor people, or the zombie defenses. It would be awfully hard to "ignore the problem" if you looked out your window and saw poor people lining the streets, or looked to the next building over and saw people huddled around a trash can fire for heat. The city is not just one big protected area that everyone can roam around. The uninhabited area is guarded to keep unauthorized people out. You see this when Riley and Charlie leave the uninhabited area and enter the shanty town. The security guard makes it clear to Riley that he won't be let back in without his pass. So the poor people don't live in the streets because they prefer it that way, or because they feel safer there. They live there because Kaufman forces them to. He keeps them as far away as possible for the comfort of his Green residents.

[rawrOTD]

trin that was solid

[Mutineer]

Or .... It is one absurd oversite by Romero.