why people like land of the dead

[Monrozombi]

George Romero zombies, whether "intelligent" or not, they were Romero zombies, for the last 20 years everyone has tried to copy them but they couldn't replicate the originals like George. and just seeing george make a movie and actually being there and being part of its creation, albeit a small one, was special enough for me, i loved LOTD

[jdog]

a good flic in my books,but i expected alot more. it needed a longer running time and a better ending but the gore is great.

[DjfunkmasterG]

gore alone can't save a movie, even a GAR movie. Gore was cool when I was 14, but now I look for the character development and people I will like and dislike. The only character most people even cared about was charlie. I would have cared less if anyone else got eaten alive. I liked Charlie, he was well played, everyone else must have had too much fun or was bored to death and phoned in their performaces. Not all of LAND was bad, there were some decent visuals. I still love the opening crane shot down through the park passing by the really rotted female zombie, then once it got to Big Daddy it pretty much went downhill from there.

[mista_mo]

Riley was great...I thought he was a great character, and was well played, same with Cholo.

[MinionZombie]

Something I liked about Riley was that he wasn't a clean-cut likeable hero, he wasn't always the nicest guy and he wasn't into the whole community idea, he just wanted to live out his days in the wilderness...

[Skold]

i still love this movie. Here's a repost of mine from the old f0's: http://www.homepageofthedead.com/cgi...pl?f=a&m=11465 - Social commentary is back! And it was very well done. i wonder how many people who have seen this this film have realized that we are no different than the lower class here. Some kiss ass to move up (Cholo), some try to organize to no avail (Mulligan), and most don't care as long as they are entertained. Well done. There were also some less obvious allegories such as money is only worth something because someone says it is (in our case the US government, in the film Kaufman). - The acting! Most of the acting in the trilogy was kind of flat. Not bad, but not great (i think Pilato is the exception here). i think the 3 best actors of the series are in LOTD - Leguizamo, Baker, and Joy. i was very skeptical about Leguizamo - i'd never heard of him and all of the sudden he's everywhere, but i thought he was great. Even with the rushed pace of the film, i enjoyed the characterizations of Cholo, Riley, and Charlie (mostly due to the actors i think). - The scale! Dude, this movie was an epic. Remember when you first saw Dawn (after seeing Night) and was blown away by how epic it was? We saw the outbreak in the tv station, the projects, Philly (the building going dark still haunts me), redneck mid-PA, the mall, and the bikers. Then you thought that was going to be expanded in Day after the unbelievable opening in Ft. Myers, only to have it close in on one place. Well the epic is back. i've so wanted to see cities, abandoned towns, small ouposts, rural roads, sub-divisons. i loved that! - Large scale feasting! We've only been treated to a few people at a time up until now. i've always wondered how crowds dealt with the outbreak. Here we have two (TWO!) scenes about that! The break in into Fiddlers Green was great. i loved seeing how we all got in each others' way. The scene where the bitten guy grabs a running girl's ankle was awesome! Then the city scene. We missed the carnage, but the aftermath was incredible! 50 zombies eating 50 people's remains - i've always wanted to see that! - Savini! Best cameo EVAR! He even used the infamous move that he used on the "Machete Zombie" on a live person! Awesome! Great flick!

[lullubelle]

Well I was one of those that did not like "Land" when it first came out, I was very much acostum to the old "dead" movies, but I have grown to like it and actually will say now that it truly is good, most of us old geasers grew up with one of the "dead" movie for me it was "dawn 78" and I remember not been to receptive of "Day", this may apply to other members too, but after watching the movie several times now, I can truly say I like it.

[MinionZombie]

When you mention Day that makes me giggle - because when Day came out it bombed and a load of people utterly hated it big style ... then it found it's home on video and became the huge cult success it is today and everybody holds it in high regard - it's exactly the same with Land. When Day came along everybody was expecting another Dawn of the Dead, pie fights and a crazy, disco-loving time. But the 80's were all about giving up and the 'nuclear-thing' - not exactly a cheery time in GAR's world. With Land, people were expecting a movie just like the original three - most fans (me included) had seen the original trilogy in hindsight and were used to that small budget, independent, gritty look with the usual suspects behind the scenes. Land is 20 years later - the first flick many of us Dead Heads have seen in cinemas that is a GAR zombie flick (or just a GAR flick) - things have moved on, people have changed, but it's essentially the same. All you gotta do in a situation like this is not expect anything. GAR made the movie he wanted to make - just like with Land - in time, the fourth flick will become more and more successful and more a part of the first three films.

[jdog]

When you mention Day that makes me giggle - because when Day came out it bombed and a load of people utterly hated it big style ... then it found it's home on video and became the huge cult success it is today and everybody holds it in high regard - it's exactly the same with Land. When Day came along everybody was expecting another Dawn of the Dead, pie fights and a crazy, disco-loving time. But the 80's were all about giving up and the 'nuclear-thing' - not exactly a cheery time in GAR's world. With Land, people were expecting a movie just like the original three - most fans (me included) had seen the original trilogy in hindsight and were used to that small budget, independent, gritty look with the usual suspects behind the scenes. Land is 20 years later - the first flick many of us Dead Heads have seen in cinemas that is a GAR zombie flick (or just a GAR flick) - things have moved on, people have changed, but it's essentially the same. All you gotta do in a situation like this is not expect anything. GAR made the movie he wanted to make - just like with Land - in time, the fourth flick will become more and more successful and more a part of the first three films. i agree 100% with you on that.

[Harold W Brown]

The last time I saw a Romero zombie flick in theaters was in 1985. I had recently discovered Dawn on video, and was expecting something similar. My dad took me to a midnight screening, and as I let go of my expectations and watched the film unfold, I began to have what was - and what remains - the best time I've ever had in a theater. Believe it or not, DAY seemed "too slick" to be part of Romero's world at first! I was expecting the same grubby, DIY-looking action fest that I'd found in Dawn. There was a similar initial deflation with "Land" - "this looks too polished, why the **** is there cgi?", etc. After repeat viewings, there are still things I'd change about Land (more daytime scenes, "dirtier" visuals), but it's settling into a comfortable spot within the series. As you watch again and forget your nitpicks, you can let the story Romero wanted to tell take hold.

[MinionZombie]

RE: the cgi in Land - I liked how it was used. Well, I did and I didn't...I didn't like the CGI blood, it looks like CGI blood and was used a bit too much, just do it practically damnit! They did plenty of stuff practically...but we needed more real headshots and blood spurts. However, CGI was also used well - watching the DVD featurette about the use of CGI in the flick was quite surprising - a lot of it I didn't even notice, and that's how CGI should be employed in most movies. P.S. Land rocks!

[Brubaker]

Regardless of whether or not it measures up to other GAR films, Land is redeemed by the fact that nobody but GAR would have made that same film during that same year. Perfect or not, you can't watch it saying that a half dozen other directors would have done the very same thing.

[darth los]

RE: the cgi in Land - I liked how it was used. Well, I did and I didn't...I didn't like the CGI blood, it looks like CGI blood and was used a bit too much, just do it practically damnit! They did plenty of stuff practically...but we needed more real headshots and blood spurts. However, CGI was also used well - watching the DVD featurette about the use of CGI in the flick was quite surprising - a lot of it I didn't even notice, and that's how CGI should be employed in most movies. P.S. Land rocks! I feel the same way. You would think that with the success they had with prothstetic effects in the past, day in particular, that they would have kept with it. It's astounding how, even though they're over 20 years old, day's effects are still superior to lands. I hope that he listens to feedback from fans like us and does the effects the traditional way or until the cgi technology reaches the point to as you said, be indistinguishable from "real" effects.

[MinionZombie]

I'd imagine the reason a bunch of CGI was used to flesh out sequences like the truck rolling down the street (adding muzzle flashes, hits, head shots etc) is because of two things: 1) Too complex to set up and time correctly 2) Not enough time during the production for much more practical blood splatter

[MissJacksonCA]

When Land first came to theaters I went to see it. Yep first showing at the movie theater. I had to watch it alone so I wouldn't risk going with someone who's a theater talker (not to say Ive never talked during a movie but I mean there's just a certain time you need alone with a zombie movie). And boy did I love it. I loved it when I saw it again with some friends who wouldn't shut up. I saw it again with my boyfriend. I saw it again with someone I just met. I saw it again with my coworkers. I saw it again alone. I saw it again with my mum. I saw it again alone. Eventually I had to stop seeing it. I was after all going broke its not cheap going to the movies... I thought hey damn... good looking cast... love Leguizamo... haven't seen Hopper for years... Asia was damn hot... and the Samoan guy reminded me of my boss... and wow never knew Simon Baker but I was like finally a good looking guy in a zombie movie. I really liked the way the zombies attacked the city and fought their way to the evil doers. I loved seeing Luigi turn into a zed. I loved near everything about it. The ending baffled me a wee tick but hey... Then I came back to this website... and some jackass said he hated it... made me look twice at the ol dvd... and after much deep thought I began to dislike it. I've pretty much always had a problem with Romero. I mean why couldn't he keep following the same characters? Where the hell did Fran and Peta-boy end up? What happened to Sarah and John and what's his face? I had to know! It wasn't fair not knowing. Sure its fun to wonder where are they now. But I wanted to know. And then I began to watch this... and saw Day of the Dead... and thought... damn I hate those movies. The zombies began to pose less of a threat to the remaining survivors... I mean it seemed like they were generally content to stay where they were from and wait for food to come to them. And then people had a 'safe' place to live even if they were forced to live like hobos in Hoover-towns while the wealthy hobnobbed in the green. And I mean them finding Pringles was just silly. How long would any remaining food stay preserved? This movie was LONG AFTER any of the previous films so it just seemed outright bizarre that they would be able to keep finding **** in surrounding areas. And the survivors seemed to have no means and no intentions of actually beginning to re-take the world from the zombies so it really bugged me. It was like they were content to just 'live' as they were. And then when he got into the whole 'underground' thing where they were throwing people into a ring and to watch zombies fight over 'em I just thought now we're going redneck crazy and the movie just began to seem even more stupid. Painfully stupid. The end was the worst part for me. I mean not even trying to kill the zombies while in the safety of Dead Reckoning? Thats silly and it was the final straw I tell you the final one! Something else that bothered me was the character development you see in his previous films that was just missing from this one. It seemed like there were too many characters to develop and well... I was just disappointed