Land of the Dead was good but not in a scary way.

[Wyldwraith]

Gotta chime in, While Land is certainly not Original Trilogy-caliber, in its defense it is a FAR CRY from the sheer crapfests that are Diary and Survival. Diary could've possibly been salvaged, especially if Romero had focused more on characterization instead of pseudo-characterization (Ie: The different ways people got annoyed about camera-guy constantly sticking a camera in their face), and not having everyone turn retarded and completely murderously selfish once they got to the mansion. The blonde chick just takes the RV and drives off, without so much as a yell out to the others? What was that shit?!?! Or the obviously nutty-"off" way their still in mummy costume rich friend was behaving when they arrived at his mansion. These people survived a close-quarters encounter with a trio of ghouls in a living room, yet they're too stupid to realize taking a hot bath-nap with the bathroom door open/unlocked in a house you have zero idea how secure or unsecure it is...after having JUST survived a "zombie ambush" in another seemingly peaceful suburban home? C'mon. Wrap that up with the camera-idiot being soooo obsessed with his documentary shooting he lets a zombie traipse right up and mortally injure him...and the girl being all weepy and promising to finish his documentary as she and the old english dude lock themselves in the panic room as zombies swarm throughout the mansion? Check please. I can't even bring myself to compose a scathing dissection of Survival, because I'd have to think about it in depth...and that would give me that "Wish I could bleach the memory of this movie out of my brain" feeling again. Suffice to say I thought Survival was as much worse than Diary, as Diary is worse than Land. In fact, if your only standard is comparing these three movies I submit that Land is Citizen Kane by comparison to the remaining two entries in the latter trilogy.... BTW, did anyone notice in Land that the military unit leader who raids the kids motorhome in Diary and stars in Survival was one of the guards at the vehicle unloading area in Land, who we see overwhelmed and gutted by zombies, before his subsequent reanimation? Just one more bit of disrespect by GAR for his viewers intelligence.

[AcesandEights]

The scary thing is, that both Diary and Survival could have been great zombie flicks, they just went so far afield it's sad One thing I've concluded from this thread is that I need to see more Wyld and Trin posts. So we just need the next season of TWD to get here and then convince Trin to not sequester himself off from the TWD forums in fear of spoilers.

[EvilNed]

I kinda like Land. It's no Day of the Dead, at all. Diary is somewhat of a guilty pleasure, as well. Survival was just horrible, tho. However, I think all of them suffer from being relatively stupid. They are literally cluttered with moments that make you go "Why did he do that?". There are so many scenes in them when characters, or even zombies, act in a way to serve the action, rather than them actually doing what's logical. The scene where Cholo goes to the neighbors and finds the guy hanging in a noose is one of them. The guy's son lets him down, gets bit and then the zombie moves on. Why did it move on? You've got fresh meat right in front of you? It ONLY moved on so that it could sneak up behind the mother, so that Cholo could save her. It's kinda stupid. The films are littered with those small moments. Diary in particular, because the whole concept of him filming everything is flawed. It works in [REC] when the cameraman puts down the camera once in awhile to help in a sticky situation, but this guy never does that.

[krisvds]

DR. LOGAN: On revival, the rate of decomposition slows substantially. Indications are that these beings could function over a period of years-- In cases of early revival, 10 to 12 years before decay would threaten mobility. "Is this the results you've been talking about? Is this what your research is all about?"

[dracenstein]

Diary in particular, because the whole concept of him filming everything is flawed. It works in [REC] when the cameraman puts down the camera once in awhile to help in a sticky situation, but this guy never does that. As I pointed out when film was released, the camera guy gets obsessed over documenting everything that he divorces himself from the world around him. He no longer thought that he was part of that world.

[krisvds]

The other week I saw a young girl get hit by a passing tram. The girl, screamng in agony, her face a bloody mess lay there while some people rushed over to help her and call an ambulance and several other just stood there filming the whole thing with their cellphones. Some aspects of Diary will, in time, prove it to be a (seriously) flawed cynical masterpiece.

[facestabber]

The other week I saw a young girl get hit by a passing tram. The girl, screamng in agony, her face a bloody mess lay there while some people rushed over to help her and call an ambulance and several other just stood there filming the whole thing with their cellphones. Some aspects of Diary will, in time, prove it to be a (seriously) flawed cynical masterpiece. I see the same thing frequently with my job. Some jump right in and ask how they can help. Others wait for me to point directly at them and tell them what to do. And then there is a crowd thats starts recording immediately. To Wylde I was aware of the soldier in both films. I thought that was known here. Regarding Land, Diary and Survival. Survival by far is the worst. Diary, if its late at night and nothing good is on, sure. But I still feel Land takes the cake for Champion Crapfest. I believe Romero was actually trying with Land and that is why I feel embarrassed watching it. I have tried to will myself to enjoy it but I cant. As above mentioned I always like reading your posts.

[rongravy]

However, I think all of them suffer from being relatively stupid. They are literally cluttered with moments that make you go "Why did he do that?". There are so many scenes in them when characters, or even zombies, act in a way to serve the action, rather than them actually doing what's logical. The scene where Cholo goes to the neighbors and finds the guy hanging in a noose is one of them. The guy's son lets him down, gets bit and then the zombie moves on. Why did it move on? You've got fresh meat right in front of you? It ONLY moved on so that it could sneak up behind the mother, so that Cholo could save her. It's kinda stupid. The films are littered with those small moments. Diary in particular, because the whole concept of him filming everything is flawed. It works in [REC] when the cameraman puts down the camera once in awhile to help in a sticky situation, but this guy never does that. I dunno, man. I ask myself that question every day: "Why did he do that?" I think half the world's people suck, the other half are just idiots. I get what you're saying as far as moving the story, but I wasn't bothered at all by Land. I may have been dazzled by the bigger budget and kickass make up, who knows? Other than Day, I think it's the best out of the bunch visually. I like Dawn, but it's more a nostalgia thang. When I've shown it to n00bs, they can't seem to get past the super dated look and cheesed FX. I laugh at the Land haters, yet I don't get said hate. I can totally understand it over Survival, and to a lesser extent Diary, but wow. Some hard to please muthas up in dis piece.

[Wyldwraith]

Honestly, Land has some issues, it really, TRULY does. That said, if I wanted to start counting zombie movies worse than Land, it would readily become apparent that 85-88% of the genre falls below that standard. I like a lot of things about Land, and like some others am puzzled to see it receive hate on the level of Diary/Survival, but the recently mentioned feeling that it's worse because Romero was still trying at that point IS something I'll have to chew on awhile. In the meantime, I agree that 3D conversions are solely money-grubbing maneuvers. Really can't remember the last movie that benefited from it.