Film review: Land of the Dead

Film Review

Film title: Land of the dead                                               Director: George A. Romero

Year of Production: 2005                                                    Genre: Horror, action, thriller

Brief Plot Outline: The zombies have taken over the world, in America the living have built a walled in city to keep the dead out. Events take a turn for the worst as a revolution plans to overthrow the city leadership and the zombies are turning into more advanced creatures. This shows how George Romero plays with stereotypes because in most zombie films the zombies are slow and stupid but he’s turned this around as the zombies in land of the dead are more advanced learning how to use weapons.

Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why?: The first scene that impressed me the most was the scene where a girl is trapped in the cage having to fight off two zombies just for the pleasure of the crowd who had become just as inhumane as the zombies feeding off the flesh of human torture. This scene shows how the end of the world has caused humanity to become evil and causing them to deal with the fate of the earth in their own way, in this case it’s seeing other humans suffer. The next part of this scene is where Riley is after the dwarf who is eventually shot by Charlie a simpleton who also flips a stereotype as he is a really good shot and can handle himself. The second scene that most impressed me was when Cholo as a zombie is going after Kaufman. This scene builds a lot of tension as Kaufman is almost killed by the black zombie leader, and the film makes it seem like Kaufman is going to survive but when Cholo appears you know that he will be killed as its part of Cholo’s revenge and George Romero has made the audience hate Kaufman. The audience would be more pleased with the fact that Cholo as a Zombie kills Kaufman.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of filmmaking? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?: There is a lot of blood and gore (body horror) in Land of the dead one of the more graphic shots of body horror is when a soldier gets his face ripped off by a zombie. This is a really good affect which I would like to use in my horror trailer but will not as our trailer isn’t a zombie film and I don’t think it was look as good as the effect in Land of the dead. Another really good effect is when a zombies head flicks from his back hanging on his neck to bite one of the characters in the car. Part of this horror is too have a lot of creepy locations to add suspense one of them is the bridge, as it is dark, foggy and full with zombies. The darkness of the whole film connotes misery and horror as the world is coming to an end as people try to survive the horror of it all. There is a lot of quick cuts and collision cutting as all the civilians are running through the central main after the zombies have broken in to destroy the human’s new way of life.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Why?: I would like to use the body horror effects as it makes people feel uncomfortable and makes them not want watch but they feel they have to. I would also like to add the collision cutting as this style of camera work builds suspense and scares the audience. I would also like to add the aspect of action into my trailer as I feel it gives it more excitement and you can build up to it adding more suspense.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? : I would like to avoid the trailer being too dark like this film, I think darkness does make it more grubby and scary but I think you need to add a safe place where you know the characters are not going to get hurt where it all begins.

What was the best aspect / more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How? : One of the more enjoyable parts of the film was the scene where zombies have broken into the central main and ripping apart the people and destroying their home (their safe place). This wouldn’t be easy to recreate as you would need a lot of make-up and a lot of people which would be a very hard task to organise with such a small budget. It could be done with less people and a different scene to use it in my trailer it could be a lot of the people chasing down our main character in our trailer.

How does the film show the influence of its “auteur” director? How does it show the directors filmmaking style and soul? Give examples of three scenes from the movie that show their auteur style? : George A Romero shows his auteur style in this film by making us look at zombies in different ways trying to make the audience feel sorry for them and in a way want them to succeed in taking over, this shows Romero’s style to flip stereotypes. Most films directed by George A Romero are zombie horrors so when you see that he is a director of a film you can immediately tell what it is going to be like. Also the zombie leader is black, again showing his anti-racism, and one of the heroes is slightly physically deformed but a very nice character. The people in charge are portrayed as greedy and selfish and only upper class people can live in the central main building this showing Romero’s anti-consumerist values.

How does the film reflect its institutional point or historical context? Analyse two scenes/events that reflect the time which the film was made. : The film shows that the reason these people have turned into these creatures is because of some sort of virus and at the time that the film was made there were things like bird flu and all different sorts of illnesses which would therefore scare the audience into thinking this could be real. The film shows how higher classes will have a better life even if the world is ending.