Back from the Land of the Dead

Sequels are rarely as good as the original. There are far more Jaws 2‘s than there are Godfather 2‘s. And the farther you go down the sequel path, the more likely you are to see a mess.

That’s why I’m happy to say that George A. Romero‘s Land of the Dead is a welcome addition to his zombie series.

My favorite is still “Night of the Living Dead.” I doubt that any zombie movie will ever top NOTLD, not only because everything came together on it [the low budget, shooting in black and white, a cast of unknowns, etc.], but also because it was the first zombie movie to really get to me. These weren’t island zombies or some mummy come back to life. These were our neighbors, our friends and even our family members who were crawling out of the grave to eat us!

Land of the Dead is my second favorite of Romero‘s quartet [followed by Dawn of the Dead and then Day of the Dead]. While I generally don’t like the idea of “smart” zombies, I was intrigued by the idea that these zombies were starting to learn. I thought all of of the actors were well cast. The use of fireworks as a plot device was a cool idea. Heck, I can even go with the idea that money still has value [although that plot element to me was the weakest].

Land of the Dead is supposed to be Romero’s final zombie movie, but I wouldn’t mind see him come back for another.

“Night of the Living Dead” rates an A+
“Dawn of the Dead” [original] rates a C+
“Dawn of the Dead” [remake] rates an A
“Day of the Dead” rates a C
“Land of the Dead” rates a B