Land of the Dead

So who's looking forward to the latest in George A. Romero's zombie series?

I will always have a special place in my heart for Mr. Romero, despite the idiotic dialogue and the plots that make abosolutely no sense. If you haven't seen the gore fest Dawn of the Dead, get ye to a video store. Be warned thought that the sequel, Day of the Dead is a big let down.

I drove to Chicago in the summer of 2000 to attend a George A. Romero movie festival. They played all his films in 35mm and screened his, then, latest film, Bruiser. Needless to say it never saw wide release, and I doubt that it is even available on DVD. Chicago is one of the hottest cities in the world. I stayed in a youth hostel in a university residence, and was the victim of attempted robbery as I slept (they took my Videotron Video card, so all those late fees aren't mine). Running down the hall, down stairs, and into the street in boxers at 5:30 in the morning never leaves you with fond impressions of a city.

I've also visited the Monroeville Mall in Pennsylvania. Romero shot the mall scenes from Dawn in the mall, but when I was there the only freak show was the gaggles of 11 year old girls screaming for a visit from Hanson. It sounds made up, but it's actually true: I saw Hanson at the mall from Dawn of the Dead. The mall had, unfortunately, all been remodelled and updated, so it really wasn't the same place, but I ran around and groaned like a zombie anyway.

Land of the Dead is the latest in the series. I can hardly blame Romero for trying to capitalize on the zombie since he popularized them in Night of the Living Dead. The poor guy lost the copyright to the film and he doesn't make a cent for any airplay, or video sales. (You can download it legally here.)

I really hope that this film hits the big time. I met Romero and his wife in Chicago. They are regular normal people just trying to work hard and make a go of things. If he wasn't built like a refrigerator you would think him very plain. You can tell that he was uncomfortable with all the gore geeks, but was so nice about it. He took time to sign my copy of Night and pose for a photo.

Here's hoping that the zombies are blue and that the dialogue is vintage Romero.