Land of the Dead

More empty and lifeless than the zombies that overrun its banal B-movie post-apocalypse, Land of the Dead may signal the return of George A. Romero to the genre he created, but there's little to distinguish it from the countless gory imitators his work has spawned. The fourth picture in the director's signature series, the film takes place in a decimated world where rich elitists live in a self-contained, weakly-defended luxury skyscraper while the lower classes live on street level, behind walls and electric fences. Unbeknownst to them all, however, the zombies in the wasteland outside have begun to think and organize. While this might sound like a fantastic, wholly original concept that could take the genre in a scary new direction, the film fails to exploit the refreshing plot points any further than is necessary to bring the undead through the city's pathetic ramparts to chomp-chomp on a cast of humans with less charisma than the lumbering brain-eaters. Fans who know Romero's penchant for social metaphor will give the film too much credit, reading into it political and class-struggle allusions--but there are no themes here that can't be found in any badly-acted, low-budget, dystopic-future action flick. Not recommended. [Note: Available in either R-rated or unrated versions, DVD extras include audio commentary (by director George A. Romero, producer Peter Grunwald, and Michael Doherty), the 13-minute “making-of” featurette “Undead Again,” the 13-minute featurette “When Shaun Met George” featuring star Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright from Shaun of the Dead making a cameo appearance in the film, a “Bringing the Dead to Life” featurette with makeup artist Greg Nicotero sharing insights into the zombie making process (10 min.), “A Day with the Living Dead” featurette with star John Leguizamo taking viewers through a working day (8 min.), a “Bringing the Storyboard to Life” featurette (8 min.), the “Zombie Effects: From Green Screen to Finished Scene” featurette on CGI used in the film (4 min.), three minutes of deleted scenes, a “Scenes of Carnage” music video montage of the movie's most outlandish scenes (2 min.), a brief clip of some CGI zombies dancing, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid set of extras for a disappointing horror flick.] (R. Blackwelder)