Romero’s zombies walk again in revolting ‘Dead’

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LAND OF THE DEAD, written and directed by George A. Romero, 94 minutes, rated R.

The new George Romero movie, “Land of the Dead,” is a lark. In a cinematic climate littered with sequels, prequels and remakes, the film continues the “Dead” series without feeling as if Romero only came to cash in.

The movie deepens the director’s vision and moves the story forward with ease, giving new purpose to the zombies Romero conceived in his 1968 classic “Night of the Living Dead,” while offering fans plenty of gore in the process. The film is its own monster, eschewing the blistering, apocalyptic action so popular in today’s horror films for measured chaos that lingers.

What the film proves is that there still are fresh ideas to be found in the familiar rot of Romero’s world. Shrewdly, the director remains firm in his belief that it takes more than just ropes of dripping entrails and severed heads to make a horror movie satisfying. While those elements certainly are welcome, and they do flourish here – some might never wear a bellybutton ring again – the film has other targets to explore, starting with society.

Shooting his film in the blues of a corpse – natch – Romero casts Dennis Hopper as Kaufman, an evil investor whose grand tower, Fiddler’s Green, is located smack in the midst of a fortified Pittsburgh. For those lucky and wealthy enough to be chosen to live there, this is the place to be, especially since just beyond the river that frames it are the walking dead.

The zombies are just as you remember them – still hot for human flesh. More important is that they have apparently stumbled down a Darwinian path that finds them evolving with the ability to reason. It’s that twist that not only makes them more dangerous – and funny – but that allows Romero to broaden the social, philosophical and political themes that have been laced through his franchise from the beginning.

In “Night,” he tackled issues of race, prejudice and family. In “Dawn,” he took his zombies to the mall and lampooned consumerism. Later, in 1985’s “Day of the Dead,” he skewered science and the military. Now, in “Land,” he attacks America’s current love affair with land and real estate.

The film’s action revolves around those working for Kaufman and those working against him, a band of nicely drawn renegades (John Leguizamo, Simon Baker, Asia Argento, Robert Joy) forced to fight each other and the undead in scenes that lead to a showdown with Kaufman.

Across the board, the acting is good, particularly from Leguizamo and Joy, but even from lead zombie Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), a hulking beast whose idea it is to cross the river to Fiddler’s Green, where fresh meat awaits. Audiences should thank him for it. The moment Big Daddy gets his feet wet and bulldozes forward, the movie flips into overdrive, with thousands of zombies trailing after him and into the film’s fiery climax. Those interested in seeing what happens there should bring their appetite.

Grade: B

On video and DVD

DAWN OF THE DEAD, directed by Zack Snyder, written by James Gunn, 100 minutes, rated R.

It’s how Zack Snyder twists George Romero’s “Dawn of the Dead” that makes this remake the movie it should have been. The film respects the original, it builds upon what was there, it takes elements of the story and makes them its own. It works so well, it stands – or, in this case, it slithers, crawls and bleeds – as one of the best horror movies to come out of Hollywood in years.

In it, nurse Ana (Sarah Polley) wakes one morning to find her husband being mauled by the girl next door, whose bloody mouth and wild eyes suggest something is wrong with this little pot of trouble that goes beyond consuming too much sugar. This kid is an undead wreck, and her bite, which sinks deep into Ana’s husband’s neck, turns him into a blood-craving zombie who lusts for a kill of his own.

Racing from her home in what proves to be a genuinely thrilling escape scene, Ana quickly discovers that overnight, the world went belly up thanks to a virus that gives the dead a new lease on life. All around her, zombies rush for their next meal. Stealing into her car, Ana flees from her once serene slice of suburbia, connects with a beefy cop played by Ving Rhames, and then meets up with Michael (Jake Weber), Andre (Mekhi Pfifer) and his pregnant wife, Luda (Inna Korobkina).

Together, this core group joins a handful of others at the Cross Roads Mall in Milwaukee, where guts eventually spill in such great red tonnage, this mall will never see another white sale.

Well-crafted and brisk, absurdly gory but cartoonishly so, the film finds Snyder and screenwriter James Gunn having fun with their homage but not at the sake of losing the film’s point. Twenty-seven years ago, Romero took note of the shuffling, zombielike mentality associated with shopping at big-box stores and sent it up, turning Americans into the walking dead as no one had before. This timely remake follows suit, with the good news being that it isn’t the joke it could have been in less careful hands.

Far from it. Yes, there is an unfortunate lack of intestines and brains eaten here, but for those craving that, they can always visit “Land of the Dead.”

Grade: A-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Weekends in Television, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He may be reached at BDNFilm1@

aol.com.

Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? BDN film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

Are We There Yet? – D

Assault on Precinct 13 – C+

The Aviator – A

Bad Education – A

Beyond the Sea – C

Birth – B+

Boogeyman – D

Bride & Prejudice – B

Coach Carter – B-

The Chorus – A-

Collateral – B+

Cursed – C-

Darkness – D+

Diary of a Mad Black Woman – C-

A Dirty Shame – B

Elektra – C-

Ella Enchanted – B

Envy – D

Finding Neverland – C

Flight Of The Phoenix – C-

Hide and Seek – C

Hostage – C-

House of Flying Daggers – A

The Incredibles – A

In Good Company – B+

King Arthur – B

Kinsey – A

Ladder 49 – B

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – D+

Maria Full Of Grace – A

Meet the Fockers – C

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous – C+

Napoleon Dynamite – B+

National Treasure – C-

The Notebook – B+

Ocean’s Twelve – C-

The Pacifier – D+

The Phantom of the Opera – C

Prozac Nation – C

Ray – A

The Sea Inside – A-

Seed of Chucky – C-

Sideways – A

Taxi – D+

Team America: World Police – B-

William Shakespeare’s the Merchant of Venice – C+