LAND of the DEAD: A Zombie Swan Song (Why it's a nearly PERFECT ZOMBIE movie)
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- Land of the Dead was a perfect zombie movie (mostly) that summarized Romero's dead series and was the most fun of them all. Here's why.
Edited by @QuickFlixYT
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Wanna talk about memorable characters? I only saw this film maybe once until recently, and I was 6 years old. I remember that damn zombie in a mechanic jumpsuit, wielding a gun for damn 12 YEARS! I didn’t even remember the name of the movie, I just remembered Big Daddy
Dude same I’ve never seen this movie since I was 6/8 and remember seeing the zombies come out of the water was just mind blowing.
funfact about the scene: since the zombies were obviously played by human actors and that was shot on a freezing night, they had to edit out their breath in the cold
My sister was quite the aficionado of horror movies, got to watch the original Dawn of the Dead pretending I wasn’t horrified n traumatized in the theater n man, this one was a hard pill to swallow, smart fast zombies? So many nightmares
His name is Eugene Clark and he is an absolute gem of a man! I got to meet him and spend some time with him like 10yrs ago in NY. I was so excited to tell him how amazing his acting had been. My favorite part was in the beginning. The amout of emotions he was able to pull off under all the makeup was a real testament to him and the sfx artist! My heart broke with his when he had to stomp on his fellow zombies head to put him out of his misery.
They should have just had them come out of the water, having a smoke or Vape ;)
The one thing stupid about land of the dead was the scavengers could have just overthrown the rich by simply doing nothing. You want supplies go get them yourselves, what’s that? You wont? Guess we will take what you have then
Human fear, make them think you are the one keeping them safe so they won't rise up. In the end, sure, the poor could have swarmed the actual building, but at the same token, the scene of the poor being devoured shows how surprised they were, and by then, it was far too late.
Just like in reality, people could take power from capitalists and put an end to wage-slave system and build a just and equality society by building socialism but instead people won't do it because capitalist propaganda is strong and they are fine with the little they get instead of actually asking more as people should.
People deserve more than this little we get out of this system.
This movie portrays well the stupidity of the masses.
I know right? It's not like people in real life outnumber the elite by a lot and still they don't do shit when they are exploited and subjected to lowering living standars while doing work that is essential for the rich to get richer. And that they could just stop doing them so the rich can go fuck themselves... That would be silly.
That was part of the film; Cholo ( John Leguizamo) clues us into this. Remember, he worked as a lackey for Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) believing he could get into the upper levels of Fiddlers Green. We see how Kaufman manipulated everything, policed everything, and controlled everything. He didn't have to make everyone follow him; he only needed to make key figures follow him. Dissenters were removed... sometimes violently. Remember how they threw Mulligan (Bruce McFee) into jail? He was preaching about overthrowing Kaufman and his snobs. The trash pile zombie that Cholo dispatches is another example. An "undesirable" removed before they became a problem. The kid, who was told to pick up the cigars was another. Cholo explains this in his discourse with Riley (Simon Baker) in the latter half of the movie.
Romero knew what he was doing and made sure it was fairly solid. Also, if the scavs did nothing, we wouldn't have a movie.
@prdurnion83 also saying "taking out the trash." I mean Cholo's whole character was a hitman for Kaufman. Pretty badass character.
One of the most interesting things about this movie is how the zombies adapt to kill the living thanks to Big Daddy. Meanwhile, the living became stagnant and complacent with their situation. This showed a stark contrast to most zombie movies and series. Also, if I remember correctly, Big Daddy never seemed to eat any of the living and always made the first move for his horde to follow, implying his status as the leader of the zombie horde. When Riley and his group escape from Fiddler's Green's destruction, Riley noticed that Big Daddy didn't look at them with hatred or disdain, instead, he simply nodded at them and moved on in another direction. It was as if he acknowledged his group and the poor people as fellow survivors in this dead world. It was the most interesting detail for me.
Zombies with intelligence is certainly something this film did well
@@mattnar3865 not just intelligence, compassion also shown in big daddy character
The zombies ate the poor people.
@@Mpetey123Eh, those were the bad ones;)
I was at Indy Comic Con last Saturday and I actually got to meet the actor who played Big Daddy Eugene A Clark. he was a very nice guy and I was surprised that he not only got to play one of the most iconic zombies, but that he also performed in the Lion King Broadway musical. He’s very talented and I wish he got to be in more stuff.
Ooh I have to check to see if he's coming around the New England area! I'd love to see him again! I would lie if I said I didn't still have a crush on that man. I am a sucker for tall! 😂🔥
Tall, UnDead and Handsome!?.
“Please don’t show the hand splitting scene please don’t show the hand splitting scene please- ahhh dammit!”
Time for that to be stuck in my head for another 20 years.
I was a little kid when my dad somehow talked my mother into letting him play this movie during thanksgiving dinner. He kept pulling off the pulling of the wishbone, confusing the heck out of my brother and I. Then picking my to help him split the wishbone while pointing out the hand splitting scene to all of us at the table. I love my dad but that was one of the very few times I got away with cussing at him.
What's a dad
Could you explain I haven’t seen the movie and listening to the audio inly
@@pcruncher5627 7:03
BD showing the other zombies that their fear of water holds no..
Me: WATER!!! ha
Bearing
Me: FUCK!
Intentionally did that to fuck with yall lol
@@WowSuchGaming i fuck with that
@@WowSuchGaming I applaud you sir , I applaud you 👏
@@WowSuchGamingwhat happened to the April Fools why you wouldn't survive the Pooh-universe(aka The Happening) video?
I was in the 8th grade when this movie came out. I bought it on DVD once a month from November 2005 until June 2006. It’s my favorite Romero movie after Dawn of the Dead. The video game related to this game, Road to Fiddler Green is still one of the most fun zombie games I’ve ever played.
the only thing that bothered me about that game was how bullet damage worked. save for the sniper rifle with head shots, it really didnt matter where you shot the zombies. 4 bullets from the starter gun, 2 from the revolver etc
I was 13 when this movie came out
I remember how panned this movie was upon release. Glad it's getting continually re-appraised, as there's a lot unique and powerful in this film.
"Don't shoot they are looking for a place to live" 🤣
the most idiotic thing I ever saw in a movie..... also... zombie shooting guns? jesus... this movie, to me was like a parody to be honest....
What's cool is that the butcher zombie was played by Boyd Banks aka Tucker from Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Guess CJ didnt shoot him well enough
I watched this movie as a kid. The one part that always stuck to me was when a woman was having her navel piercing graphically ripped out by a zombie. That traumatized me.
Little did I know now that now I prefer woman _with_ navel piercings because of this movie, so thanks I guess Romero.
Want to rip them off with your teeth?
Please do "Why you wouldn't survive the rat invasion in A Plague Tale."
Bad game, bad you.
@@dylanmonstrum1538 🤣
One thing that always bugged me is money. In a land of the dead it's essentially useless. It's printed paper.
I feel the same in real life
To be fair, it is already useless under a capitalist society. :3
The movie never addresses this. It becomes even worse when Kauffman tries to escape with the money and acts like it will be worth anything anywhere
Yeah true, but that's only if you assume it's pre-collapse dollars. There's talk of outposts and a network of survivors outside of fiddlers green, they might have their own company script. One of the many aspects of the story that could have done with some more development.
Metro did it well, using high quality pre apocalypse bullets as currency
Huge respect to you for using the Land of The Dead: Road To Fiddler's Green video game soundtrack in the making of this video! I love it and staying wowed by your creativity!
Please take a deep dive on why you wouldn't survive 30 Days of night also great video as always
Early 2000's was a great time to be a zombie fan. We had the zombie revival; we had resident evil, we had dead rising, we had the Dawn of the Dead remake and of course Land of the Dead. Haha using the music from road to fiddler's green! Nice touch.
I haven’t seen this film, but I like the projection of zombies slowly becoming smarter and learning how to use tools. It sounds like what should’ve happened in The Walking Dead.
It was but AMC screwed up the directors and direction of the show. The first season showed a few zombies retain some of their memories: Morgan’s wife tries the doorknob, the little girl zombie picked up a teddy bear before Rick got her attention, and one used a brick/rock to break the glass of the mall (or wherever the group first was when Rick met them).
The second season would have shown how the walkers rose so fast: that the deaths caused by the chaos of the outbreak created more with it focusing on the soldiers in the Tank and Dale/Andrea/Amy when they met and stayed together through it all. It would have been glorious.
Season three would show the Gang in the new world rather than trying to find or save some semblance of what came before.
Instead we got the farm, the walkers being smart was an anomaly (until season 28 or whatever they’re on now), and the rest was history.
It would have been so cool and would have been the example of how slow zombies could still end the world (even if they hadn’t seen zombie media as claimed humans would adapt and this would’ve been shown instead of the same cycle of running to a safe zone before it was overrun and repeat
The walking dead was more tuned to human conflict within that world, which is why it was so good in the earlier seasons until it fell from grace.
@@LordWyattnah the military would still wipe the floor with most forms of zombies especially the slow ones regardless of if they knew how to utilize tools hell a pretty good sized army of policemen could stop em before the outbreaks could even get so bad, the only reason why the military is portrayed as extremely unconfident in these films is so we can have a plot in the first place.
@@elishafollet5347Lol. Agree. They have to fail because of plot.
I say Dawn of the Dead has a better plot point. It is we the people who will cause our own downfall. Think of a list of "people" and those people will show up.
1. Politicians are quick to grab for more power by just passing laws they think of at the moment and put it into effect.
2. Cops or anybody with authority are going to go rouge.
3. Criminals will be release back on the street.
4. The crazy religion nut job people.
5. The far far "you know the word" will show up.
6. The far far "you know the other side of the word" will show up.
7. The looters.
This list goes on.
@@elishafollet5347 The fact that the Military is portrayed so incompetently in the Walking Dead and the fact that walkers are so damn slow, it breaks the suspension of disbelief. The outbreak would have easily been brought under control once the means of transmission and turning was understood.
I remember when I first watched this movie so well because of how shitless it scared me.
I was like 11 or so, and during october, this movie came on, and I watched the whole thing in a trance, and ohhh boy, seeing the zombies literally evolve and learn scared me in ways I couldnt really compute back then.
It's only now that I'm a jaded 26 yr old man that I know those zombies learning and getting past their innate nature would be the most terrifying thing to happen in a zombie apocalypse.
My Uncle Brian used to walk to school to get me and stop at our small town pizza shop order a large pepperoni pizza and when we got home we would watch night, dawn, or day of the dead up until I just got older and busy/moved away now I miss those times more than ever, but I still watch one of the dead movies when I order pizza. Great video
One thing I never understood about Land of the Dead is why didn't they cull the dead around their city? It seems the characters always have to be idiots for zombie movies to work.
Might not have the ammo, might be too dangerous, may have underestimated the zombies, thought they’d always be safe, might not be a big enough problem to need to deal with
Might attract more zombies
Or the zombies are a useful outside threat as another way to keep the people caged in the system
@@wleewle The zombies in Romero's universe are not super human strong so they could melee fight if they have to. They could use ammo to thin them out then melee the rest. They apparently know how to kill the zombies. They just refuse to do it.
Keeping the poor people caged using the dead to keep them in is very short sighted. If the surrounding area was cleared they could branch out and grow which would inevitably increase the wealth of the elites at the top. It would allow the poor to have things to do and increase their own wealth even if it isn't by much. A happier populace is far less likely to rebel and would also be more productive. It would also allow them to create a larger army to clear out areas further out or protect them from other potentially hostile human settlements by increasing their living space which would encourage people to have more children.
Their lack of planning ahead is what doomed them. The only way to properly protect yourself from zombies and other humans in a zombie apocalypse is multiple layers of defense.
Because it's the metaphor mannnnn! This movie is stupid.
Complacency.
@@I3igI3adW0lfit is hinted that they are way stronger than they look and can overpower a survior who is unarmed.
Thank you. I hated this due to guards (who allegedly trained) that hip fired full auto. Being military, this pi*sed me off to no end. I never pictured them as mall cops. I can go back & enjoy it even more.
Yeah that was something that annoyed me too on my first watch but I caught on to the "guards" being security theater in my second watch when I was paying more attention to detail.
This and a few other nit picks people have take a couple watches to show an explanation that dispels most of these issues. It’s relatively well written and definitely entertaining. It is sad to see people shit in this movie without actually trying to understand.
RIP George A. Romero
He's a Zombie Goat.
Out of all the romero zombie movies I think day of the dead and land of the dead are my personal favorites.
I also love that George A. ROMERO made Big Daddy a black zombie, i feel like hes adding on to the empire he built himself all the way back in 1968, when he unintentionally made a political statement when he casted Ben as a black man
.
This movie was definitely a miss for me and it's the only time I've ever heard an audience groan in unison. That last line "They're just looking for a home" was.. spectacularly bad.
Yeah, you can't give a zombie too much personality or it will ruin the premise. Now they are just decomposed people. Still a decent zombie movie
I’ll never look at zombie movies the same, this really opened my eyes. It hit when you said it’s not like watching them as a kid anymore. I’ve been literally watching your content since I was a 13 year old. I’m 23 now and don’t plan on changing that habit
This series has always held a special place in my heart. My parents took me to see Dawn and Day at a drive-in theater as a child way to young to see them. When Land of the Dead came out, I took my dad to see it for Father's Day. I also had the pleasure of meeting Romero and some of the cast of the first three films. Thanks for sharing.
Finally you cover Land Of the Dead! The barracks scene when the zombies were feastin got me hooked on the genre 😂
Have you ever heard of I am a Hero? It’s my favorite zombie movie and the one I think is the best. Also the manga is really intense too
I'm not sure if it's cannon in the Romero movies, but the zombie virus is often written as a variant of rabies. Rabies makes its victims hydrophobic. So part of the zombies's aversion would be the virus telling its host to stay away as well as the fear of dying. Possibly, it's the only reason they're afraid of water because Romero's zombies show an almost gleeful lack of self preservation at times. So it could be a sign that they're evolving past the virus rather than overcoming the human fear of drowning.
The zombies suddenly being able to use complicated weaponry shows a HUGE jump in evolution. They go from having to be shown how to effectively use items from their old life as weapons, to being shown to use complicated weapons, to looking at the complicated weapon and figuring out how to use it themself. What makes the last jump so significant is that most of them wouldn't have used these weapons in life, but would have an understanding of how they work from media exposure. That would mean that they were able to take a concept from their human life and apply it to their dead life. Being able to apply concepts is a huge step in evolution.
I fully agree that Land of the Dead is Romero's really serious commentary and the last two are basically him playing around because he can and pushing production technique and other aspects of the genre to move it forward.
Please do a Zombie Sins for this movie, and any Romero movie you haven't yet, because it's always good to acknowledge that overall movie perfection still has flaws.
Finally, I'm going to add my usual plug for Mira Grant's News Flesh series of books. It's really solid world building and embraces both the absurdity and horror of the an apocalyptic, post zombie rising world. Based on how you present this material I think you would really like it.
Romero never gave an actual explanation of why the dead started returning to life. At best in Dawn of the Dead there was mention of a satellite that returned from Venus that had high radiation levels. But he never confirmed anything for a specific reason.
Shout out to your uncle Kevin. I can tell how much you love him just by this vid alone, but also I know you talk about him a lot in a few of your vids. It's so wholesome. My mom is the reason why I love zombie media so much. That's the cool thing about media, it brings you together.
Thank you for covering this one finally! Been waiting to see if you would!
This is great. I thought I was the only one who felt this way about "Land". Great video.
“What do you call that, screaming practice?” Best line of the movie
I remember the first time I ever watched a zombie movie, or ANY horror movie for that matter was when I was around 10 years old. My mum had gone to bed and, being a weekend I was allowed to stay up late and ended up flicking through the channels until a rerun of 2004s Dawn of the Dead came up. I’ll never forget that Asian zombie with the missing arm from the start of the movie 😂😂
There is this book series I finished not too long ago about a zombie apocalypse. It was 12 books with multiple storylines going on at a time, showing different groups of survivors and even the POV of a zombie at times. It is called The Dead Series by T. W. Brown. If you are a fan of these movies, then this book series should be looked at. It delves into humans being the true monsters while also adding interesting lore that I've never seen another do, like some people being immune to the zombie infections. With Romeros zombies all evolving, as seen in Land, the book series has only the child zombies having some intelligence due to their brains still developing unlike adults. It was an amazing series that I listened to on audible and definitely deserves some recognition.
When Zombies become The Main characters. I owned the dvd as a Kid and would always watch this. Especially on road trips Land of Dead would always be playing lol Big Daddy is GOATED
For me, Land of the Dead is the epitome of zombie movies. People are that naive and dumb, not realizing their own power and selling themselves very cheap for mere illusions of wealth. They are us, we are them - "Barbara".
Wow, I was hoping I could one day hear your feedback on this zombie movie, thank you Zack. 👌
And yes, zombie sins for this one please.
Only Ramero movie I ever saw in theatre. All thanks to a NCO who knew my nerdy love of zombies, so he covered my 24 hour duty so I could watch it the one night it was playing.
I just realized that Warm Bodies is Land of the Dead meets Romeo on Juliet
Yup true.
Land is very underrated. Thanks for putting it back on my radar
Long form content WOW. Is a wonderful bingo scratch for me. Glad I rediscovered the channell
The only gripe I have is that they underestimate the power of those rivers about half the horde would be swept away
I was 9 when I saw this in theaters. Such a good zombie flick. The practical effects by Greg Nicetero are so good!
Seeing the guy from the old classic 1978 film slice that civilian was so awesome. I watched the whole series on it and I never even noticed until you pointed it out. So awesome. Wish we could’ve seen Bub somewhere also.
Well, I think he's in a movie. Zombie who jump out from refrigerator in store. Look closely: he have a collar on his neck and looks like Bub.
Spam is delicious, it's sharper than ham, you can taste it through breakfast eggs, mac and cheese, and in sandwiches.
Dude! This was such a great analysis of Land of the Dead! I’m pretty sure that George Romero himself would have approved. Land is definitely the culmination of Romero’s ultimate vision.
I love this movie. Lol Also, I got a tattoo done a couple years before this movie came out by a pretty famous dude in the tattoo scene who was well know for doing black and gray portraits of horror movie monsters. He did Freddy Kreuger on my calf. The tattoo won 1st place at the convention. But the reason that is relevant is because that artist got to be a cameo as a zombie. When the zombies break into the city he is the bald dude eating a finger. His name is Bob Tyrrell and was a frequent guest on Ink Masters for portrait and black and grey work!
Edit: LMAO That's him at 6:23 that is Bob Tyrrell the dud who did my tattoo!
I got to meet the actor of Big Daddy..in full makeup and all. I am glad this film got a vid to praise it
Fun fact you probably already know: The "butcher " zombie in Land OTD, is the same actor who played "Tucker " in Dawn OTD 2004😊
This was the first zombie movie I ever remember watching, and the scene of Big Daddy firing the rifle the first time stuck with me ever since I was a kid. Rewatched it recently, like 19 years later, and it was such an entertaining experience. I love this movie.
Personally never liked the movie. I've always hated the idea of zombies that don't rot or decay if they're not magically summoned/necromantic undead. Land embodied ridiculous eternal non-magic undead to a T with the crazy good condition they're all in after however many years. I mean, heck, exposure to the elements would have worn most of them down to bones.
I love this movie so much like. yes it's got the silly in it but honestly if you don't do a silly thing with zombie media you're doing it wrong. Thank u G. Romero for making my life happier!
Doesnt matter how cheesy or badly filmed a movie is, its an automatic classic must see when you add Dennis "Mother-F'n" Hopper to it...
Who's your favorite zombie in this movie? Mine is Big Daddy, although Tom Savini zombie was also cool.
No 9. Had a crush on her as a teen
Blades! His cameo was awesome.
Have to add - the Music score's in these movies were all so amazing properly keeping creepy simple tunes that made these films so special
I've been waiting for Land of the Dead content!
my first encounter with romero's zombie universe is Land of the Dead. Pique my interest to classic zombie and zombie pop culture in general.
My first encounter with the zombie genre in general was "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island." However, my first encounter with Romero's zombies was "Night of the Living Dead," and shortly thereafter "Dawn of the Dead." Dawn is still my personal favorite out of all of them... :D
@@Fr4nkL33-D34DLY cool, from romero's classic my favourite is Night of the living dead. Small scale and the tension in the movie is perfect.
@@Muraqqi Yeah, "Night of the Living Dead" is one of my favorite zombie films to date. Easily in my top four. I think I'd rank it as my third favorite, just under "Exit Humanity: A Zombie Saga" and "Dawn of the Dead"... 👍
My mom was a huge horror/sci fi fan and growing up even at a really young age I watched all the classics I watched the Dawn of the Dead remake in 3rd and then Land of the Dead in 4th and loved them then my mom showed me all the classics such great memories!!
The scene of the Zombies rising from the water will live rent free in my head forever.
Bruh, That one girl's belly button being ripped open was getting creative lol
That had already been done with Rhodes in Day of the Dead
Another excellent video from my glorious king
Patrick Jane vs the Zombie Apocalypse, I approve.
during the spotlight jump scare i like that big daddy screams in an almost human voice
Why you wouldn't survive mortal Kombat's Armageddon
Why you wouldn't survive blood of Zeus's Demons/Giant invasion
Why you wouldn't survive Bird box's Death entity invasion
Why you wouldn't survive Locke and key's Black Door Demon invasion
Why you wouldn't survive DC comics Heaven invasion
Why you wouldn't survive Marvel comics Negative zone invasion
I know it's more of an exception or something done before the cannon had been established but the first Zombie ever seen, in 'Night of the Living Dead, does use a tool almost right away, just to break the window of the car Barbara is in.
My uncle torrented the video game for me almost 20 years ago, I remember being really scared to leave the main room because of the zombie standing outside. Eventually it auto attacks the front door though, that was the first time I had to face something scary in a video game. The game may be not so great but I love replaying it every now and then
Ironic how the leader of the undead was more compassionate and caring as opposed to the total lack of empathy by the city’s elite,the dead had more humanity than the living.
They didn't feel compassion they ate the people.
I liked it the first time I watched it, but a few rewatches made me realize just how stupid the movie is-and it's because of the human characters. They do so many dumb things that I can't root for anyone, and in the ending, after the dead just ate all the people in the city, they just let them walk away. So stupid. As far as it fits into the rest of the films - it's not the worst. This was probably the last good movie he made because the next couple of movies are just awful.
"what the hell is even that?"
That's Romero's daughter getting a cameo lol
I NEED to read the book that was finished by the guy who did Shape of Water, It would be one of his last works not including Twilight thats supposed to also come out. It would then make the series 5 movies and one book in a continuous timeline :)
Thank you for this. Im a Land fanboy. Had the dvd, bluray and digital. I even had the game on xbox.
After Night, Dawn and Day, obviously this movie wasn't gonna stack up. But personally, i think it does Day will always be my favorite but this has to be my number 2 for sure.
real question why can you not show gore without being censored but dead people walking around all ripped apart is okay? what youtube think that is ketchup????
You should do a “why you DEFINETLY wouldn’t survive The Absolute Solver from Murder Drones.” It’s literally a computer virus that may or may no be connected to demonic forces.
The instrument playing zombies scene was the scariest and creepiest thing I've ever seen as I child
Your commentary is fantastic. It does the movie justice that the script failed it.
The 4th greatest of the Living Dead Romero films. Not great, but not bad at all. Worth a watch.
Its always old farts nagging on anything new. Meanwhile you rewatch the first two or show them to some first time viewers and they aged so horrible most I showed them to dont even wanna finish them
Lol you're so fucking good at calling what I was thinking of next. I also grew up on these movies. Been to Monroeville. I would never let my kids watch them, but I was 10 pulling them off the shelves at Blockbuster. Tried other ones, but always went back to Romero over and over again.
You should definitely do a zombie sins for this movie I would love to see your take on this good movie
Land of the Dead is my favorite Zombie movie. Wish they would have made a trilogy starring that Simon Baker. I even think they could have done more with Zombie gas pump attendant(leader) as he leads his Zombies to build a protective fortress and leads them on attacks of the living . Dawn of the Dead is tied for 1 st. Love both of those Zombie Movies and they are the only 2 I actually kept when I got rid of my Blu rays and DVDs. I even bought both digitally.
I love Land of the Dead and if you ever have an opportunity to play Road to Fiddlers Green on PC I suggest getting it, it was great!
My only issue with Land, is Big Daddy teaching other zombies. I love that they were evolving but Big Daddy, for example teaching the Butcher that he could chop through the wooden wall was a bit much and Big Daddy not previously using bladed weapons makes me wonder how he knew.
Again for the record I absolutely love this movie.
He saw humans doing it to the other zombies earlier in the film. There was a good amount of "learning by doing" done by the lesser zombies, could have been Big Daddy saw the cleaver and went "Hang on a tick..."
One of my favorites behind the original DotD. The way they made the zombies using their ladt memories to try and trick peope was an interesting touch. Every movie Romero made had a message. Interesting fact, the original xbox game was a hidden reference given it was titled Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green.
I see land of the dead truly started with bub back at the end of day of the dead
Can you do Why you wouldn’t survive COD Ghost: Extinction Cryptids
*TLDR- I've long held the opinion that Big Daddy can be interpreted as the zombie equivalent to Night of the Living Dead's Ben or possibly Nat Turner, perhaps not as an unintentional figure reflecting racism but in the context of his character's role among the zombies vs. the humans. I'm curious how Big Daddy's truce with humanity will progress in Romero's planned finale Twilight of the Dead, which will reportedly feature zombies beginning to divide into competing factions.*
*I'll elaborate on my unfiltered thoughts below, feedback is welcome but please respect differences of opinion:*
In 1968, a black protagonist leading a mostly non-black cast and becoming a pop cultural icon was unprecedented. In the context of this movie, while Dawn of the Dead established that the ghouls retain some memories and Day of the Dead's Bub showed a capacity for learning, to see a zombie advance in intelligence to the point of leadership was a similarly unexpected development (both in-universe and to a number of Romero fans at the time).
One could also interpret Big Daddy as a modern undead Nat Turner figure. He exists as part of a group who have long been feared, hated, marginalized, and treated as less than human. By the time of Land of the Dead, the humans have so much power that many no longer take the zombies seriously, let alone treat them with a hint of respect or decency.
Granted, this metaphor doesn't exactly mirror our history when you consider that the zombies in this fiction are objectively dangerous and drove humans to understandably fear, hate, and dehumanize them. It's a natural reaction after they lost loved ones to this plague, lived in terror of being eaten alive for years, and watched the world they knew go to Hell.
If you dissociate that aspect, however, I still think it's possible for the Nat Turner interpretation to work even if only for Land of the Dead since its plot takes place decades after the apocalypse and only briefly references it in the opening. By the time the story picks up, the survivors are framed as oppressors who treat zombies like animals to the point of cruelty:
Killing them for sport, chaining them up, abusing them for amusement, using them for cage fighting, etc. Ironically, the very empathy that helps define humanity being desensitized out of the living after all they've suffered only exacerbates their division. Beyond their usual struggle to cooperate, their basic capacity to care about each other seems to have deteriorated in some capacity. They're the closest to thriving that they've ever been since civilization fell.
Yet, many are arguably less human than ever. By contrast, one zombie discovering (or rediscovering) the self-awareness necessary for empathy quickly unites the undead into a drastically more formidable force. Zombies had an edge over the living to begin with in that they didn't discriminate based on color, sex, beliefs, etc. Despite being mostly unaware of each other, this mass of individuals worked together very effectively thanks to their shared hunger (more irony).
Big Daddy was unique not only in his intellect & learning capacity but being able to control himself enough to perceive the state of the world around him. He was everything Day of the Dead's Dr. Logan had dreamed of and more. More impressively, we never see him feast on flesh. He actively tells fellow zombies to not get distracted by eating when making their way to Fiddler's Green, indicating the possibility that he learned to control his hunger or even lost it altogether.
Maybe he simply figured out that he didn't need to eat? We can't know for certain how much his zombified brain remembered from his former life or developed to comprehend. He might even have been aware to some extent that he was undead, which would explain how he knew his zombie army wouldn't drown when crossing the river. Imagine that personal Hell, repeating your routines from life until echoes of who you were and why you did these things begin to return.
Imagine experiencing that in solitude for potentially years, trapped with a sense of identity in a body that can't efficiently communicate to humans, most of whom can't look beneath your rotting surface. However far his awareness developed, we know that Big Daddy recognized certain zombies he spent enough time around (Baseball woman, teenage couple, butcher, tambourine player, etc.). When your only company is corpses, you either learn to interact or stay lonely.
Riley observing them is like a Homo Sapien Sapien watching early Neanderthals. It's unclear whether some of them retained enough mental faculties to acknowledge Big Daddy from the beginning or if he had to teach them first. Regardless, we can reasonably assume he came to view a few of them as neighbors or even a zombie tribe. Who knows how many of these companions he watched get bodied by human scavengers, leaving him lonely all over again.
Maybe he recognized that he wasn't the only zombie with some self-awareness and sought to save as many as he could. Part of him may have hoped that, if they stayed alive long enough, humans might start to notice their intelligence and stop slaughtering them. But they never happened. Nobody besides Riley appeared to see their re-emerging humanity or care. So, after however many years of such treatment, losing friend after friend, Big Daddy's despair turned to anger.
Had the humans left him and his friends alone, he might have never approached the city. The fireworks display in the 1st Act must've been the last straw, as he tried to save his fellow undead this time only to lose yet another in that decapitated ghoul he mercy-killed. For all we know, that was his closest friend at the time. Thus, Big Daddy finally said in his pained guttural cries "ENOUGH! NO MORE!!! Over and over, they come out here and do this to us! It's ALWAYS the same!
We've done NOTHING to them, yet they won't leave us alone!" Thus, a rebellion began wherein a single zombie became legion on a mission to fight for their survival against the humans, turning the long established conflict of living vs. dead on its head. By the film's finale, Riley alone acknowledged the culmination of what he'd seen the signs of since the beginning. He was the first human to look into Big Daddy's eyes and see something more than the zombie.
And perhaps THAT'S all the undead by this point wanted: Not to devour or even necessarily attack the living, but merely the right to exist. As long as humanity left them in peace, it's plausible that Big Daddy would reciprocate this hard-fought truce. The overall dynamic of Land of the Dead reminds me a lot of the new Planet of the Apes films, with Big Daddy being Caesar. The question is, how long will it be before a smart zombie who WANTS to war against humanity emerges?
This could set the stage for the planned finale to Romero's series Twilight of the Dead, assuming it takes place in the original continuity and not the rebooted timeline that started in Diary of the Dead. What if competing zombie factions form, one side inheriting Big Daddy's "Only fight when provoked" approach while the other decide to attempt subjugating humanity down to a manageable number (very much like Planet of the Apes' human chattel) or outright exterminate them?
The conflict could be compounded further if any zombie gets smart enough to recognize that they rot away eventually. Thus, this ghoul would realize that the undead are a dead end because there's no future for humanity if they kill all of the living. An antagonist zombie might reject that, however, either not being smart enough to have the same epiphany or just hating humans so much that he's fine with them disappearing from the Earth as long as he's the last one standing.
In any case, I believe it would serve as a poetic way for Romero's zombie apocalypse to end. The outbreak originally divided the living to the point of being overrun when working together could have saved them. Now, as the undead become more human than ever, the very same division will spell their downfall, ideally leaving just enough humans to start civilization over. The ultimate cliffhanger: Will they learn from this history of their near-annihilation or continue the cycle?
I'm so proud of my people for finally standing up for themselves
Saw it in theaters back when it came out. It was a fun movie...the Jump Scare with the Priest Zombie was done PERFECTLY. The chick that was with me jumped out of her seat...Jump Scares werent a trope until a few years later.
Can you do a chronological lore of Romero's franchise please. What he changed, what he renewed amd what he improved
I’ve been a Romero fan since 1991 when I watched the “Night of the Living Dead” remake came out. I enjoy all of his movies even the ones that weren’t exactly diamonds in the rough. Land of the Dead was obviously the last big effort into the franchise and I actually love it. I even played “Land of the dead: Road to Fiddler’s Green” on XBox back in the day
I loved all his movies and this one was special, it begged the question of what if they gained intellectual capacity?
All of George's movies are classics. LoTD is great. Island of the Dead is pretty good. Its the human additive that is just as memorable as the Dead. Amazing movies.
I would love to see the interaction of the mechanic and a half infected person (someone who retains all functions even while infected)
Day of the Dead will always be my favorite, but Land of the Dead is criminally underrated.
if land of the dead is sequel to day of the dead, then there is a big IF Rhodes was more sensible and let the doc Logan finished the research, then land of the dead could have turned out like the end of Shaun of the dead :p
Don’t care what anybody says, Land of the Dead will always be the goat of modern zombie horror. It’s got everything.
The goofiness, the gore, the wacky characters, memorable zombies and deaths. A freakin zombie army! I just love it and the zombies look awesome. It generally scared the shit outta me going outside when I was young, especially at night thinking some ghoul was gonna rip me a new one.
Love it. I know the whole script by heart and I always remember making my grandad laugh that I knew every word in the movie because of how much I watched this masterpiece.
Favourite line: “trouble?”
“In the world where the dead are returning to life, the word trouble loses much of it’s meaning..”
Or
“Zombies, man. They creep me out.”
Fuckin love Denis Hopper. So cool and crazy. Haha
Never get zombies like this anymore.
I liked Land of the Dead. It was the last Romero theatrical release I got to catch. I even enjoyed the bugged out game
Loved this film not nearly as much as Dawn of the Dead 1978 but glad Blades made a cameo appearance in the film, I liked Cholo and Frankie were cool too
Why land of the dead SUCKS
1- The poor were not forced to stay in the slums. They could always leave and find a better place.
3- Considering that money had no value in that world Dennis Hopper's plan to leave town with cases of cash was ludicrously stupid.
3- Dead or undead bodies rot and decay. The idiocy of zombies remembering their life skills and problem solving is worse than stupid.
4- 1978 Dawn of the dead was Romero's best, then night of living dead, then day...but Land of the dead was flawed in so many ways.
And the ending was awful.