Yes. Definitely! ABSOLUTELY! 💯 This & the Zaat intro where he smokes while eating a cheeseburger are my favorite Mike's Moments, other when he's laughing at old people or Rich.
diary of the dead was awful but it has one of my favourite scenes in any movie - when the zombies appear at the farm, everybody panics although they should be used to it by now, and the deafmute amish guy just runs into his shed, reemerges with a looney tunes style stick of dynamite makes a few grunting noises and then blows the zombies up. That was some wonderful comedic timing
The 'rich people buying things' moment could have worked if it was so much more petty. Wine is obvious, a sign of class that can be consumed and would have been laying around for the scavengers to pick up. Maybe movies too: only the rich can afford the electricity to waste on that, rather than 'no freezing'. So you would have shitty gas station wines and terrible DVDs from walmart as the new signs of wealth. That would work.
Romero said he always meant the social commentary in Dawn to be right up front, but I think because Dawn (and all his early films) were so collaborative w/the cast & crew, it had the effect of diluting the directness of the message, which was a good thing. By the time Land came out, I think it was similar to what happened w/Lucas on Phantom Menace, ie- no restrictions & Romero surrounded by a lot of yessir-types instead of people who were challenging him creatively, resulting in a very static & bland film.
Disagree. Land of The Dead may not be as good as his other ones, but it has all of the complexity narratively and subtextually as his other films. The characterization isn’t great and there’s other issues, but when you watch LotD right after Day of the Dead, the whole movie is just an expansion on the themes of Day which asks, “Can zombies learn? Can they be conditioned to act more human?” The entire movie is that juxtaposed with the humanity having “recovered,” but being just as shitty as the last three movies. Humans don’t change even if a crisis happens; they still find a way to be greedy and awful while zombies are sort of more sympathetic because they actually learn and change. They are the bigger character.
@@JustChadC Except that the metaphors are completely mixed from Dawn to Land. And it's just not true. We've had many disasters throughout history and we've seen human beings come together and work together to resolve those issues. Not all, but most people will try to do the right thing as best they can. Romero, much like Lucas, failed to understand what made his own creation so compelling to their respective audiences. And no, the ham-fisted messaging in Land is not subtle or complex. Rich white people are evil, and poor minorities are altruistic and good, and zombies are better than all of us..(???). No. It's just a classic angry liberal spouting about divisive classism. This isn't revolutariony, new, or deep, and by the time Land finally came out, very very played out.
@@JustChadC I completely agree, and to add to this at least Romero tried to explore new themes with each of his movies even if the quality fluctuated a bit throughout his career. Whereas the prequel trilogy just feels completely pointless and adds nothing of value aside from showing more of what was already there, and not in a good way at all.
At the beginning of the movie, if you listen carefully to the tuba and tambourine zombies in the town bandstand, they are playing notes from "The Gonk", the mall music from George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). George A. Romero was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004), that he asked them to appear in this, the fourth part of his "Dead" series, and they appear as the photo-booth zombies in the carnival and barroom sequence. They also feature prominently in the artwork for the Unrated Director's Cut. The zombie of Tom Savini's biker character, who was killed in Dawn of the Dead (1978), can be seen in one of the scenes. George A. Romero's daughter appears in the film. She is the soldier who shoots the zombie on the electrified fence. This movie's Pittsburgh premiere was at the Byham Theatre, which used to be called the Fulton Theatre. This theater, when it was still the Fulton, was the same theater where Night of the Living Dead (1968) premiered in 1968. An amputee played the legless zombie climbing the back of the Dead Reckoning. His name is David Campbell, and was also in Dawn of the Dead (2004) as the "Squished Zombie". There were four titles before "Land of the Dead" was chosen: "Dead City", "Dead Reckoning", "Twilight of the Dead", and "Night of the Living Dead: Dead Reckoning". The view of the zombies rising from out of the river is an homage to the classic scene from Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls (1962), where the dead rise out of the Great Salt Lake before the dance sequence. This is the first film of George A. Romero's "Living Dead" series which uses digital effects. The most expensive of George A. Romero's zombie movies. In the scene where the zombies get into the city, the soldier playing cards, who has his head pulled off, his camouflage uniform says "Rickles" in the name area. Rickles was the name of one of the soldiers from Day of the Dead (1985).
Land of the Dead was the first Romero movie I saw, I was 12 or 13. What always stuck out to me was the evolution of the undead. Big Daddy learning how to use guns and tools and waging an all-out war on humans for slaughtering his kind really struck me as cool, I'd never seen anything like it. There's a moment where he's using a jackhammer that comes unplugged as he walks away, and you watch him figure out that the jackhammer has to be powered by electricity. Also when his friend is burning to death, so he shoots him as a mercy killing. It's not a great movie, but I'll always love it.
I didn't mind Diary, myself. It wasn't a great film, but if there's one thing I could say about it, it's that the found footage aspect didn't detract at all from it. Usually I think found footage-style movies suck, but seeing all of Diary through the eyes of a character added to the tension. I also liked that the movie kept small-scale. There were very few giant hordes, and the characters didn't end the movie as seasoned zombie killers mowing down zombies by the thousands. I contrast it to, say, Cloverfield, which was a better movie in every regard, but for which I think the found footage actually detracted from the experience.
Land of the Dead has a special place in my heart, because it's the first time I've seen Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo on-screen together since the Mario Brothers movie...
The commentary on Romero relation with new technology is on point. I'd like to point out that he was the first director Sony decided to bring on the first Resident Evil movie, of course George being himself, he asked one of his assistant to record himself while playing the original Resident Evil, so he could familiarise himself with the settings of RE's universe. His first script is very loyal to the event of the game, he even added elements which showed Chris and Jill relationship is more than typical squad mate. Also, he did a commercial for Resident Evil 2 in Japan, and it was pretty good, except for the casting which was a bit strange, but it's just an ad afterall. Sony wasn't really pleased with his script so they got him out and after a bit of search, Anderson was selected. I think he did a good job on the first one, more precisely, on the music. The other RE are just shit with little to nothing in term of good ideas.
The RE movie was surprisingly good, despite how blatantly low budget it was. The sequels upped the budget and set pieces but were dumb disposable movies with hilarious scripts making disposable characters.
fun fact: Land of the Dead was close to Day of the Dead's original screenplay (Day was heavily rewritten because budget got slashed and Romero didn't want to sacrifice fx).
@@robirvine6970 not really if you read it, the original script had a community fenced in to keep the zombos away very similar to land of the dead. it wasn't a small bunker of scientists and military, that came about after romero reduced the scope to accomodate a smaller budget
it's hard for me to choose a favorite between the first three because they're all so good. it's hard for me to choose a favorite between the last three because they're all so awful. get it? it's an allegory for lif- i mean, for politic- i mean, for star wars.
I love the new Dead trilogy Survival of the Dead is my favorite of the last three. Diary of the Dead is my favorite found footage film. Land of the Dead is a great epilogue to the Dead series
petrallen Verily, sir; unto you, a congratulatory message of my respect shall be bestowed for eloquently summing my thoughts of agreement and appreciation in a much more graceful manner than I have been able to previously express.
People often bring up the social commentary aspect when discussing Romero's zombie movies but I find it among the least interesting elements about his films. It's pretty clear cut in Dawn and downright on the nose in Land Of The Dead.
Agreed. I think of his zombie films as profound in terms of critiquing human morals and the human condition in general. Anything that refers to current evens makes it cringe weak sauce and waters it down. Like making Kaufman obviously representing George bush. We get it, “republican bad”.
Definitely right about Diary sucking, and signifying with some finality that Romero, rest his bold and brilliant soul, had reached a point where his reach was exceeding his grasp. He had an amazing run for over 4 decades. If nothing else, Diary can be a comment about how much diaries suck, especially those put out for public consumption, i.e. social media. Land was solid though. It has a solid 80s B-movie feel, like one of the better John Carpenter efforts.
I agree with this analysis. I wish George had gotten to continue to just make his zombie movie per decade, and as you said didn't think he had to insert social commentary. It happened naturally through his storytelling. Then when he went to write Land he tried to force it in. Day is his best work where he unknowingly wrote in important social commentary involving reason vs fear, progress vs assumptions. So much at work in that film, and it just happened naturally.
I did my film studies coursework on social commentary in George romero zombie films, and this really helped me and I got an A. Thank you red letter media
A small thing I liked about Land of the Dead was that everyone still uses the M16a1 model from the 60s/70s. The implication being that because of zombies taking over the world, they never created the later models. I have no idea if this was intentional.
Uhura from Star Trek was the first black actress in a non-menial role. The very first. Also, the black guy slaps a white girl very hard in the movie. Thats...not something they approved of.
Having one or two examples of black actors able to get work doesn't mean that the entertainment industry wasn't discriminatory. I swear, you guys pull the "I found an example" fallacy like it's a wild card out of your ass. Give me a break.
As the ultimate Romero fanboy, I was thrilled to hear you praise 'Day'. My personal favourite by far, a movie I use as a lullaby and comfort blanket during tough times. More than a movie, more than a masterclass; an old friend, a benign yet powerful drug that fires me back to 1986. Land was passable but not at all satisfying. Diary, confusing and disposable. Survival is the film that makes me wonder, did the father of zombies, my hero, make a few good flicks *accidentally*? Were they just a fluke? Here's a geeky fact - the 'original' script for Day of the Dead (1986) can be read. It contains a great deal of scenes and some characters finally realised in 'Land'. Budget shaped Day, thank the FSM. It could so easily have become one of Romero's latter "Bland of the Dead's". Day is currently in re-boot (again) for a fresh 2017 release. Miner's 2008 classic will be tough to beat. Thank you for great channel. Gusto mucho. x
Both of the Romero re:View episodes are great. They both kind of focus on a couple Romero movies, which makes me think an episode on his non-zombie movies would be really interesting. Say, The Crazies, Martin, Creepshow, Monkey Shines, whatever.
I have to rewatch this. Question: How did you trick the algorithm into perfectly drizzling your content onto me over such a long period? Its the gift that keeps giving!
Just rewatched Land of the Dead for the first time in ages, and I have to say, it's not that bad. In fact, I think it's aged fairly well. Of course it's not as good as the first three, but for sure it's the best of the last three Dead films. I also thought the use of money was rather goofy, but I was willing to suspend disbelief. (It's possible they still use cash as a currency, because it's still technically rare in a world where the Federal Reserve is no longer printing money, and counterfeit operations are probably near impossible. I mean, it's not like paper money is really any more intrinsically valuable today, so it could be interesting social commentary that most people are still using this funny money in Land of the Dead, because they still don't know basic economics and they're just doing the same shit they've always done, because they don't know any better. However, if that was Romero's intent, he could've articulated it better, for example, by showing Dennis Hopper securing other assets, like gold and silver, to better show the class divide. Like, he still uses cash, but only because the dumb masses still believe in it. Meanwhile, he's invested in all sorts of commodities as well. There should've been at least one character who knew better than to value all this worthless crap. As Dennis Hopper says, "in a world where the dead are coming back to life, things lose their meaning.") Anyway... I think Land of the Dead is especially interesting in a post-Covid world. You see the same divide today, with the fascist megacorporations like Amazon and Walmart acting like Fiddler's Green, sheltered from any real economic damage, and yet small businesses like hot dog vendors are struggling to play the same old game, and follow the same old rules, and survive in the same old system -- the same old hierarchy. And then you have the OTHER people, like Riley in the film, who are simply done with this "border" shit, this class division, and they're living life outside of all that, on their OWN terms. So yeah, Land of the Dead is underrated. Not the greatest, but I do like the concept and the characters and especially the gore effects. To me, "Land" is the last genuine Romero film.
Despite all the joking, RedLetterMedia has been and still is the most insightful film review show I know of. They actually go deeper than surface level stances like "Movie was good", "Acting was bad", and "Plot was confusing". The majority of modern RUclips film reviewers outside of Chris Stuckmann and from time to time Jeremy Jahns seem to never be able to look beneath surface level and discuss sub context of films. In conclusion, thanks for being the best film review show there is.
@@aydenvavra2153 in my opinion it doesn't live up to his best "Dead" movies, but yeah it's definitely a good watch, and took the concept to interesting places.
@@WallKenshiro Fun but odd fact Romero went on to call Day and Survival of the Dead his favorites in that series. I am glad Romero got to make a western film with Survival and i love it’s bizarre humor
Great video as usual. I would love to see you recut the preview for "Rules Don't Apply" with the music from "Ishtar" because there is something eerily similar about the music, pacing, and narration of the trailers for both films.
I can't believe I missed this one! I wasn't a big fan of Land of the dead. I think because it was made under Universal. But with today's climate, it feels a little more relevant.
I am probably not the only person who feels this way but I pretty much love all of the six zombie movies made by George A. Romero including land of the dead
This’ll be like the third RLM video I’ve rewatched this summer where they start going into how they think some political concept presented in a movie is too cartoonish and over the top and beyond the suspension of belief only for now to have all of it to have happened almost verbatim. Just goes to show how absolutely alien of a place the world is today from the way the world was even only 4 years ago.
Shittiest moment in Diary of the Dead. And this confirms my theory that Romero lost his fucking mind sometime in the 90's . Cardborad cutout twenty somethings watch YT videos of the zombie outbreak. They stumble on a random video from Japan with a Japanese woman doing a vlog saying "Shoot in head. Don't let them dead." Something to that effect, and she say's that in a very badly portrayed broken English. Then, she looks off camera worriedly as a zombie roar or some shit happens. Diary and Survival of the Dead are so fucking bad that they make Land look like Citizen Kane.
That's probably true . . I seem to remember the first movie that really disappointed me was "The Dark Half" -- doubly so because it was based off a Stephen King book. It also came out in the early 90's.
I think Kaufman was planning to retreat to the other fortified cities. But problem is there was nothing showing they weren't overwhelmed either. The main guy even mentioned They hadn't heard from Cleveland in awhile.
i like this show more than anything else in this channel, i wish they speak about the thing, back to the future, godfather, alien and predator in the future.
2:45 Damn you Mike! This is exactly the screenplay and pitch I've been working on for years!!! In the year 2242, Earth becomes a doomed planet. The extremely wealthy among us build their own personal transport to a nearby inhabitable planet. They land, the light of their new sun beaming into their eyes for the first time as the hatch doors open. They descend the ramps and begin to ask each other, "So who is taking out the trash?" You fucking THIEF!!!!!
As heavy handed and dumb as it can be, I really enjoyed Land of the Dead. I first saw it when I was 12, so it was perfect for my dumb kid brain and I enjoyed the idiotic action and cartoons characters. It felt a lot like a cult 90s anime I would have watched. Plus, I love seeing Pittsburgh on the screen, it makes a good setting for a zombie film
There was a book published around the same year this movie was released (2005), by author Brian Keene. It was severely similar to this story to the point the novel is named: City of the Dead. I remember watching the movie thinking: "Wow, someone ripped someone off here". Keene did a series of Zombie books, where there were some interesting plot twists in the genre, that were all actually really decent. If you like novels, check Brian Keene out as well as British author Simon Clark (Blood Crazy is a gem).
I have a special affection for this film. I kinda liked the goofiness of it and the idea that the zombies were basically just nuisances at this point, like rats or wolves or whatever, and the main problem was with the society that had formed in this world.
There was one good scene: when rich kids chain up some zombies at a party, to have fun defiling them. That was only a quick glance, but for a second there was good satire.
So Jay and Mike pointed out themes of the first three films: 1st film, Civil Rights with a simple but effective style (1960s) 2nd film, Consumerism with a fun and creative style (1970s) 3rd film, Authority with a serious and harsh style (1980s) I feel I could add themes to Land and Diary too. Land of the Dead: Clear cut politics with dumb Hollywood style (2000s or 1995 to 2005) Diary of the Dead: Sensationalist with modern vlogger style (2010s or 2006+) Though Diary of the Dead came out in 2007, so perhaps it was ahead of its time in being annoying and hyper-active. Survival of the Dead, I could talk about dividing ourselves into groups and creators just doing what they want (Patreon and such) but I feel it's too much of a stretch.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
"Can a zombie be a tweet?" is one of my all time favourite Mike quotes
I love right after with the “friend request why not a zombie request” his face 😂
Yes.
Definitely!
ABSOLUTELY! 💯
This & the Zaat intro where he smokes while eating a cheeseburger are my favorite Mike's Moments, other when he's laughing at old people or Rich.
diary of the dead was awful but it has one of my favourite scenes in any movie - when the zombies appear at the farm, everybody panics although they should be used to it by now, and the deafmute amish guy just runs into his shed, reemerges with a looney tunes style stick of dynamite makes a few grunting noises and then blows the zombies up. That was some wonderful comedic timing
lol that made the movie a hundred times better
What a wonderful scene
👀 what about Dawn of the Dead 2?
Zombies man, they creep me out.
This reminds me of the time dunkey beat sky in smash.
what are you doing all the way down here you dumbass.
videogamedunkey wtf are you doing here?
Mil respects Mil
Hey dinky
"Can a zombie be a tweet" Man that had me in hysterics, why have I only just discovered this video!
Watching this in 2023 hits way harder
The 'rich people buying things' moment could have worked if it was so much more petty. Wine is obvious, a sign of class that can be consumed and would have been laying around for the scavengers to pick up. Maybe movies too: only the rich can afford the electricity to waste on that, rather than 'no freezing'.
So you would have shitty gas station wines and terrible DVDs from walmart as the new signs of wealth. That would work.
That would actually be interesting. A subversion of the signs of wealth
Kind of like seeing how the Proles and the Party members live in 1984.
my god that romero impression is gold
Tenpenny tower in the capital wasteland from fallout 3 makes a reference to this movie haha
@@edmccurdy469 never played any games on that series, not big on fps. oh well, fun fact tho
Having met the man. Can confirm.
@@vespertinnee imagine being you, gross
Romero said he always meant the social commentary in Dawn to be right up front, but I think because Dawn (and all his early films) were so collaborative w/the cast & crew, it had the effect of diluting the directness of the message, which was a good thing. By the time Land came out, I think it was similar to what happened w/Lucas on Phantom Menace, ie- no restrictions & Romero surrounded by a lot of yessir-types instead of people who were challenging him creatively, resulting in a very static & bland film.
Disagree.
Land of The Dead may not be as good as his other ones, but it has all of the complexity narratively and subtextually as his other films. The characterization isn’t great and there’s other issues, but when you watch LotD right after Day of the Dead, the whole movie is just an expansion on the themes of Day which asks,
“Can zombies learn? Can they be conditioned to act more human?” The entire movie is that juxtaposed with the humanity having “recovered,” but being just as shitty as the last three movies.
Humans don’t change even if a crisis happens; they still find a way to be greedy and awful while zombies are sort of more sympathetic because they actually learn and change. They are the bigger character.
It might just be that it wasn’t as obvious but I disagree. I think this film totally expands on his earlier implications and thoughts on humanity.
@@JustChadC Except that the metaphors are completely mixed from Dawn to Land.
And it's just not true. We've had many disasters throughout history and we've seen human beings come together and work together to resolve those issues. Not all, but most people will try to do the right thing as best they can.
Romero, much like Lucas, failed to understand what made his own creation so compelling to their respective audiences.
And no, the ham-fisted messaging in Land is not subtle or complex. Rich white people are evil, and poor minorities are altruistic and good, and zombies are better than all of us..(???). No. It's just a classic angry liberal spouting about divisive classism. This isn't revolutariony, new, or deep, and by the time Land finally came out, very very played out.
@@JustChadC I completely agree, and to add to this at least Romero tried to explore new themes with each of his movies even if the quality fluctuated a bit throughout his career. Whereas the prequel trilogy just feels completely pointless and adds nothing of value aside from showing more of what was already there, and not in a good way at all.
Or you could just watch diary of the dead and survival of the dead with the commentary on...😂😂😂
At the beginning of the movie, if you listen carefully to the tuba and tambourine zombies in the town bandstand, they are playing notes from "The Gonk", the mall music from George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978).
George A. Romero was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead (2004), that he asked them to appear in this, the fourth part of his "Dead" series, and they appear as the photo-booth zombies in the carnival and barroom sequence. They also feature prominently in the artwork for the Unrated Director's Cut.
The zombie of Tom Savini's biker character, who was killed in Dawn of the Dead (1978), can be seen in one of the scenes.
George A. Romero's daughter appears in the film. She is the soldier who shoots the zombie on the electrified fence.
This movie's Pittsburgh premiere was at the Byham Theatre, which used to be called the Fulton Theatre. This theater, when it was still the Fulton, was the same theater where Night of the Living Dead (1968) premiered in 1968.
An amputee played the legless zombie climbing the back of the Dead Reckoning. His name is David Campbell, and was also in Dawn of the Dead (2004) as the "Squished Zombie".
There were four titles before "Land of the Dead" was chosen: "Dead City", "Dead Reckoning", "Twilight of the Dead", and "Night of the Living Dead: Dead Reckoning".
The view of the zombies rising from out of the river is an homage to the classic scene from Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls (1962), where the dead rise out of the Great Salt Lake before the dance sequence.
This is the first film of George A. Romero's "Living Dead" series which uses digital effects.
The most expensive of George A. Romero's zombie movies.
In the scene where the zombies get into the city, the soldier playing cards, who has his head pulled off, his camouflage uniform says "Rickles" in the name area. Rickles was the name of one of the soldiers from Day of the Dead (1985).
Thanks, IMDb trivia.
Land of the Dead was the first Romero movie I saw, I was 12 or 13. What always stuck out to me was the evolution of the undead. Big Daddy learning how to use guns and tools and waging an all-out war on humans for slaughtering his kind really struck me as cool, I'd never seen anything like it. There's a moment where he's using a jackhammer that comes unplugged as he walks away, and you watch him figure out that the jackhammer has to be powered by electricity. Also when his friend is burning to death, so he shoots him as a mercy killing. It's not a great movie, but I'll always love it.
Those Diary of the Dead clips were incredibly hard to watch, holy fuck.
imagine the movie
Hamuko Arisato That film is something else...
Will Cooke would u describe it as a "beautiful tragedy"?
It was cringe-worthy in a few spots, but mostly just boring as shit.
I didn't mind Diary, myself. It wasn't a great film, but if there's one thing I could say about it, it's that the found footage aspect didn't detract at all from it. Usually I think found footage-style movies suck, but seeing all of Diary through the eyes of a character added to the tension. I also liked that the movie kept small-scale. There were very few giant hordes, and the characters didn't end the movie as seasoned zombie killers mowing down zombies by the thousands.
I contrast it to, say, Cloverfield, which was a better movie in every regard, but for which I think the found footage actually detracted from the experience.
1:16 "Tenpenny didn't build that tower! He found it, and took it from whoever used to live there. Now we're gonna take it from him."
I make a point of killing every ghoul I see.
Nerds 😂
Land of the Dead has a special place in my heart, because it's the first time I've seen Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo on-screen together since the Mario Brothers movie...
They make the movie worthwhile
this whole video was put up just for the last joke wasnt it?
Do you cover wars? Sorry, I had to!
Cameron Leach you know it!
The commentary on Romero relation with new technology is on point. I'd like to point out that he was the first director Sony decided to bring on the first Resident Evil movie, of course George being himself, he asked one of his assistant to record himself while playing the original Resident Evil, so he could familiarise himself with the settings of RE's universe. His first script is very loyal to the event of the game, he even added elements which showed Chris and Jill relationship is more than typical squad mate. Also, he did a commercial for Resident Evil 2 in Japan, and it was pretty good, except for the casting which was a bit strange, but it's just an ad afterall. Sony wasn't really pleased with his script so they got him out and after a bit of search, Anderson was selected. I think he did a good job on the first one, more precisely, on the music. The other RE are just shit with little to nothing in term of good ideas.
The RE movie was surprisingly good, despite how blatantly low budget it was. The sequels upped the budget and set pieces but were dumb disposable movies with hilarious scripts making disposable characters.
So, you’re telling me there’s a George Romero let’s play of resident evil somewhere out in the world?
@@BenjamminFranklin. John Carpenter?
fun fact: Land of the Dead was close to Day of the Dead's original screenplay (Day was heavily rewritten because budget got slashed and Romero didn't want to sacrifice fx).
Way late, but that's not remotely true. The only thing it has in common is, it's a movie, there are zombies.
@@robirvine6970 not really if you read it, the original script had a community fenced in to keep the zombos away very similar to land of the dead. it wasn't a small bunker of scientists and military, that came about after romero reduced the scope to accomodate a smaller budget
The only 'land of the dead' is the landing that Rich Evans will experience when he eventually falls over and breaks his bones
I'm fuckin dying.
From fucking diabetes
*cue Rich's crazy clown laugh*
The internet hits are coming from inside the house!!
But who was cell phone?
But how? There is only one land line.
Mike's George Romero impression is fucking on point.
Almost as good as the impression of Jay that Rich Evans is doing in this episode.
it's hard for me to choose a favorite between the first three because they're all so good.
it's hard for me to choose a favorite between the last three because they're all so awful.
get it? it's an allegory for lif- i mean, for politic- i mean, for star wars.
I love Land and think Diary is pretty solid. Definitely not awful at all.
I love the new Dead trilogy Survival of the Dead is my favorite of the last three. Diary of the Dead is my favorite found footage film. Land of the Dead is a great epilogue to the Dead series
You all are easily the greatest thing RUclips has ever had on its site. I could watch reviews all day
"The film was shot with a Panasonic HDX-900"
"I added scary music to scare you"
@Enclave Officer PLUR
Rich Evans
Is the key to all of this.
I agree.
petrallen
Verily, sir; unto you, a congratulatory message of my respect shall be bestowed for eloquently summing my thoughts of agreement and appreciation in a much more graceful manner than I have been able to previously express.
You, Sir, make a persuasive argument.
Rich evans for President.
Too late
Don't I wish... and his VP would be Mr. Plinkett, but inexplicably you never see them together in the same room.
It's never too late! Viva La Rich Evans Revolution!
...I so wish there was a PreRec stream tonight...
The Stoklasa agrees
People often bring up the social commentary aspect when discussing Romero's zombie movies but I find it among the least interesting elements about his films. It's pretty clear cut in Dawn and downright on the nose in Land Of The Dead.
Agreed.
Yep, commented before watched but I was pretty sure Jay and Mike were on the same page.
@@PvEGamingChannel yea but that's cuz warm bodies was a mediocre movie at best
Knowing that he’s Spanish and lived in Cuba in his youth, I figured he saw people for who they are and not their skin color
Agreed. I think of his zombie films as profound in terms of critiquing human morals and the human condition in general. Anything that refers to current evens makes it cringe weak sauce and waters it down. Like making Kaufman obviously representing George bush. We get it, “republican bad”.
Definitely right about Diary sucking, and signifying with some finality that Romero, rest his bold and brilliant soul, had reached a point where his reach was exceeding his grasp. He had an amazing run for over 4 decades. If nothing else, Diary can be a comment about how much diaries suck, especially those put out for public consumption, i.e. social media.
Land was solid though. It has a solid 80s B-movie feel, like one of the better John Carpenter efforts.
I liked Diary 🤷♂️
I like Diary and Survival of the Dead
that texas scene from diary of the dead with the music almost made my head explode.
Ya' dont mess with texas
@@reamusray790 Texas is dumb, Sandy
I agree with this analysis. I wish George had gotten to continue to just make his zombie movie per decade, and as you said didn't think he had to insert social commentary. It happened naturally through his storytelling. Then when he went to write Land he tried to force it in. Day is his best work where he unknowingly wrote in important social commentary involving reason vs fear, progress vs assumptions. So much at work in that film, and it just happened naturally.
Watching on 19/10/23 as a distraction from the news. Boy, I didnt expect 10:21. 🇵🇸❤
5/4/24... doesn't get any better!
I did my film studies coursework on social commentary in George romero zombie films, and this really helped me and I got an A. Thank you red letter media
A small thing I liked about Land of the Dead was that everyone still uses the M16a1 model from the 60s/70s. The implication being that because of zombies taking over the world, they never created the later models. I have no idea if this was intentional.
I actually died laughing when you made the George impression. Amazing.
John Leguizombie. :)
cso2040 - *Sings that 'la la laaa' song from Charlie Brown while exiting, dejected..
Luigi finally kills King Koopa
Well, hiring a black actor because he's the best actor was pretty amazing for its time, lol
*****
You guys are really trying to argue...
*****
that it was COMMON to have black people as the lead actor? Really? Racism didnt exist?
in the 60's? WHAT?
Uhura from Star Trek was the first black actress in a non-menial role. The very first.
Also, the black guy slaps a white girl very hard in the movie. Thats...not something they approved of.
CommenterD Louis Armstrong was popular but they still made him use the back door.
Having one or two examples of black actors able to get work doesn't mean that the entertainment industry wasn't discriminatory. I swear, you guys pull the "I found an example" fallacy like it's a wild card out of your ass. Give me a break.
Funny now hearing the 2010 Nightmare on Elm Street remake mentioned after hearing Jay's stories from the set of that film.
"What's a tweet? Can a zombie be a tweet?" I love Mike's old man impressions.
As the ultimate Romero fanboy, I was thrilled to hear you praise 'Day'. My personal favourite by far, a movie I use as a lullaby and comfort blanket during tough times. More than a movie, more than a masterclass; an old friend, a benign yet powerful drug that fires me back to 1986.
Land was passable but not at all satisfying. Diary, confusing and disposable. Survival is the film that makes me wonder, did the father of zombies, my hero, make a few good flicks *accidentally*? Were they just a fluke?
Here's a geeky fact - the 'original' script for Day of the Dead (1986) can be read. It contains a great deal of scenes and some characters finally realised in 'Land'. Budget shaped Day, thank the FSM. It could so easily have become one of Romero's latter "Bland of the Dead's".
Day is currently in re-boot (again) for a fresh 2017 release. Miner's 2008 classic will be tough to beat.
Thank you for great channel. Gusto mucho. x
Both of the Romero re:View episodes are great. They both kind of focus on a couple Romero movies, which makes me think an episode on his non-zombie movies would be really interesting. Say, The Crazies, Martin, Creepshow, Monkey Shines, whatever.
I have to rewatch this. Question: How did you trick the algorithm into perfectly drizzling your content onto me over such a long period? Its the gift that keeps giving!
"I can't really comment on Land" - Mike, 2016, Land of the Dead review.
This is great stuff, thanks for putting it up.
Just rewatched Land of the Dead for the first time in ages, and I have to say, it's not that bad. In fact, I think it's aged fairly well. Of course it's not as good as the first three, but for sure it's the best of the last three Dead films.
I also thought the use of money was rather goofy, but I was willing to suspend disbelief. (It's possible they still use cash as a currency, because it's still technically rare in a world where the Federal Reserve is no longer printing money, and counterfeit operations are probably near impossible. I mean, it's not like paper money is really any more intrinsically valuable today, so it could be interesting social commentary that most people are still using this funny money in Land of the Dead, because they still don't know basic economics and they're just doing the same shit they've always done, because they don't know any better. However, if that was Romero's intent, he could've articulated it better, for example, by showing Dennis Hopper securing other assets, like gold and silver, to better show the class divide. Like, he still uses cash, but only because the dumb masses still believe in it. Meanwhile, he's invested in all sorts of commodities as well. There should've been at least one character who knew better than to value all this worthless crap. As Dennis Hopper says, "in a world where the dead are coming back to life, things lose their meaning.") Anyway...
I think Land of the Dead is especially interesting in a post-Covid world. You see the same divide today, with the fascist megacorporations like Amazon and Walmart acting like Fiddler's Green, sheltered from any real economic damage, and yet small businesses like hot dog vendors are struggling to play the same old game, and follow the same old rules, and survive in the same old system -- the same old hierarchy. And then you have the OTHER people, like Riley in the film, who are simply done with this "border" shit, this class division, and they're living life outside of all that, on their OWN terms.
So yeah, Land of the Dead is underrated. Not the greatest, but I do like the concept and the characters and especially the gore effects. To me, "Land" is the last genuine Romero film.
Oh my god Diary of the Dead looks like the worst thing ever made
#DontMessWithTexas
Eh. It is fine. You mostly laught at the cheesiness.
I deeply regret renting it back then.
Worse than bagpipes?
I still think it's the worst movie I've ever seen
re-view Lifeforce, the world needs it
Despite all the joking, RedLetterMedia has been and still is the most insightful film review show I know of. They actually go deeper than surface level stances like "Movie was good", "Acting was bad", and "Plot was confusing". The majority of modern RUclips film reviewers outside of Chris Stuckmann and from time to time Jeremy Jahns seem to never be able to look beneath surface level and discuss sub context of films. In conclusion, thanks for being the best film review show there is.
I know this comment is old but you should check out a channel called Renegade Cut! He does great film analyses
VIDEODROME PLEASE
Please do a Fitzcarraldo & Burden Of Dreams re:View episode.
It's an amazing film to understand the production of, and one of my favorites.
He did Survival of the Dead to make up for Diary. He couldn't chance letting that pile of incomprehensible nonsensical shit be his last movie.
Survival was even worse than diary
Survival is a fun film I will never understand the hate that film gets
@@aydenvavra2153 in my opinion it doesn't live up to his best "Dead" movies, but yeah it's definitely a good watch, and took the concept to interesting places.
@@WallKenshiro Fun but odd fact Romero went on to call Day and Survival of the Dead his favorites in that series. I am glad Romero got to make a western film with Survival and i love it’s bizarre humor
That George Romero impression really took the edge off
That’s what’s funny about these bunker silos for the super rich….those would devolve into feudalism and/or chaos so quickly
Great video as usual.
I would love to see you recut the preview for "Rules Don't Apply" with the music from "Ishtar" because there is something eerily similar about the music, pacing, and narration of the trailers for both films.
This conversation between Mike and Jay is pretty topical in 2020.
I'm going to be honest, I completely erased Diary of the Dead from my memory. Thanks for dredging those memories up guys.
I have come to appreciate this movie over time.
I consider it part of a second trilogy with the
Night/Dawn remakes..
I can't believe I missed this one! I wasn't a big fan of Land of the dead. I think because it was made under Universal. But with today's climate, it feels a little more relevant.
I am probably not the only person who feels this way but I pretty much love all of the six zombie movies made by George A. Romero including land of the dead
"Friend request... How about a zombie request?" is one of the funniest things I have ever heard. Wow.
underrated for sure
Love you guys. Keep on doin' what you do.
Reminds me of Tenpenny Tower keeping out the Ghouls.
The re:View opening beat is so awesome.
Mike's Romero impression cured my cancer
I was looking to see if RLM made a re:view of Day of The Dead and I'm shocked they haven't. I'm literally seething rn
What happened to the soundcloud audio? :\
I miss listening to that
This’ll be like the third RLM video I’ve rewatched this summer where they start going into how they think some political concept presented in a movie is too cartoonish and over the top and beyond the suspension of belief only for now to have all of it to have happened almost verbatim. Just goes to show how absolutely alien of a place the world is today from the way the world was even only 4 years ago.
@uNnHkP8mza 🗿
Shittiest moment in Diary of the Dead. And this confirms my theory that Romero lost his fucking mind sometime in the 90's .
Cardborad cutout twenty somethings watch YT videos of the zombie outbreak. They stumble on a random video from Japan with a Japanese woman doing a vlog saying "Shoot in head. Don't let them dead." Something to that effect, and she say's that in a very badly portrayed broken English. Then, she looks off camera worriedly as a zombie roar or some shit happens.
Diary and Survival of the Dead are so fucking bad that they make Land look like Citizen Kane.
lol, wow I don't even remember that scene but then again I only watched it once when it came out. About the only thing I remember is the Amish guy.
The bit with the Amish guy and the bit with the rebelling black people ready to take back the zombie-infested city are the only interesting parts.
That's probably true . . I seem to remember the first movie that really disappointed me was "The Dark Half" -- doubly so because it was based off a Stephen King book.
It also came out in the early 90's.
why did they put the night of the living dead poster in the background? dude,that film deserves a re:view
8:34 "I can just picture George Romero with his big glasses..." "What's big now... hhInternets??" "Can a zombie be a tweet?"
"when shit hits the fan, classes evaporate" boy this is from before covid
I think Kaufman was planning to retreat to the other fortified cities. But problem is there was nothing showing they weren't overwhelmed either.
The main guy even mentioned They hadn't heard from Cleveland in awhile.
Mikes Romero impression is literally my favourite thing now. I literally cant even...Literally.
I can't seem to find your day of the dead re-view?!
No 90's zombie Romero commentary, truly the darkest timeline.
i like this show more than anything else in this channel, i wish they speak about the thing, back to the future, godfather, alien and predator in the future.
2:45 Damn you Mike! This is exactly the screenplay and pitch I've been working on for years!!! In the year 2242, Earth becomes a doomed planet. The extremely wealthy among us build their own personal transport to a nearby inhabitable planet. They land, the light of their new sun beaming into their eyes for the first time as the hatch doors open. They descend the ramps and begin to ask each other, "So who is taking out the trash?"
You fucking THIEF!!!!!
Is Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama?
sadly.
Fucking right he is.
Is stupidity replacing intelligence?
I just laughed like Rich Evans. The magic was in me the whole time.
Yup, Orange is the new black
Needed to be longer and more discussion around Land of the Dead
I know what it is.
As heavy handed and dumb as it can be, I really enjoyed Land of the Dead. I first saw it when I was 12, so it was perfect for my dumb kid brain and I enjoyed the idiotic action and cartoons characters. It felt a lot like a cult 90s anime I would have watched. Plus, I love seeing Pittsburgh on the screen, it makes a good setting for a zombie film
They glossed over the zombie story arc
I imagine George Romero read JG Ballard's "High Rise" and figured it would make a good setting for a zombipocalypse.
Could you guys do a Half in the Bag for "The Lobster"?
If not you should at least watch it, it's worth it!
Love and appreciation for your work!
Thanks again
There was a book published around the same year this movie was released (2005), by author Brian Keene. It was severely similar to this story to the point the novel is named: City of the Dead. I remember watching the movie thinking: "Wow, someone ripped someone off here". Keene did a series of Zombie books, where there were some interesting plot twists in the genre, that were all actually really decent. If you like novels, check Brian Keene out as well as British author Simon Clark (Blood Crazy is a gem).
30 seconds in and you know Jay has seen Comet Ping Pong. God rest his soul.
I had forgotten this movie even excisted even though I've seen it twice. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
They've fallen because of your experience?
everett von scott
Romaero has fallen not RLM. Maybe I wasn't clear enough on that ^^
Audam
I knew exactly what you meant.
Jay's sweater looks very comfy.
I have a special affection for this film. I kinda liked the goofiness of it and the idea that the zombies were basically just nuisances at this point, like rats or wolves or whatever, and the main problem was with the society that had formed in this world.
I can't believe (INSERT MEME) something something Hack Frauds.
Jonathan Guzman I find your hack of fraud disturbing.
So has that.
There was one good scene: when rich kids chain up some zombies at a party, to have fun defiling them. That was only a quick glance, but for a second there was good satire.
needed this today
Where did Jay get the Freddy sweater??? I've been looking for one like it not Halloween distressed
R.I.P. George Romero July 16, 2017
So Jay and Mike pointed out themes of the first three films:
1st film, Civil Rights with a simple but effective style (1960s)
2nd film, Consumerism with a fun and creative style (1970s)
3rd film, Authority with a serious and harsh style (1980s)
I feel I could add themes to Land and Diary too.
Land of the Dead: Clear cut politics with dumb Hollywood style (2000s or 1995 to 2005)
Diary of the Dead: Sensationalist with modern vlogger style (2010s or 2006+)
Though Diary of the Dead came out in 2007, so perhaps it was ahead of its time in being annoying and hyper-active.
Survival of the Dead, I could talk about dividing ourselves into groups and creators just doing what they want (Patreon and such) but I feel it's too much of a stretch.
Doesn't Snowpiercer have a pretty similar classism message? Expect done way better.
Oh really? I have seen that, but it was a while back.
Snowpiercer was made more recently, right? They stole George's message!!!
Well, actually Snowpiercer is based off a comic called "Le Transperceneige" all the way back from 1982, whereas Land Of The Dead came out in 2005.
It's cool, I saw Snowpiercer and really enjoyed it :)
i really REALLY loved that movie, but it could have been better, the ending was a little anti-climatic tho.
R.I.P George Romero and also Martin Landau.
I was at TIFF at the premiere of Diary of the Dead, and I think he cared the least about it out of everyone in the theatre.
came back for the israel palestine conflict reference - nice
This show has taken the place of the newspaper for me in the bathroom.
Speaking of social commentary & zombie films, you guys should watch Charlie Brooker's Dead Set
After all the insanity I see nowadays it wouldn't surprise me if people were still shopping for diamonds during the end of days tbh
“What’s with these chat rooms!?”
Sorry, that was hilarious
It's called re:View, but Mike never rewatched it! THIS IS THE END OF RE:VIEW AS WE KNOW IT!