Friday, June 24, 2005
all you zombies in high places
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Jun 24, 2005 at 11:39 AM
Just a quick note to say that for everyone who’s complained about the spinelessness and irrelevance of current horror movies, George A. Romero’s LAND OF THE DEAD is worth the wait. In the spirit of Romero’s ’70s films, it’s a throwback to balls-out drive-in exploitation movies that smuggle in political and social satire. Actually, I'm not sure this could be called smuggling: where politics is concerned, Romero basically does his importing in daylight with drawn guns. (Four words: Dennis Hopper as Dubya.)
There's a lot going on here, and it's surprisingly well-developed: a parodic replay of the origins of man; a multi-leveled satire of class hierarchies; an extension of DAWN OF THE DEAD's consumer-culture savaging; and a clever production design that turns malls into cathedrals and penthouses into mausoleums. All this plus gut-munching, brain-splattering, spine-ripping, and Asia Argento. Rock on, Romero.
There's a lot going on here, and it's surprisingly well-developed: a parodic replay of the origins of man; a multi-leveled satire of class hierarchies; an extension of DAWN OF THE DEAD's consumer-culture savaging; and a clever production design that turns malls into cathedrals and penthouses into mausoleums. All this plus gut-munching, brain-splattering, spine-ripping, and Asia Argento. Rock on, Romero.
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