LAND OF THE DEAD - UNRATED DIRECTOR'S CUT

In the near future the planet is almost overrun by mindless cannibalistic zombies (is there any other sort?) because of a plague that somehow brought the recently dead back to life.

What is left of humanity as we know it is barricaded in urban areas while the undead roam the countryside unopposed. Depressingly enough humanity has organised itself in terms very similar to its previous social structures: a small rich elite still lords it over the poor masses through the use of force.

But the day of reckoning is coming: the zombie multitudes are evolving, becoming cleverer by the day and slowly they are heading towards the last enclaves of humanity left . . .

Land of the Dead is of course legendary director George Romero's return to the zombie genre - a horror subgenre he practically invented back in the late 1960s with Night of the Living Dead. Of course zombie movies have been the staple of B-grade low-budget flicks until recently when it finally went mainstream with 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead (a remake of the 1970s Romero film of the same title). The genre was even successfully spoofed in the recent British comedy Shaun of the Dead.

Ironically Romero had nothing to do with this mini-revival of the genre until the rather belated Land of the Dead. Even more ironic is that the movie did rather poorly at the U.S. and global box office - which is a pity since Romero deserved better.

THE DISC: Anyway, maybe Land of the Dead will do better with its release on DVD now. The disc has some OK making of featurettes and director's commentaries.

While there are some trailers for other Universal horror movies (which start up when you insert the disc - luckily you cans kip over them unlike some of the more mercenary Disney discs) there isn't any trailers of Land of the Dead itself. This unrated director's cut has a longer running time than the theatrical version, probably to more lovingly linger over shots of zombies eating the entrails of their victims I suppose.

WORTH IT? Land of the Dead isn't half-bad and deserves a bigger audience. Like Night of the Living Dead it can actually be described as a science fiction movie in the guise of a horror movie instead of the other way round. Mixing plenty of zombie gore and action with some astute political and social commentary, it just may be the first Marxist zombie movie ever made and who can resist that?

RECOMMENDATION: Buy or rent it.