Land of the Dead - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Land of the Dead



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Ah, George Romero back in the saddle again. Just one year after Zack Snyder remade Dawn of the Dead, Romero came back to his “of the dead” series to write and direct an all new horror splat fest. Land ranked as one of the biggest budgeted films the director had tackled yet, with a 3x budget from what he had employed in the last three “of the dead” films in his repertoire. It was hyped and pushed as the most boundary pushing film that he had made to date, but sadly only made about 47 million dollars in the box office. The film centered around social issues like greed and selfishness of the rich in their ivory towers, but also blended in slapstick style humor that felt strangely at odds with the seriousness of the zombie gut munching and the commentary. Most viewers were left with a rather quizzical look on their faces by the time the movie ended, and the movie just hasn’t aged as well as others in his database of works. Personally I find it to be an extremely guilty pleasure of mine, as the hamminess falls into the “so bad its actually good” category for this reviewer, and just roll with the insane punches.

It’s been quite a few years since the dead woke up and became the undead, and they have been taking over the world piece by piece. The last remnants of humanity are holed up in giant cities with most of the populace living in squalor, while a few rich and powerful members of society drain them of all the resources and live like kings in a giant tower called Fiddler’s Green. People like Mr. Kaufman (Dennis Hopper) sit in rich palaces with money, women, power and complete control of the city, while the rest of the people beg and barter for a good meal, or indulge their harsher vices in zombie fight betting. Riley Denbo (Simon Baker) is a lackey for Kaufman, heading up the team of mercs that sweeps the countryside for supplies and foodstuffs that are left in the crumbled world that is over run by the undead hordes. However, he’s ready for retirement as the guy just wants out of the business. Just before he’s about to hand the reins over to the impetuous Cholo (John Leguizamo) things get crazy.

The undead have started to gain a semblance of intelligence. Lead by a hulking beast of a zombie, the flesh eating monsters are starting to “remember” some of their lives workings, and are drawn inexorably towards Fiddler’s Green and the rest of humanity. To make matters MUCH worse, Cholo has become jaded at how Kaufman and his ilk treat him, and decides that he’s going to take his revenge by holding the city ransom for millions. If Kaufman doesn’t give in to his financial demands, Cholo is going to use the Dead Reckoning (a state of the art armored mobile weapons platform that Riley has been using as his command vehicle) to blow up the city, letting millions die and even more to be eaten by the incoming zombie horde. Now, it’s up to Riley and a hooker named Slack (Asia Argento) to stop Cholo from doing the unthinkable, and save the city from the every intelligent zombies coming their way.

Land of the Dead feels authentic in the way the humans have learned to survive. They are huddled in armored, protected, cities and all they have left is the powerful, but crude, weapons left to them from their old life. Scavenging has become the only way they survive in a world where they are the minority for once, and the bleak look of how they live under the thumb of the powerful and rich falls in line with how multiple societies have lived for thousands of years. The part where it gets out of hand is the execution of key points in the film by Romero. The social commentary about greed and money is all well and good, but it lacks the punch of reality as Cholo and Kaufman are all worried about money in a world where supplies and bartering would be kind. It just seems disingenuous that they would be so focused on money in a place where it’s hard to spend it. The same goes for the growing intelligence of the zombies. If it was played seriously I could see the point of using it as a point of terror, but the film makes a point to have it so hammy and slapstick that it comes off more like a three stooges version of a zombie film rather than a serious movie at times.

With that being said, the movie is still a goofy good time. I fully admit that Land of the Dead is a weak entry into the “of the dead” universe, but it’s a wildly entertaining piece that derives most of its fun from being so bad that it’s goofily fun. The action is non stop, and the audio mix is simply to die for. Simon Baker is a bit miscast as Riley, but John Leguizamo ALWAYS delivers the goods with his quirky portrayal of the “over the top” Cholo. Asia Argento is a bit flat, but the gorgeous Italian actress isn’t exactly known for being more more than “punk” eyecandy in her films (I always wondered what happened to her after xXx and Land of the Dead, as she seemed to just vanish).




Rating:

Rated R for pervasive strong violence and gore, language, brief sexuality and some drug use




4K Video: Video:

Looking back on my review of Scream Factory’s Blu-ray release from 2017 it looks like they had a new 2K scan of the theatrical cut, but simply used the old Universal master for the Unrated cut. It wasn’t a bad image, and did well for the Blu-ray, and even Uni’s old master for the Unrated cut was pretty good. However, as is the case with most of their 4K upgrades, Scream Factory has gone and taken a new 4K scan from the OCN, but this time given that scan to ALL discs in this set. The 4K UHD disc is Unrated only for some reason, but they include separate discs for the Blu-ray releases of the Unrated and Theatrical cuts, each sporting the new 4K master, which is a moderate upgrade over the previous 2K scan. All that to say, this looks like it ALMOST gets everything right with a new master (the only way to really do better is to include the theatrical in 4K as well)

The end results (which is all you guys really care about anyways) is a healthy upgrade over the 2017 Blu-ray set. The image is never going to look perfect as it’s heavily stylized, coated in blue and mild browns, and set right up against a night time backdrop. There are splashes of brightly lit scenes inside of Dennis Hopper’s little oasis of paradise that look razor sharp and clean. Outside it’s a very impressive look, with clean detail levels, great black levels thanks to the Dolby Vision, and a few splatters of brightly lit primary shades in the form of blood splatter, or a nicely saturated shirt. Otherwise, this 4K image is a faithful reproduction of the original look of Romero’s film. A blue drenched night time zombie extravaganza.









Audio:

The audio mix for Land of the Dead has always been one of those “good, but never super great” mixes, but instead of recycling the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track from the old release (which is pretty normal) they have included a brand new Dolby Atmos remix for the primary track, but also the old 5.1 and 2.0 tracks as well for good measure (the more options the better). Once more, it’s going to be a “good but not SUPER great” mix simply due to the sound design. The dialog is clean and clear as a bell, surrounds are good, but there’s not a ton of low end except for some rumbling of the Dead Reckoning, and a few explosions near the end. A solid mix, and there’s even some minor ambient noise in the overheads. But comparing against the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track, I’m going to have to give it a solid bump up, as it handily outclasses the 5.1 track rather easily. There’s a wider sound field to immerse yourself in, and those bits that go bump in the night feel that much more powerful and aggressive than the older track.












Extras:

Disc One 4K UHD: Unrated Version
• Audio Commentary featuring George Romero, Peter Grunwald, and Michael Doherty.
• Audio Commentary featuring Zombie performers Matt Blazi, Glena Chao, Michael Felsher, and Rob Mayr.

Disc Two Blu-ray: Theatrical Version
• Cholo's Reckoning - an interview with actor John Leguizamo
• Charlie's Story – an interview with actor Robert Joy
• The Pillsbury Factor – an interview with actor Pedro Miguel Arce
• Four of the Apocalypse – an interview with actors Eugene Clark, Jennifer Baxter, Boyd Banks and Jasmin Geljo
• Dream of the Dead documentary: The director's cut with optional commentary by director Roy Frumkes
• Deleted footage from Dream of the Dead
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer

Disc Three Blu-ray: Uncut Version of Film
• Audio Commentary with zombie performers Matt Blazi, Glena Chao, Michael Felsher and Rob Mayr
• Audio Commentary with writer/director George A. Romero, producer Peter Grunwald and editor Michael Doherty
• Undead Again: The Making of Land of the Dead
• Bringing The Dead To Life
• Scenes of Carnage
• Zombie Effects: From Green Screen to Finished Scene
• Scream Test – CGI test
• Bringing the Storyboards to Life
• A Day with the Living Dead hosted by John Leguizamo
• When Shaun Met George

Final Score: ​

Land of the Dead was the point in Romero’s career that his films started spiraling downward. The social commentary wasn’t nearly as impressive as previous entries, and the hammy way that the intelligent zombies were handled was is a bit off putting. However it’s an extremely guilty pleasure of mine, as Romero still has one of the best visual styles in the zombie genre. His use of cool blues, soft blacks and stumbling undead has created a spot for him among the legendary horror directors. This is just one of those “so bad that it’s actually fun” type of movies and clocks in as one of his least impressive films. Scream Factory's obligatory 4K UHD upgrades is rather pleasant, not only giving us a new 4K scan to create the master from, but also they don't just simply re-use the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track they had for the Blu-ray. Instead we get a brand new Atmos track AND the legacy tracks as well. All in all, a very solid upgrade for fans, and a decent (if not hammy) movie for zombie fans.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: John Leguizamo, Asia Argento, Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper
Directed by: George Romero
Written by: George Romero
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 97 Minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: October 15th, 2024

Recommendation: Fun, but Hammy, Watch