FAQ for
Land of the Dead (2005)

See: this FAQ entry

Dead Reckoning is the name of the tank-like vehicle seen throughout this film. And of course the word dead would have been a pun and linked the film to the other movies in the "Dead" series.

According to the trivia page, the title was given up to avoid confusion with the Humphrey Bogart film Dead Reckoning (1947). The other working titles were Dead City, Twilight of the Dead, and Night of the Living Dead: Dead Reckoning.

The phrase itself means the process of estimating one's current position based upon a previously determined position, or fix, and advancing that position based upon known speed, elapsed time, and course. (Wikipedia).

Fiddler's Green.

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright appear briefly in Chihuahua's club. They are the two zombies on leashes having their photos taken with survivors. You can also find them on the poster and the DVD cover. Wright is on the left, next to Big Daddy (Eugene Clark); Pegg is off to the right.

George Romero gave them small roles as a gesture of respect for their work on Shaun of the Dead (2004), which Wright directed and both wrote.

As he explains, "It catches the light." Made it easier to see in the dark.

The song is "En El Camino," written by Antonio Hernandez, Raul Chapa Elizalde, Mario Alvarado, Jorge Alejandro Campos, Daniel del Rio, Felipe del Rio and Sergio Arturo Valdez; performed by Control Machete with Los Cabalieros del Plan G and Sekreto.

PRO:

George A. Romero shows 'em how it's done in Land of the Dead, resurrecting his legendary franchise with top-flight visuals, terrific genre smarts and tantalizing layers of implication. -- Justin Chang, Variety

Romero easily commands an enormous cast, a plethora of action sequences and a cornucopia of special effects -- some of them very gory -- and creates one darkly dazzling image after another that allows Land of the Dead to emerge without any nudging whatsoever as a bleakly humorous, hard-charging allegory. -- Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

As the ghouls evolve toward humanity and the humans toward ghouldom, we can appreciate Romero for using horror to show us How We Live Now, and How We're Living Dead now, too. -- David Edelstein, Slate

The social commentary isn't subtle, but Romero delivers the goods so effectively that many won't even notice. -- Sean Axmaker, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Hopper, unsurprisingly, devours scenery like he's already dead and loving it, but for once his penchant for overacting is overshadowed by the real stars of Romero's world: They're dead, they're all messed up, but it's great to finally have them back in town. -- Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle

Brains! Brains! Why can't they make a zombie movie with brains? This is one. Romero has given us, as well as the zombies, a lot to chew on. -- Kyle Smith, New York Post

Romero doing what he does best: using zombies to create a lowbrow social parable. It shows up junk like Resident Evil: Apocalypse for the brainless pap it is. And it's got something that even the best previous 'Dead' films have lacked: good acting. -- Marc Mohan, Portland Oregonian

The greatest thing about this film is that after a break from his 'Dead' world of twenty years, Romero has gotten everything so RIGHT. He knows the rules he set up, but he's confident to push the envelope as he did previously with Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. I wish I could say that about George Lucas and Revenge of the Sith. The film has the best acting performances of any of the 'Dead' films, and the cameos have a refreshingly proper feel. Huge kudos to Greg Nicotero and KNB EFX, who lovingly give horror fans what they expect and want from a 'Dead' film, along with a few things we may have never seen before. I can't recommend this film enough - I can't wait to see it again when it opens with a suitably crazy crowd. It's a great movie for the summer. -- Hellboy, Dread Central

The latest installment could well be Romero's masterpiece. Taking full advantage of state-of-the-art makeup and visual effects, he has a more vivid canvas at his disposal, not to mention two decades worth of pent-up observations about American society. -- Michael Rechtshaffen, Hollywood Reporter

Romero's newest is a horror movie for hard-core fans of the gory and the gruesome and a classic genre film for genre aficionados. -- Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

The master is back, and there's no shortage of exploding brain matter - or fun - to be had in the theaters this weekend. -- Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle

Land of the Dead is Romero's long-awaited masterpiece, a slyly suspenseful and droll thrill-ride that expounds on both the highbrow and the chewed-off-brow concepts of his previous trilogy, then flippantly dismisses the cheap scare tactics of the control-pad generation's gimmicky genre knockoffs. -- Aaron Hillis, Premiere

Romero finds still new and entertaining ways for unspeakably disgusting things to happen to the zombies and their victims. -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Top-flight visuals, terrific genre smarts and tantalizing layers of implication. -- Variety

In [this] excellent freakout of a movie, the living no longer have the advantage or our full sympathies. -- Manohla Dargis, New York Times (registration req'd)

Land's highly professional sheen has in fact put off some zombie movie fans, who complain that the movie's too formulaic (read "too entertaining"). But in my experience zombie zealots are notoriously hard to please: In a year or so they'll all be claiming they loved this movie the first time they saw it. -- Tim Cavanaugh, Reason



MIXED:

Well produced and suspenseful, but we've seen it all before. -- Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide

I hope this is the beginning of a new Romero saga, and in a strange way I hope this film fails so he is compelled to root himself entirely in Pittsburgh (most of the filming took place in Toronto) and never make a studio film again. -- Arno Kazarian, IMDb

Oddly enough, though Land of the Dead is more clever and grand than Romero's early classics, it is not as haunting. -- David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer

Romero's fourth entry, turns out to be his most conventional as an action thriller - though it's every bit as gory as the others and more clearly class-conscious. -- Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A perfectly adequate horror romp, but it's hard to imagine anyone remembering it five years from now. -- Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald

Gory and entertaining... What starts out as a fascinating look at Romero's expanded apocalyptic world - with raiding parties sent out for supplies and zombies kept as attractions at sideshows - eventually becomes a standard story of a man on a mission. The film eventually feels a little half-hearted, caught between Romero's rage at the state of the real world and the need for an upbeat ending. But there are plenty of striking images - the semi-decapitated zombie slaying, the zombies in the river - to send you shivering into the night. -- Andy Jacobs, BBCi



ANTI:

George A. Romero may have been the originator of the modern zombie movie, but, at least with Land of the Dead, he hasn't done much to refine it. -- James Berardinelli, ReelViews

Land falls well short of the greatness of Romeros previous zombie efforts. -- Pete Vonder Haar, Film Threat

Too bad the plot held no surprises and the acting no revelations. No actor could be said to stand out and the movie never acquires much tension or momentum. --Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

Sources include: christookey.com