Movies - Land of the Dead

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	Movies - Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead (2005) (earlier script titles: Dead City, Dead Reckoning) is the fourth in the series started by Night of the Living Dead
, which continued with the sequels Dawn of the Dead
and Day of the Dead
.

It is the first movie in the series to receive an MPAA rating for its theatrical release. Romero had said for years that he would film two versions; an R rated cut for the theatres and first DVD, and an unrated cut for the second DVD release. Both DVDs were released in the US on October 18 2005. Rumors suggested that Romero shot alternate, less explicit, gore scenes for the theatrical release, but this is not entirely accurate. The more extreme instances of gore were obscured by foreground elements filmed on bluescreen, so that these overlayed elements could be easily removed for the unrated DVD. Other ways to obscure blood in order to get an R-rating were achieved by simply trimming the grislier shots by a few seconds, or by digitally repainting blood so that it is more black than red, or digitally painting the blood out altogether. The Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario gave both the theatrical version and DVD version a rating of 18A. In the UK the BBFC gave it a 15 certificate for the theatrical version and an 18 for the unrated version.

Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have cameos as zombies, based on Romero's love of their heartfelt zombie send-up Shaun of the Dead
. Tom Savini can also be briefly seen as a zombie (credited as "Machete Zombie"), reprising his character Blades from Dawn of the Dead
. This marks the first time an actor has reprised a role in a Romero zombie movie. It could also be argued that the Santa zombie seen briefly outside Dead Reckoning near the end of the film is the santa biker from Dawn of the Dead, as Romero alludes to on the DVD commentary.

The script for the movie was released on the Internet, but was removed after Universal Studios took action.

Plot summary

Some time ago, an unimaginable catastrophe destroyed much of human civilization. The recently dead, for an unknown reason, had returned to life and taken the lives of their living brothers and sisters. These "zombies" multiplied rapidly by adding to their ranks with every new victim. Many years later, the dead greatly outnumber the living. The still-living in the vicinity have fled to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a feudal like government has taken hold. Bordered on three sides by a large river and on the other by an electric barricade, the city has become a sanctuary against the undead threat. Fiddler's Green, the center of this fortress city, is where the rich and powerful live in luxury while the rest of humanity live in poverty around them. Paul Kaufman rules with an iron fist and overwhelming firepower.

In order to ensure his dominance and upscale lifestyle, Kaufman financed the construction of Dead Reckoning, a heavily armored vehicle that can venture out into the world with relative ease. Armed with heavy remote-controlled external machine guns and video cameras to spot zombies on the sides, Dead Reckoning primarily functions as a moving fireworks display base: zombies are fascinated by fireworks, and (just like humans) will stare up at the sky gaping at them while ignoring the humans moving through the streets around them. Riley Denbo, both the designer and commander of Dead Reckoning, has recently retired. Unlike Kaufman, Riley is respected by the citizens of the fortress city for his work to protect them from a dangerous world. However, after a series of incidents, Riley winds up in jail with his best friend Charlie Houk, a member of the Dead Reckoning team, and Slack, a hooker with a heart of gold.

Meanwhile, Cholo DeMora, the second in command of the Dead Reckoning team, having been turned away by Kaufman from buying an apartment in Fiddler's Green, has gone renegade. Having his dreams shattered by Kaufman, Cholo is out to even the score. He threatens to destroy Fiddler's Green with the Dead Reckoning unless his demands are met. Kaufman turns to Riley to stop Cholo from exacting his revenge. As Riley finally catches Cholo he convinces him to allow him to take Dead Reckoning and leave the city to head north, leaving Cholo and an unnamed friend with a truck to go west but shortly after this Cholo is bitten by a zombie. Riley and his crew then notice fires in the city and head back to try and save the city.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Land of the Dead ]

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Movies - Land of the Dead

Plot summary

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