Translated material
It's not necessary for the dead
"Land of the Dead" on Moscow screens
Twenty years have passed since George Romero seemed to put the final point in his trilogy about corpses rising from the grave (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead). A lot has happened since then: the first two films of the trilogy received remakes (one satisfactory, the other absolutely excellent), the genre of zombie films experienced a somewhat unexpected renaissance, and Romero himself seems to have finally settled in the pantheon of nominally living, but hardly capable of something new to the classics. And now - “Land of the Dead”, a new film that, even if one wants to, cannot be called “greetings from the other world”: Romero made it clear that it was premature to discount it, and he has no less creative energy than from other ambitious neophytes.In the fourth part, the end of the world reaches its peak: the entire planet is at the mercy of the revived cadavers, and the few surviving people are hiding behind the powerful walls of city-states where the New Middle Ages reigns. A select few “feast in a luxurious palace”, enjoying the remnants of the benefits of civilization; everyone else is hoping at best for chance. So it is not surprising that pretty soon the internal contradictions between people become no less fatal than the already familiar clashes with zombies. And before our eyes, the living dead themselves transform from half-decomposed bodies slowly wandering back and forth into an almost meaningful society, with its own principles and even a leader.
The level of special effects in “Land of the Dead” exceeds all possible expectations - the current corpses impress even the usual viewer no less than the first, still black and white and home-grown zombies from the 1968 film. But to recommend the film exclusively to fans of wormy naturalistic horror would be a mistake: as in all previous times, Romero talks not so much about the dead as about the living. The dead sea of bodies swirling outside the city walls is still a metaphor, albeit a meticulously sickening one. It was not so much specific dead people who rose from their graves, but rather the painful phantoms of human consciousness at the turn of the millennium took on sharply unusual shapes. And the inhabitants of the besieged fortress are fighting first of all with themselves. In a retelling, such a concept looks naive, unambiguous and not to say new. But Romero - without a doubt, a director-philosopher - dressed it in the only true form of a horror action film - and seemingly obvious truths appear in the subcortex as bloody streaks of absolute truth. The darkest social satire turns out to be most fully assimilated precisely in such an environment. It doesn’t even hurt that, contrary to the tradition of the first three films, Romero now cast not little-known extras in the main roles, but quite recognizable performers, almost stars (primarily, of course, Dennis Hopper and Asya Argento). But even the painfully familiar faces do not prevent us from perceiving “Earth” abstractly from the film process, not as a long-awaited cult hit, but as an almost documentary report from the apocalyptic front line, a memory of the future. Which, oddly enough, has already come a long time ago. And it makes you think not only about the quality of special effects.
The Land of the Dead signature poster features a sweeping autograph from the director, exhorting viewers to “Be Afraid!” The film is actually very scary - but not at all in the way that regular visitors to a cinematic butcher shop, accustomed to streams of blood and intestines falling out, think. It would make sense to be afraid even if, due to an oversight of the producers or directorial license, he would have done without zombies at all. And therefore, it should be watched not only by those who have memorized the previous films and know a lot about screen horror in general. This saga will be a very instructive spectacle for those who are used to getting emotions from arthouse and auteur cinema. Romero - albeit in his own language - speaks about exactly the same things that interest the main metaphysicians of the modern screen. And the fact that from time to time you just want to close your eyes, there’s nothing wrong with that. The truth hurts my eyes.