Land of the Dead: Personal Film Review

George A. Romero's Land of the Dead

The Land of the Dead takes place in America where a zombie outbreak has ensued.  The difference between this film and other zombie films is the zombies start to coordinate with each other to overthrow the corrupt humans.

One of the scenes that I was most impressed with is when the group are out to find Cholo and a body without a head walks up to the side of the car, but flings his head over his shoulders to bite someone.  I liked this scene because of the collision cutting used.  The scene is quite and not much is happening but quite suddenly the music increases in volume and they start panicking.

Another scene I was impressed by is at the very end when the zombies are all walking away from the city and Riley decides not to shoot them.  I was impressed by this scene because it's a very unique idea for a horror movie to essentially forgive the bad guys and just part-ways.  This is a technique George Romero likes to use of flipping the stereotypes and making the monsters of the film have some morals.

We see a quick montage near the start of the film when zombies are being killed by people on bikes to connote the panic and anger that the black leader zombie feels as all the zombies around him are being killed.

The majority of the gore takes place on-screen but restricted narration is occasionally used.  there are 2 sillhouettes of violence, when a mans head is being ripped off, and when a hand is being ripped in half.

Most of the lighting in the film is low-key since a lot of the film takes place at night.  Fiddlers Green however is very well-lit, so as to give the feeling of normal life.

When Pillsbury is first introduced he is shot using a very low expressionist angle to show how powerful he is.  Whereas Kaufman is quite short so in over-the-shoulder shots he is positioned

quite a bit lower in the frame.  This shows how he hides behind his money when it comes to power, since he is physically weak.

The music in the film is all parallel and when zombies were on screen but no action happenning an eerie screeching sound would play instead of music which adds to the creepy scenes.

I quite liked having some of the gore as shadows on the wall and would like to include that in my film trailer since it would be cheaper to do, but is still effective.

I also think the collision cutting George Romero used would work well in my trailer because it's quite an easy technique but also reliably makes people jump.

In my trailer I would not want the audience to empathise with the antagonist like they did in Land of the Dead with the black zombie leader.

I feel the most enjoyable moment in the film is the quick montage of zombies finally breaking into Fiddlers Green and chasing people through the large entrance.  I enjoyed this scene because you know a lot of the rich snobs that lived were going to struggle fighting off the zombies like the more working class people (Charlie, Riley, Cholo etc.) did every day.  This would be too difficult to include in my trailer with the restricted resources, budget and amount of actors we will have.

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Dawn of the Dead (2004) Image analysis (3)

Before this scene there was a tense action scene where the characters were all running past zombies with lots of quick editing and fast paced music.  This brief slower scene is collision cutting since this is one long take and it’s a lot quieter.  There is also contrapuntal music in the background of this shot combined with C.J’s line “I love this song” gives it quite a humorous feel.  This is also a medium-long shot so we can see all of the characters cramped into this small space which adds to the humour of the scene.  In the middle of the scene is our main character Ana and to the right of the scene is Michael who is quite a bit taller than the other characters, this Is showing how Michael is the male hero and is looking after the others.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Image analysis (2)

This shot is of the female victim Monica being killed by Glen with a chainsaw.  Monica is the stereotypically female victim.  She is an attractive blonde, not overly intelligent, and is fairly fragile.  This is quite a gory scene since we get quite a long close-up of the chainsaw going into her.  This scene may surprise some people since they won’t be expecting a death since there are no zombies nearby.  This takes part in the middle of a quick montage, this technique is frequently used in action, thriller, and horror film because it creates a fast paced atmosphere of excitement and panic.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Image analysis (1)

Terrorism is quite a large theme in this film since it is suggested that the virus was started because of places like the Middle East.  This idea makes this shot have a greater impact since a quarter of the screen is covered by an American flag.  This is connoting the idea that America is the land of the free since we see this flag on the boat the characters escaping on.  Ana is a stereotypically final girl (minus the blonde hair) since she is tough, both physically and mentally and we see very little emotion from her during the film.  Michael also acts like a stereotypically male hero would, since he doesn’t draw attention to his injury so he doesn’t panic the others.  He puts the safety of the others ahead of the importance of his own life when he refuses to get on the boat.  The events on 9-11 took place only 3 years before this film was released so terrorism plays a big part in this film.  The zombies connote terrorist which is also hinted at during the opening credits where images of what looks to be a mosque are shown, suggesting that the outbreak was the middle easts fault.

Psycho (1960) Image analysis (3)

This shot is a point-of-view to put us in Marion's shoes which makes the whole scene seem more unsettling.  The silhouette in shot makes it unclear who the killer is, this enhances the twist at the end of the film since it doesn't look like Norman's hair who the audience already feels uneasy about.  The knife he's using is raised above his head so he can bring it down with a lot of force which shows us he's doing this out of anger since he wants it to be brutal rather than just having the knife discretely at hip height.  Behind the silhouette we can see the door to the bathroom (and the escape) but he is standing in between you and the door to show there's no way out.  Norman is using a knife to kill Marion which is a phallic symbol showing that the attack is somewhat sexual since before this scene we saw Norman looking through the peep hole.  The rain in front of the camera acts like rain which partially obscures the identity of the killer and rain is always associated with darkness and misery.

Psycho (1960) Image analysis (2)

The low-key lighting in this scene makes Norman's face very shadowy and contrasts the light coming through the peep hole into Marion's room. The darkness on his face connotes his evil side and the light coming from Marion's room shows that she is not like that and the white light connotes purity and innocence.  Norman's head is more or less all hidden because of he low-key lighting, but the light from Marion's room reveals who he is, this foreshadows the ending of the film since after he kills Marion, he is revealed as a murderer and caught.  The picture on the wall that Norman takes down to reveal the peep hole is called "Rape of Lucretia" which indicates how Norman is taking away Marion's dignity by watching her without her knowing.  This also shows the audience that Norman is a voyeur which Laura Mulvey talks about in her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative”. This voyeurism makes Norman seem more perverse and creepy.  Alfred Hitchcock was also a bit of a voyeur in real life, especially to blonde women.  This obsession with blonde women is one of the features Alfred Hitchcock adds with his auteur style.

Psycho (1960) Image analysis (1)

This scene takes place shortly before Norman kills Marion so it is shot with a low angle to show that Norman has power over Marion.  This low angle also positions Norman's head in line with the bird of prey on the wall behind him to show its resemblance to him.  The bird I'm talking about is an owl which is posed with it's wings out as if it's ready to attack.  The scene's main light source is low to the ground so it illuminates the underside of the bird which makes it look more intimidating.  This low key lighting also makes the shadows of the other birds loom higher than they usually would.  There are a few hints relating Marion to a bird as well, Norman says that she ‘eats like a bird’ this along with her last name being Crane foreshadows what is going to happen to her in the shower, since we know that Norman keeps dead birds in his house.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Image analysis (3)

In this scene we see Stephen pointing a gun at one of the bikers who are trying to take over the mall.  The focus of the camera is on Stephen’s face, and his gun is blurred out so we can see the lack of emotion he’s showing even though he’s about to murder a person, this show’s the audience how the character has changed since the beginning of the film.  Stephen is very possessive which links into the idea of consumerism, we see this when he says ‘It’s ours… We took it.’  Stephen believes that he is entitled to this mall and that no one else is allowed to trespass.   This is not a trait you would expect to see in one of the main protagonists, whilst Stephen is downstairs facing the bikers, Peter is upstairs hiding.  This shows how he is willing to let go of his possessions and challenges the issue of consumerism.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Image analysis (2)

This is the scene where Stephen is ambushed by a zombie in the boiler room.  The mise-en-scene utilises low-key lighting which creates a lot of shadows and a darker feel.   This is a medium-long shot so we can see them zombie grabbing Stephen and we also can see Stephen’s hands which shows he is unprepared for the attack.  This quick montage of point of view shots is from the perspective of the zombie and Stephen.  This adds to the panic of the scene and draws the audience in so we can see what Stephen is facing.  Also seeing from the

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Image analysis (1)

 

This shot is from the point of view of a security camera in the mall and the characters have just taken all the money out, this is George Romero’s subtle way of saying that we are all too obsessed with money and material worth.  Obviously the last thing the character’s need in a zombie apocalypse are wads of valueless paper, but since they’re so used to only wanting money they take it anyway.  Roger and Peter are either side of the desk shaking hands; this makes it look like there is some kind of transaction taking place as if they’re pretending to buy something so they can remind themselves of what their lives were like.  In George Romero’s films he likes to satirise political issues according to the historical context of when the film was made.  George Romero addresses terrorism in his film ‘Land of the Dead.’ this is George Romero’s auteur style, and you can identify one of his films because the underlying messages of his films are very relevant to the time it was made.