A Postcard from the Land of the Dead

It’s Zombie Friday at Dark, But Shining!

Yahoo Movies has a new, long trailer for George Romero’s new movie, Land of the Dead.

Land of the Dead is being billed as Romero’s final say on his classic series of zombie films – Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead.

The trailer, to my eye, makes the movie look OK, but doesn’t necessarily interest me in seeing it. One issue that jumps out is the inclusion of so many recognizable faces and so many stars (the movie features Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento, and John Leguizamo, among others).

One of the things I’ve always appreciated about Romero’s movies, even if I didn’t like them all, was their true-to-life blue collar settings and their actors who look like real, everyday people, not movie stars. Land, on the other hand, is choking on movie stars.

This change puts me off and will likely lead me not to be able to engage in the film tightly, as most horror featuring recognizable stars does (I like Asia Argento, for instance, and she’s cute as all get-out, but when I see her in a movie, I know it’s her, not her character, and thus am distanced a bit from the work).

Still, this is only a trailer, so full judgment is reserved until the movie’s release on June 24. For now, enjoy the trailer.

May 1 update: It seems that the trailer has been removed from Yahoo’s site. Not sure what’s up with that, but I’ll update if I find a new link.