Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead (formerly known as Dead Reckoning) (2005) is the name for the fourth installment of the Living Dead zombie movie series. The movie was shot in Toronto, Ontario, despite director George A. Romero's wishes to continue the series in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The movie began filming on October 11, 2004, and was partially credited to fans, according to Romero, who kept on bugging him to do another zombie movie.

Plot summary

Sometime 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 outnumbered the living. The remnants of humanity fled to a city, where a feudal like government had taken hold. Fiddler's Green, the center of this fortress city, is where the rich and powerful lived in luxury while the rest of humanity lived in poverty around them. Paul Kaufman, leaving no room for freedom in his kingdom, rules with an iron fist and overwhelming firepower.

Related Topics:
Human - Civilization

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In order to ensure his dominance, and upscale lifestyle, Kaufman financed the construction of Dead Reckoning, a fortress-like vehicle that could venture out into the world with relative ease. Riley Denbo, both the designer and commander of Dead Reckoning, has had enough and just entered retirement. 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.

Related Topics:
Vehicle - Hooker with a heart of gold

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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 rogue. Having his dreams shattered by Kaufman, Cholo is out to even the score. With the Dead Reckoning, as well as the rest of its team, he threatens to destroy the city unless his demands are met. With no where else to turn, Kaufman and the city elite turn to Riley to fix the situation. Riley is in a race against the clock to stop Cholo from exacting his revenge and killing a lot of innocent people in the process.

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Meanwhile, in the zombie-infested outside world, something unusual is going on. The zombies are beginning to learn, adapt, and even to communicate with rudimentary moans and grunts. A leader has risen among their ranks: an unusually aware and intelligent zombie known as "Big Daddy" who (in a continuance of the "Bub" plotline from Day of the Dead), teaches his fellow zombies how to use firearms and overcome the human's defenses. In retaliation for the constant raids carried out by Dead Reckoning, "Big Daddy" ultimately leads the zombies in a massive assault on the human city.

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After the zombies destroy the class system created by Kaufman by killing most of the city's inhabitants, the playing field is leveled and both sides are left to rebuild. The final line in the film suggests that humans may finally be able to accept, and live in, a world that includes zombies.

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