Le Territoire des morts

En tant que film d'horreur B bas de gamme, ce film de zombies décent prouve que George A. Romero peut toujours être un générateur puissant pour une soirée cinéma. Mais comparé aux deux premiers volets de la série ou au récent "Dawn of the Dead" de Snyder, il ne représente qu'une norme. Le motif de la critique de la société de consommation est simplement répétitif et n'est pas adapté à notre époque (Snyder a réussi cela très bien), le film ne contient pas une seule scène vraiment mémorable, le héros principal semble sorti d'un drame familial sur un père bienveillant, les "répliques cool" sont sourdes et les zombies lents et difficiles à manier suscitent peu de respect. Ce qui maintient le film à flot, outre le rythme mentionné, est une atmosphère post-apocalyptique sombre et correcte. (04/12/2005)

Land of the Dead is a pretty good zombie flick. The story and the atmosphere are better than good in fact, and the old-fashioned slow-moving zombies are much more effective than their current fast version from Dawn of the Dead (even if Dawn is a better film). The scene with the zombies slowly shuffling out from the river is amazing. It’s also a fairly harsh and bloody film, a delight for fans. 70% (15/01/2008)

Even a fleeting glance at George A. Romero's filmography suggests that he was a notorious B-movie director in the style of John Carpenter. However, Romero was more versatile and capable, at least from my perspective, of making a surprisingly decent piece of work that stirred up the horror genre. Romero was fascinated by the theme of zombies throughout his life, but they never seemed interesting to me, and for a long time I thought that a film about their world couldn't captivate me - until Zack Snyder came along and convinced me otherwise. He had much more drive and managed to give dynamism to the world of zombies, and his Dawn of the Dead is the only zombie film that I have ever given four stars. Even in his last foray into the world of the living dead, Romero couldn't surpass his limits, and the screenplay simply belongs to the category of dumb B-movies, where all the characters choose the dumbest path to achieve their goals and the situations are resolved in a "deus ex machina" style. I don't deny Romero's craftsmanship - after all, he had been in the industry for quite a long time, but a thrilling and clever spectacle is something completely different. Moreover, if there is something I truly dislike, it's when a film pretends to be something it's not. Romero tried to smuggle in social motifs and rebellion against the capitalist social order into his film, but regardless of the dysfunctionality of his world, he does it in a terribly superficial and actually ridiculous way. Overall impression: 40%. (07/02/2019)

Darker, more narratively interesting, and much more brutal than Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead. It is less dynamic and compact, though, but that may not necessarily bother the viewer, especially if they are a fan of George Romero. I can’t say which film is better, but I preferred Snyder's. The characters were better developed and the visual style was even more refined. Romero relies more on cool brutality and a strong dose of darkness and shadows. The idea of the city, Green, and the zombie revolution is original, the music is solid, and Asia Argento also has a more than positive impact on the film. In the final reckoning, therefore, quite satisfied. (26/11/2005)