Land of the Dead

George Romero has started work on the fourth film in his Zombie series, called Land of the Dead. Shooting commenced in Canada (in itself, an interesting point), last month.

Originally, it was going to be called Dead Reckoning, which sounded silly to me, because where's the corelation to Night, Dawn and Day? (Not that Land has that corelation, but at least it has "of the Dead", which somehow makes it fit better. At least in my mind.) Anyway, last night I'm on the IMDB and found a link to the script. Not the original Dead Reckoning script, we're talking the brand-spanking new August 24, 2004 draft of Land. So I downloaded it, and although I've only read 9 pages, but if it keeps going the way it's going, I don't see Romero being allowed back into Amerikkka anytime too soon. Check this shit out:

• Pg2: In describing the Zombie-ridden city of Uniontown (!), Romero says "PEOPLE, seen in SILHOUETTE, stroll past quaint shops whose signs promise RELIABLE APPLIANCES, WELL-MADE CLOTHES, SOLID VALUES." Sounds like America in the 50s, doesn't it?
• Pg8: In order to get around, our few surviving humans shoot fireworks into the sky to mesmerize the zombies, making it easier/safer to rush out and kill them. "DEAD THINGS stand completely frozen in the middle of the street, like statues, mesmerized by the FIREWORKS." Zombies. Fireworks. Jesus Christ, George!! It's one thing to draw a parallel between Zombies and consumerism, as in Dawn, but to PARALYZE your ZOMBIES with PATRIOTISM...

When it was still called Dead Reckoning, Romero said that the people in the story would be used to the Zombies, treating them kind of like the homeless are treated these days; because they're dead and rotting, they're not as great a threat, and people can literally step over them in the streets. Apparently, this has changed. Like I said, I'm only 9 pages in, but Nikki read the script while I was sleeping, and she assures me that the Zombies come off less as homeless persons than migrant workers. Illegal migrant workers, at that. (Can you say "Go Back Where You Came From, We Don't Want Your Kind Here"?)

And then there's the title. Land of the Dead. As opposed, I'm guessing, to Land of the Free.

I don't know how he's going to get away with this, since speaking out against the government has become illegal in the last few years. Not that I think The Leader and his mob are going to take notice of a little horror movie -- they've got countries to take over and people to defraud and kill, don'tcha know? -- but it's going to be interesting, just the same, to see how this one's received. Will people even care about a Zombie movie with a socio-political message, like those from so long ago? (The last one, of course, delivered by Romero himself.) Or will they just want some mindless action movie disguised as a Zombie flick, like the recent DotD and Chainsaw remakes?

I, for one, can't fucking wait...