Land of the Dead

Land of the Dead is an American horror movie of the zombie subgenre. It was written and directed by George Romero and is the fourth installment in his "Living Dead" franchise, which began with 1968's Night of the Living Dead. This film follows 1985's Day of the Dead and is suceeded by the 2007 sequel Diary of the Dead. The film was produced by Universal Pictures and released theatrically in the United States on June 24th, 2005.

Production & Release

 * Film ratings certificate #41825.


 * Promotional posters for the film have titled it George A. Romero's Land of the Dead.


 * Production on Land of the Dead began on October 11th, 2004. Principal filming concluded in December. The movie was shot in Ontario, Canada with some scenes filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Some excerpts used stock footage taken from Evans City, Pennsylvania and Monroeville, Pennsylvania.


 * Land of the Dead ranked in at number 5 for film premieres over the June 24th opening weekend grossing a total of $10,221,705. It was screened in 2,249 movie theaters, averaging $4,545 per show.


 * Land of the Dead closed out of theaters on August 4th, 2005.


 * Land of the Dead was released on DVD by Universal Studios on August 30th, 2009. This version of the film is the unrated director's cut. Universal released Land of the Dead on Blu-ray on August 28th, 2011.

Trivia

 * Actor Simon Baker is best known for playing the role of CBI consultant Patrick Jane on the CBS television series The Mentalist. His co-star in the series is The Craft and End of Days actress Robin Tunney.


 * Asia Argento, who plays Slack in this film, is the daughter of Italian giallo director Dario Argento. Dario was an editor and script consultant on George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.


 * Director George Romero makes a behind-the-scenes appearance in the film as the voice of a puppeteer. He is uncredited in the movie in this capacity.


 * Actor John Leguizamo is also known for playing the demonic clown called the Violator in the 1997 adaptation of the Spawn comic book movie. In that movie, Leguizamo co-starred with Martin Sheen and in Land of the Dead he co-stars with Dennis Hopper. Both Hopper and Sheen were featured in the epic war drama Apocalypse Now by Francis Ford Coppola.


 * Two special effects masters make cameo appearances in this film, both of whom are known for their work with zombies. Tom Savini, who worked on Romero's previous installments, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, as well as directing his own remake of Night of the Living Dead, plays a zombie wielding a machete in this film. The other FX maestro is Greg Nictoero who is the man in charge of zombie production on the AMC television series The Walking Dead.