“Land of the Dead” is the fourth instalment in the zombie franchise from director George A. Romero (“Night of the Living Dead”, “Monkey Shines”). I have never understood the attraction with his zombie films or zombie movies in general and “Land of the Dead” merely cemented my scepticism of the subgenre.

The zombie outbreak that began in “Night of the Living Dead” has continued and now a large group of humans are living in a walled city. Although there is relative safety, the city is controlled by a corrupt businessman (Dennis Hopper “Speed”). However, the zombies are getting smarter and have set their sights on the city.

Most of the characters are really boring. The only one that is even vaguely interesting is the one played by Dennis Hopper but he does not get all that much screen time. We end up being subjected to a lot of the same conversations that we always seem to hear in zombie films and it’s getting so repetitive now. The zombies themselves are obviously not interesting but the special effects and make-up work is impressive throughout. One of the zombies is clearly meant to be the undead version of the biker gang leader from “Dawn of the Dead” so some fans might like a few of the nods to the older films.

“Land of the Dead” starts with some over-the-top action so I hoped that this would signal that this one was not going to take itself so seriously. However, it soon becomes clear that the film does generally take itself quite seriously and that’s when the fun stops. The action sequences are weak and the suspense is often non-existent. If you are not going to make it light-hearted, at least make it exciting rather than just depressing. Fans of the franchise seem to still enjoy this one so if you liked the others, you will probably like this one.