Synopsis

In a devastated Pittsburgh, wealthy survivors hide behind an electrified barricade while scavengers venture into zombie-infested territory for supplies. Their fragile social order begins to collapse when the undead, led by an unusually intelligent zombie called Big Daddy, learn to use weapons and organize themselves. As the living exploit both the city and its dead, a violent uprising threatens the last human stronghold.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is the fourth entry in George A. Romero's Living Dead series, following Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead.

• The screenplay incorporates ideas from an earlier, much longer version of Romero's Day of the Dead script, including the concept of a divided society and zombies developing greater awareness.

• The working title was Dead Reckoning, which is also the name of the armored supply vehicle used by the human characters.

• Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright appear as zombies in the photo booth sequence. Romero invited them after seeing their 2004 zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead.

• Tom Savini returns as a zombified version of his biker character, Blades, from Dawn of the Dead.

• The bandstand zombies play fragments of "The Gonk," the tune associated with the shopping mall in Dawn of the Dead.

• The film opens with a vintage Universal Pictures logo modeled on the studio's mid-1930s branding.

• It was the first film in Romero's Living Dead series to receive an MPAA rating for its theatrical release. Home video editions included an unrated version with additional gore and dialogue.

• A licensed first-person shooter prequel, Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green, was released in 2005.