Land of the Dead (with Bonus Stuff!)

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As October winds down and the guys start trying to find movies that are specific to Thanksgiving for November (there are not as many as you might think), they're here to offer a Very Special Episode of Here Be Spoilers.

What's so special about it, you may ask? Well, for starters, it finished out October's Month of the Living Dead. Also, the guys decided to record their unscripted comments as they watched the movie so you can sync it up to the movie and listen to that, too! (Directions to follow.)

So simple, even a dead guy can do it!

Anyway, down to it.

What do you get when you give George Romero access to two-thirds of the primary cast of Super Mario Bros., a couple of the folks involved in Shaun of the Dead, Dario Argento's daughter, tool-using zombies, and the most badass RV known to man?

Tonight...we camp...IN HELL!

You get Land of the Dead, the fourth in the ongoing Something, Something of the Dead series Romero started back in 1968. And we're here to tell you that this is the best one yet!

"I'm not intimidated that your pecs are bigger than mine at all! Why do you ask?"

Riley (Simon Baker) is a guy who gets stuff done for Kaufman (Dennis Hopper). But now he wants out. He wants to leave this town and its vast population of brain-eating undead, and head for Canada, where the zombies are much more polite and apologetic. He can't leave, though, without doing one final job for Kaufman: Get Kaufman's zombie-fighting tank, Dead Reckoning, back from Riley's former number two guy, Cholo (John Leguizamo), who has stolen it so he can ransom some money out of Kaufman himself and leave, as well.

Fun Fact: Was not at all aware he was in a movie.

Complicated enough for ya? It gets better with the addition of Big Daddy (Eugene Clark), a gas station worker-turned-zombie that starts to notice things, including how guns work. Remember Bub from the last movie? Yeah, this guy is the same, but angrier.

"Are you losing weight, Dave?"

Big Daddy starts organizing the other zombies and gets them headed toward Fiddler's Green, Kaufman's stronghold. Does Big Daddy know that Kaufman is sending soldiers to destroy as many zombies as possible? Or is he just captivated by the shiny lights, like so many of us would be? Who knows. The guy's dead and not able to talk, but he doesn't let that hold him back! He has a goal, and he is going for it!

"I LIKE SHINY THINGS, TOO!"

Along with his new Number Two, Charlie (Robert Joy), Riley goes looking for Cholo, taking a few minutes to rescue Slack (Asia Argento) from a vicious little pimp named Chihuahua (Phil Fondacaro), and also to gather a small group of soldier/mercenaries working for Kaufman.

All of this, just to catch the guy who played Sid in the Ice Age movies.

 Does Riley catch up to Cholo? Will Kaufman get Dead Reckoning back? Will Big Daddy and his army of zombies reach Fiddler's Green? Why do most of the main characters want to leave Pennsylvania so badly? It's a nice state, if you ignore all the zombies trying to eat your flesh and stuff.

Jake is happy to tell everybody that this is his favorite Yadda-Yadda of the Dead movie. Not only are the story and the effects way better than the ones that came before it, but there are a few neat Easter eggs in there. See how many you can find!

Larry also loves this flick, particularly the way Big Daddy manages to get things done, despite being all dead and stuff, and also the explosions. So many great explosions. But what he really digs is Dead Reckoning. Who wouldn't want to go camping in that thing?!

Derek actually enjoyed this one for good reasons! Good story, cool zombies, fine acting, and nifty effects, He also has way too much fun making jokes at the expense of Pillsbury (Pedro Miguel Arce) during the commentary.  He asks that Mr. Arce not hunt him down and beat him like an old rug.

There's also a lot of Star Wars talk, among other things, in The Lobby, new movies Coming Soon, Hollywood Purgatory, and Larry's List!

So download the commentary here, and the podcast here, and have a great Halloween!

(Editor's Note: Just a suggestion from us here at Ugly Couchcast Industries...To fully enjoy the entire Here Be Spoilers immersive experience, we recommend that you listen to our unscripted. on-the-fly commentary of this week's movie first. But hey, don't let us tell you how to live your life. Do what you want.)

*****

How to sync up the guys' commentary to Land of the Dead

Load the commentary into your computer or mp3 player or whatever, and start it. When Derek tells you to, pause it and start your movie. When the Universal logo disappears completely, start the commentary and enjoy!

You may have to pause either the movie or the commentary for a second or two at some points during the movie to keep it on track, but it shouldn't be too big of a problem.