Simon Baker leads the cast in a fourth, official, installment of Romero’s genre defining “of the Dead” series of films. It’s been a long time coming, and the fans were rather expectant at what the godfather and lord of the zombie genre had to offer.

Riley (Simon Baker) and his crack team of rejects form the basis of an elimination squad that carry out recon and the killing of zombies. In return they get weapons, vehicles, food and peace of mind that the good citizens are protected. There is, however, a social divide created by the wealthy few led by Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), where they live in the sanctuary of a reinforced tower complete with shopping district and luxuroies that only the rich can afford.

This segregation has no relevance as social commentry and mearely serves as add something more to the plot, because frankly there’s very little of a plot here. Although in many ways that would be true to form in the series, with zombies attacking a few who survive, and the rest being chomped on, they took themselves seriously. This fourth release suggests a glut of uninspiring ideas of where to go with the franchise. If anything, Romero is outclassed by the recent Dawn of the Dead remake, which is far superior to this.

Watching the acting on screen is a passive experience, with everyone play characters that are very much by the numbers. There’s a touch of humour, but more importantly lots of gore and gratutious violence. This time the difference is that the zombies give as good as they get, being able to use weapons and have the intelligence to work as a collective. This new found intelligence deviates from the formulaic, but even though there should be some credit for this departure, it remains languid and clumsy in execution.

The question I am asking myself is why Romero would do this. The answer probably has dollar sign in it. Three is a magic number for a reason. Even though we would like an Indiana Jones 4 movie, or Back to the Future 4 or (please God no more) Matrix 4, we know it should not be. It’s an unwritten rule, a limit, before it becomes a Police Academy analogy, and that’s something a director like Romero should not be aiming for. He does, however, manage it with this farcical attempt and kick starting his career again. Romero should have stayed in his coffin and not disturbed people to make a film.

Credit to Romero, though, as he has tried some new things. Granting intelligence to one zombie who works as a leader, the eventual intelligence of the remaining zombies in certain circumstances, and the crossing of the mirror at least offer a sense of danger. The idea that you’re not actually safe from zombie attack by distance since they’ll walk underwater.

Still, there’s no empathy is felt with the pathetic and hilarious intelligent zombie with some sense of humanity amongst his own. Tension is also missing, something that I would have thought was paramount to offer shreiks and scares. At the very least the film will put off many simply because of the amount of gore, which is more than his previous works, but less than most directors use these days.

It’s obvious that this is too glossy a version for a series that was built on high quality effects ad hoc, and having friends and family involved in the project. This has turned into a Hollywood production, and in doing so lost any chance of being true to the series.

There are few good things about the film, and those include the special effects and make up which are really striking and varied. They do look like zombies (how do Zombies look?), their behaviour for the most part is convincing, and some of the violence could be considered excessive, even if silhouetted against a wall.

Aside from this, and the presence of the gorgeous and delightful Asia Argento, and a rugged performance by Simon Baker, there’s little else in this film that can be applauded or recommended. With plenty of better alternatives out since Day of the Dead, you really would be committing a crime by funding this mediore rubbish from the godfather himself. Like George Lucas and Steven Speilberg, Romero should stop making films and decide that enough is enough. Retire. Spend you money, but don’t make any more films. Please.

Verdict: Shabby fourth movie which offers no scares, no thrills, no tension, and not a lot else. Avoid