Romero has again crafted a character-driven horror film that doubles as a metaphor for the economic disparity in America and, to a lesser degree, the war on terror.

George A. Romero shows 'em how it's done in "Land of the Dead," resurrecting his legendary franchise with top-flight visuals, terrific genre smarts and tantalizing layers of implication. Nerve-shredding fourth installment may not fully reclaim the visceral or satirical impact of the writer-director's 1978 masterpiece "Dawn of the Dead," but it's still a satisfyingly splattery feast of guts and ideas. Though Universal isn't flogging it half as aggressively as last year's "Dawn" remake, pic should grope its way to killer B.O. with no small help from Romero cultists, whose devotion will be nothing short of zombielike.

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(Originally published in Rocky Mountain Bullhorn) George A. Romero returns to the grisly scene of his greatest ghoulish triumphs with Land of the Dead, and the results are about as lively as a piece of roadkill. Set some years after...