The survivors in the film have fled to the Golden Triangle area of downtown Pittsburgh, protected on two sides by rivers and on the third by an electric barricade termed "the Throat".

Years after the zombie apocalypse, the scattered remnants of human civilization have established a chain of protected city-states across North America.

Outside the city's barriers are barren countryside and dilapidated suburban towns long deserted by humans but overrun with numerous zombies.

All forms of commerce within this protected zone are controlled by Paul Kaufman, the city's ruthless plutocratic ruler who owns Dead Reckoning, an armored personnel vehicle that can easily travel through zombie-infested areas.

Riley Denbo, Dead Reckoning's designer and commander, and his crew pilot the vehicle into the no-man's-land to scavenge for necessary food and medical supplies for the citizens as well as luxury items to use as a means of barter within Kaufman's oppressive oligarchic regime.

Meanwhile, Cholo DeMora, Dead Reckoning's second in command, is denied an apartment in Fiddler's Green despite assisting Kaufman in eradicating his political enemies.

As Cholo prepares to fire Dead Reckoning's missiles at Fiddler's Green, Riley deactivates the weapons systems remotely.

Big Daddy leads a legion of zombies across the river where they breach the perimeter fence, overpower the border guards, and invade the city.

Kaufman flees but encounters a zombified Cholo in the parking garage, where Big Daddy kills both of them with an exploding propane tank.

It turned out that Fox sought to own the rights to the Night of the Living Dead franchise, and Romero decided not to do business with them.

Every UK release bar the UMD version were rated 18 overall due to a bonus feature (a highlights reel of the goriest moments called Scenes of Carnage).

[10] Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four for what he considered its skillful and creative allusions, something that he argued was pervasive among Romero's previous three installments, which contained numerous satirical metaphors to American life.

[12] Jeffrey Westhoff of Northwest Herald gave the film a rating of 3.5 stars out of four, saying, "The most shocking thing about Land of the Dead is not the vivid dismemberments but how boldly Romero holds a macabre mirror up to post-9/11 America.

"[13] Michael Wilmington of Chicago Tribune awarded the film four stars, writing, "It's another hard-edged, funny, playfully perverse and violent exercise in movie fear and loathing, with an increasingly dark take on a world spinning out of control.

[15] Several filmmakers, including John Landis, Eli Roth, Clive Barker, and Guillermo del Toro, paid tribute to Romero in a Land of the Dead special.