On the unkillable, shuffling comment thread of my Frank Lloyd Wright vs. Zombies post, Jim Coughlin announces a shocking discovery: the new George Romero zombie flick, Land of the Dead, has an obscure reference to Frank Lloyd Wright.
Writing in the San Diego Union-Tribune, David Elliot describes the film thusly (mild spoilage):
Pittsburgh has become the last fortress for the humans, surrounded by hordes of zombies who just keep slogging around on a random meat diet. A primal class structure still preens, with yuppies living in a protected high-rise compound where the rivers converge, ruled by suits led by [Dennis Hopper as] Kaufman (a jokey nod to the Kauffmans, the Pittsburgh department store family that built and lived in Frank Lloyd Wright’s great Fallingwater home near Bear Run).
Zombies at Fallingwater could have been a real classic, but instead . . .
Hang on, did I just read that? The phrase “Zombies at Fallingwater” in a real newspaper? Has the Zombies/Wright connection shambled from my mad rantings and into the actual world? Has Dennis Hopper finally discovered his dramatic destiny as a post-apacolyptic Wright-client heir?
Clearly, this is a sign of the end times, and we should all be headed toward the nearest architectural masterpiece with bottled water and phosphorous rounds. Me, I’m repairing to the Guggenheim with all the bowling balls I can carry.
Well, I would be, except that Land of the Dead opens today. For showtimes, click here.
Man, Wright would be about my last choice for zombie shelter architect. How about somebody who can build a roof that doesn’t leak and windows that stay closed? At least with Gehry you get the solar death rays and the killer icicles…
http://www.sothisisacomic.com/Zombie/zomb3.html