REVIEW – Day of the Dead

Published on: 24th December, 2009

REVIEW - Day of the Dead  | read this item

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Having avoided being stereotyped as a horror filmmaker after the phenomenal success of his 1968 feature Night of the Living Dead, Pittsburgh-based director George A. Romero had attempted to move in a new direction with such misfires as the disappointing comedy There’s Always Vanilla, before eventually returning to the world of the undead with 1978’s Dawn of the Dead. Focusing less on the horror and more on the protagonists’ attempts to deal with the coming apocalypse, many fans considered the movie to be the ultimate zombie epic, and its success prompted both the American and Italian industry to once again embrace the walking dead. Whilst his camp classic Creepshow would further cement his reputation, he continued to produce such mediocre efforts as Knightriders, before finally deciding to bring his zombie trilogy to a conclusion in 1985 with Day of the Dead.

The undead have now become the dominant specie on the planet and vastly outnumber the living. In a remote area of Florida, a team of scientists are hard at work in an abandoned missile silo attempting to find a cure for the epidemic. The deranged Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty), who is affectionately referred to as ‘Frankenstein,’ has taken to dissecting his specimens to understand why they feast on human flesh. In a radical new move, he has kept one that he has named Bub (Howard Sherman) chained to a wall and is conducting more humane experiments in the hope of somehow domesticating it. But the military, run by the vulgar and psychotic Captain Rhodes (Joe Pilato), have begun to run out of patience and are considering leaving the complex and the scientists behind. Unfortunately, the only one capable of flying a helicopter is John (Terry Alexander), a Caribbean man who has no interest in the politics of either faction and instead just wants to stay alive. But even as the dead threaten to overrun them, the living become more of a danger to each other.

Romero had originally devised Day of the Dead to be his ultimate zombie epic; larger in scope even than Dawn of the Dead and more action-orientated. Having almost secured a $7m budget for the feature, Romero was unwilling to trim the gore in order to obtain an R rating, which would have guaranteed the movie a wider distribution. Having refused to compromise with Dawn of the Dead, the film had been released unrated and had managed to gain considerable attention due to its graphic violence and dark humour, and so the director was confident that he would pull off the same trick again. Sticking to his guns, his financiers halved the budget and so Romero was forced to severely narrow the scope of his story and instead set it primarily in one location. Hoping for something as excessive as its predecessor, many fans were disappointed with Day of the Dead upon its initial release and it would take twenty years before it received the recognition it deserved.

Day of the Dead is the logical conclusion to what was to have been a trilogy. Dawn of the Dead had been bright, camp, tongue-in-cheek, full of action and hugely enjoyable, but if Romero was to hammer home his message about the end of the world then the third movie would have to be darker and more nihilistic. Whilst neither Romero nor his fans would appreciate it at the time, his restricted budget would become a blessing as Day of the Dead stands up well to its predecessors by taking the tone of the series in a new direction, by allowing the dead to finally overrun the world and force mankind to retreat and allow the new dominant race to take over. As John so eloquently puts it when justifying the situation to his friend; ‘Maybe he just wanted to show us he’s still the boss man. Maybe he figures we were getting too big for our britches, trying to figure his shit out.’

As has always been common with Romero movies, the acting on display is hardly Oscar-winning material, but each of the actors manage to make their characters as likeable or obnoxious as required. Lori Cardille is a little bland as the token heroine Sarah, whilst Alexander comes across as a typical Caribbean stereotype, although he does continue the Romero trend of the black character being the most level-headed and pro-active. Liberty chews the scenery perfectly as the over-the-top mad scientist, although Pilato does steal almost every scene with his menacing eyes and constant vulgarity. Special mention should be given to Sherman as Bub, arguably the most human and sympathetic character, despite being a zombie. It is his willingness to become more civilized which further emphasises the barbarity of the human characters.

It is unfair to discuss Day of the Dead without mentioning the work of special effects artist Tom Savini, providing which is by far his most impressive and excessive gore to date, even more so than with The Prowler. Bodies are ripped apart, guts are devoured and, in one distasteful moment, the vocal chords of one victim are stretched as his head is ripped from his body, causing his voice to go high pitched. Thankfully, as with Dawn of the Dead, the inclusion of only one female character means that the pace is never slowed down by any unnecessary romantic subplots, allowing Romero to go all-out with his destruction of the world. Whilst there is no denying just how much of a classic Dawn of the Dead is, fans should also appreciate just how effective Day of the Dead really is.

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