"Herwo, Aunt Awreesha"
Today we end the original George Romero Zombie Trilogy with Day of the Dead. In 1968 he brought us into the night, in 1978 he took us thru the dawn, and now, in 1985, he brings us "into the darkest day of horror the world has ever known" (as the trailer puts it). The reasoning behind this was simple. He made a film in the late 60's and late 70's so why not make one in the late 80's? This was so he could make each film socio-politically relevant to the times and have some deep messages in them. In the 80’s there was lack of faith in government and in the economy, as things seemed to start to fall apart.
The movie takes place pretty much the day after the end of Dawn. Although we have no way of knowing this for sure, in the beginning of Day, we see the main character looking at a calendar and it is the day before Halloween and Dawn took place over about a month and a half beginning in the second week of September. This means that this movie is more of a Halloween themed movie than the last two. This idea was inspired by of course Halloween the film.
Once again, we have Tom Savini doing the make-up and effects. He is not in the movie this time but that hardly matters as he is at his best. We meet our protagonists and main group in the opening shot. The main character Sarah (doctor) is played by Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille's daughter. Bill Cardille played himself as the reporter in the original Night of the Living Dead. Just a little fun fact. Our other main heroes are John, the copter pilot, William McDermott, the radio techie, and Private Miguel Salazar who is Sarah's boyfriend and the only soldier in Day of the Dead that is not a bad person (like the Scottish soldier in 28 Days Later)...although, Miguel is still unstable like the rest of them. The other characters are another doctor, several soldier, Logan, the mad scientist, and Rhodes, the epitome of the person you love to hate. He takes being an asshole to a completely new level. I would not say he is evil per se, but clearly, the zombie apocalypse has taken a toll on him just like all the others. The other important character is Bub, probably the most beloved central zombie character of all time. Bub is a smart zombie, and as Howard Sherman (Bub) said, "a smart zombie is pretty much as smart as a dumb dog".
This time our group is located in an underground bunker. They have been taking the chopper out looking for survivors but to no avail. Tensions rise between the scientists + civilians and the soldiers. The soldiers have lost more people and they think that the science team’s mission is pointless (finding a cure, immunity, or a way to control the dead. And they do have a point.
We find out that Bub holds a lot of promise, as he appears to have more memory than the average zombie does. Bub is clearly the exception to the rule. However, Logan also easily trains him to him as a father and not as a free meal. But the soldiers think it is all stupid.
Things get really bad when they find out Logan has been feeding the dead soldiers to Bub and that is when the climax of the film really hits.
Since they were shooting and pretty much living underground in this bunker for most of the duration of making the film, a lot of the cast and crew became depressed and lethargic and so Romero called up a doctor to come down and give everyone shots of Vitamin D.
Also, they had so many zombies in this movie, more than they ever had in Night or Dawn or probably even combined, that they put a call out to anyone in the area who wanted to be a zombie. Of course, they ended up with way more zombies than they needs (as you will see in the film). In fact, some of the zombies are actually famous people. Look for the fisherman zombie; he is played by the dean of Carnegie at the time. Another zombie is Chef Brockett from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (also filmed in PN)
Day of the Dead is also the most degusting, bloody, and gory Romero movie up to this point and since then. Tom Savini was truly at his peak. An interesting fact, this is where Greg Nicotero really got his start in him make-up career by studying under Savini who loves to teach people the tricks of the trade. Nicotero, whose most early films were John Carpenter films, also has a cameo in Day. His later Romero movie cameos are very small roles but in Day, he plays Pvt. Johnson.
Day has many socio-political themes going on. The main theme, being a group of people hiding in an underground place away from their problems and the truth, during the Reagan Era. In addition, the movie brings back a couple of themes found in Night, one being on racism. Most of the soldiers are bigots except funny enough, Rhodes—the person you are meant to hate. Also, the theme of two groups of people with different ideas about what to do and in the end neither is really more right or more wrong. This film also has a lot of zombie action involving lots of gore while the zombies eat people. Furthermore, this film has a signature Romero Ironic ending and let me tell you it is fantastic. Esp., if you have followed the trilogy. You will love the ending to Day of the Dead. Trust me. I will not spoil it for you. I am sure if you want it spoiled, you can find the clip on YouTube but I suggest watching the movie.
So how do I rate Day of the Dead? Well Dawn is the best, but Day comes pretty close. It has less camp and action and more gore and claustrophobia. I give Day of the Dead 4 out of 5 stars
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