DAY
OF THE DEAD (1985)
Director:
George A. Romero
It seems that out of all
the Hollywood trends, the one that stands out the most is the
trilogy. A story told across three movies. Every movie nowadays
has to be part of a trilogy. Everything from to The Godfather
to American Pie have been made into trilogies, and
there's even been two Star Wars trilogies. But one
trilogy in particular doesn't get the attention it deserves.
Hell, most people don't even know that it is a trilogy. I'm
talking about George Romero's "Dead Trilogy." The first
two installments (Night of the Living Dead and Dawn
of the Dead) are both hailed as horror masterpieces, but the
third doesn't get as much respect. The black sheep of the series,
Day of the Dead, isn't the classic that the others were,
but it should be. Let's get to the review, and maybe I can
explain why…
Our story begins with a group of people in a
helicopter flying over a desolate Florida town, and we're
introduced to four of our main characters: Sarah (Lori Cardille),
John (Terry Alexander), McDermott (Jarlath Conroy), and Miguel
(Antonč DiLeo). The helicopter sets down so the group can search
for any sign life. Humans are the minority now, as the zombie
plague seen in the prior two movies has become so bad that one
character theorizes that the zombies outnumber the normal humans
400,000 to one. Unable to find any survivors, the group returns
to their safe haven, a deep underground military bunker and
missile silo.
Cooped up in the bunker for
months, the sanity of even the strongest group members has begun
to fade, with Captain Rhodes (Joe Pilato) becoming the biggest
victim of cabin fever. The self-appointed leader of the soldiers
in the bunker, Rhodes has become a hot-tempered, over-zealous
dictator, obsessed with maintaining his power over the others.
His strength among the soldiers is contrasted with Sarah's group
of scientists, led by the eccentric Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty),
whom the soldiers call "Dr. Frankenstein" behind his
back. Logan's madness is not as obvious and volatile as Rhodes's;
he's obsessed with the dead and the possibility of controlling
them. Logan's guinea pig (Howard Sherman), nicknamed Bub, is
slowly re-learning the simplicities of human life in a childlike
fashion. Using things like shaving, brushing one's teeth,
operating a Walkman, and reading a copy of Stephen King's
"Salem's Lot," Logan attempts to see how much the
zombies are cognizant of, and his research gives promise in the
thought that one day the humans may be able to domesticate
zombies, and suppress their desires to feed.
Unfortunately for Logan,
he's not progressing quickly enough for Rhodes, who demands
changes be made while threatening to leave the scientists
stranded. As they try to round up more zombies to study, problems
ensue and tensions rise. Rhodes and the soldiers revolt against
the scientists, while a near-dead Miguel (who'd suffered a nasty
bite on the arm while wrangling some zombies for research)
unleashes legions of zombies on the bunker as he dies. Will the
two groups be wiped out, or will humans prevail again?
Day of the Dead
was the little horror movie that was never given an ice cube's
chance in Hell. From budget disputes that forced drastic script
rewrites, to low box office receipts, to bad critical reviews
(Leonard Maltin calls it "the least of the trilogy"),
it's been building a loyal fanbase during its two decades on home
video. It's a shame that in a year that produced such
well-received cult classics like The Return of the Living
Dead, Fright Night, and Re-Animator, Day
of the Dead wasn't as successful as the others. Perhaps it's
biggest knock against Day of the Dead is that you really
don't want to cheer any of the characters, but that doesn't stop
movies like Taxi Driver and The Rules of Attraction
from being really great movies. The characters here are all
self-centered jerks, but can you blame them? They've been in a
cave with a bunch of skin-eating dead people for months, maybe
years. If you were in that situation, you'd probably be a little
crabby too.
What separates Romero's
zombie movies from the rest is his relevant social commentaries. Day
of the Dead offers two distinct groups, science and the
military, and puts them up against each other. As society
crumbles around them, they too crumble as the movie progresses.
As interesting as this is, the best parts of the movie often
revolve around Bub. You'd figure that if you're gonna live around
something for an extended period of time, you're gonna study it,
and Dr. Logan does just that with Bub and various other zombies.
With all of the humans so unappealing, Bub is the most appealing
of all. Howard Sherman's performance as Bub is extremely
effective, and he doesn't even have any lines. All his acting is
done through facial expressions and movements, but he manages to
convey emotions in an emotionless mind.
Sherman isn't alone though,
as Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joe Pilato, and the late
Richard Liberty also give stellar performances. Cardille plays
Sarah as a stone-faced, tough woman that the horror genre
desperately needed. Most horror movies have simpering, whiny
heroines that don't do anything until they absolutely have to,
but Sarah takes charge and is very vocal about how things go.
Alexander was also good, playing the third strong black man in
the Dead Trilogy. Like I said in my Dawn of the Dead
review, I think it's great that Romero gave prominant roles to
black people in such landmark movies. You don't see that too
often. The character of John is a much-welcomed character, one
who would likes to wax intellectual about the future of humanity
and the bigger reasons for the zombie plague. Meanwhile, Pilato's
over-the-top acting and his pretentious, overbearing monologues
are some of the most memorable parts in the movie, and Liberty
gives Dr. Logan a quirky sense of imagination regarding all of
his studies. The way he regards Bub is both sweet and
patronizing. Actually, the best way Dr. Logan can be described is
as demented version of Christopher Lloyd's Doc Brown from Back
to the Future. The performances of Pilato and Liberty were
so great, their characters are two of my favorite movie
characters of all time. The ensemble cast is definitely up to par
with the other two parts of the Dead Trilogy.
Two other things stand out
in the movie. One is where the movie takes place. Filmed outside
of Pittsburgh at a storage facility that was once a limestone
mine, the claustrophobic atmosphere and the stark, muted colors
add a bleaker feel to the movie. Day of the Dead's other
stand out is the awesome effects by legendary makeup designer Tom
Savini. His past work in movies like Friday The 13th, The
Burning, and Dawn of the Dead are nothing compared
to what he does here. While the zombies themselves look like crap
(thanks to the same blue-grey greasepaint seen in Dawn of the
Dead), the sheer viciousness and graphic detail are
astounding, as victims are literally torn to pieces on screen.
Rivaled only by Rob Bottin's work on John Carpenter's The
Thing, Savini's effects here are jaw-dropping, and Day
of the Dead serves as the trilogy's high point when it comes
to disgusting gore.
The common question with an
extended movie series is this: "Which one is the best?"
Which of the four is the movie that can stand head and shoulders
above the others to be the flag bearer of the series? Day of
the Dead isn't it. Personally, I'd pick Night of the
Living Dead, but Day of the Dead is a very well
done movie. And to be honest, it's one of my favorite movies. The
four installments of the Dead Quadrilogy are all fine as they
are, and I really can't compare them to each other fairly. I
could always toss out more compliments, but I don't think I
should have to. Four stars.
Final
Rating: ****