Day of the Dead is a 1985 post-apocalyptic zombie horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and staring Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy and Richard Liberty. The film centres on a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse sheltering in an underground bunker as they try and save humanity whilst fighting the undead. Day of the Dead in a great zombie film with an obsessive feel to it that any zombie film fan would love.
The direction in the film is good. The film has a good moody oppressive tone and feel to it, as the film also has surreal horror imagery of hands coming out of the wall as a reference to the film Repulsion. The film has a serious and dark tone with a post-apocalyptic feel. The reveal of the first zombie in the film is very well done, as the film shows that the story is well into a mass zombie apocalypse with creates a great dark oppressive feel. The film has a cool 80s feel to it, as well as all the characters in the film are highly strung showing realistic people creating a hostile environment. Within the film Sarah is a strong wield protagonist as well as this the film has a very interesting concept with people living in a massive underground facility. The film has a veery serious feel it as the environment created in the film is dark and oppressive, and in this rag tag operation everybody descends into madness. The film is interesting as is showcases a level of professionalism underneath a paranoid society, this is shown with the charter of Captain Roades who is an arsehole, but his actions are justified.
The film shows cold clinical sterile scientific experiments in how the zombies function as the film poses the question is all this experimentation necessary lor should people just kill the, as the whole film has a great cold sterile clinical and detached feel. The film shows that Roades has gone insane, despite being completely logical in his actions. The film has an interesting dynamic to it with military vs the scientists and witch idea is technically correct, the ultimate irony of the film is that Roades the human is the most inhuman in a zombie film. The film has some great gory bloody horror to it as from this everyone is losing their sanity and erupting into violence. The film has a cool 80s horror feel to it as well as this the film has a dark oppressive feel to it as everything seems pointless, the film feels like hell on earth relating to a biblical punishment on humans due to the dangers of science. The film has an interesting idea of domesticating zombies to become more human, as everything is dark and depressive with desperate people trying to make things work which ends in tragedy. As everything descends into madness everyone must be cold and ruthless to survive. The film contains tension and paranoia between two competing factions and ideologies, as the film demonstrates the interesting idea of zombies becoming more human than the humans. Everything descends into madness as the film feel like a classic zombie film. the film is really a war between humans at not zombies as the film is about people going insane.
Roades in the film is crazy and a coward but also logical and his actions are somewhat justified as he wants to survive, as the zombies go on a rampage killing everyone. The hero’s make their escape mowing down zombies. Bud shoots Rhodes who runs away injured into a group of zombies who rip him apart killing him as Bud mockingly salutes him and walks away. The fil mends with John, Sarah and Bill making into to the chopper and escaping to a tropical island.
The acting in the film was good. Lori Cardille does a good job as Dr. Sarah Bowman a scientist reaching the cause of the zombie outbreak. Terry Alexander does a good job as Flyboy the groups helicopter pilot. Jarlath Conory does a good job as Bill McDermott the groups alcoholic radio operator. Sherman Howard does a good job as Bub a friendly captured zombie that was tough by Logan to become more human. Joseph Pilato does a god job as Captain Henry Rhodes a mentality unhinged soldier who is the leader of the military group. Gary Howard Klar does a good job as Private Walter Steel one of Rhodes men. Ralph Marrero does a good job as Private Robert Rickles another one of Rhodes men. Taso N. Stavrakis does a good job as Private Juan Torrez one of Rhodes man. Anthony Dileo Jr does a good job as Private Miguel Salazar Sarah’s suicide lover and one of Rhodes men. John Amplas does a good job as Dr. Ted Fisher the technician. Richard Liberty does a good job as Dr. Mathew “Frankenstien” Logan the groups main surgeon and scientist.
The writing in the film is good. The film gets straight into a mystery with an woman in an underground facility as she has been here for a number od days as its relieved to be a dream sequence were a bunch of zombie hands come out of the wall. It is shown the survivors try to find people through radio transitions in their helicopter as they must meet up with other people. It is shown that the film is well into a mass zombie apocalypse with a dark oppressive feel, as they argue as to whether to go or not as everyone’s stressed. They make makeshift graves for their dead as they live in a massive underground facility as they create a whole underground society. Sarah still wants to uphold a level of professionalism whilst the world is coming apart as the workers joke and laugh as everybody descends into madness. As the film goes on it shows that zombies are learning as they trap them for experimentation. Miguel then lashes out at Sarah who is mental not well, Captain Rhodes in the film is an arse but his attitude is completely justified as in a highly strung environment he has probably gone crazy however he is an arsehole. The doctor is experimenting on dead soldiers and has a zombie chained up they find out the brain core is the only thing a zombie needs to survive like an animal as the brain has motor function and is it is cut out, they can still live, as there is a divide between the scientists and the military on how they fix the zombie situation. The scientists kill one of the zombie soldiers in a cold clinal way, as they worry about if there is anybody else, in the film Captain Roades is an arsehole but he is logical as he wants physical tangible results that the zombie problem can be fixed.
Roades ends up going crazy saying that he will shoot Sarah if she disobeys as he believes he is logical and not scary. Roades doesn’t want to have his men dead and wants to kill all the zombies, however they cannot kill them all as Logan states they must come up with a solution. The scientist in the film wants to control the zombies but the army just wants to kill them as the film examines the idea of long vs short term problems and asks which one is better. Roades the human is the most inhuman character in this zombie film, which is full of classic gory bloody horror, as everybody is scared and losing their sanity and erupting into violence. The film has some good levity with the characters as John and Bill who are working on the base are not military or scientists as they have a RV they live in and don’t believe in what the scientists are doing. Day of the Dead highlights the idea of a biblical hell on earth linking to the idea of biblical punishment as humans is punished for the dangers of science. Everyone is one the edge on the film taking drugs and being on the edge. The military have a zombie chained up as they try and tame them and make them more human and childlike with the zombie known as Bub who must be trained like a child.
Captain Roades meets Bub and shows his current mental state. Bub salutes the captain who doesn’t want to as there is two ideologies at play strict destruction of the problem and an understanding of the problem. Bub shows humanity as he reloads a gun and shoots the Capitan who thinks that all of this is po9ntless in his ideology he must destroy everything. Due to an accident as a bunch of soldiers die as Sarah hacks off her friends’ arms and cauterizes the wound. Captain Roades and the army guys have a paranoid stand-off the scientists say he has been amputated to stop the infection as the Capitan says they should just kill him. they then find zombie experiments as they find via tape the doctor has descends into madness keeping a zombie head alive. The doctor and Bub interreact as he teaches him motor function skills which leads to results. It is revelled that the doctor is feeding the zombie dead soldiers as the Capitan kills him for feeding his dead men as he descends into a paranoid madness as the captain holds them hostage. Captain Roades kills the doctor’s assistant and locks Sarah and Bill inside the zombie corral gets one of the soldiers to beat John up. Bub frees himself as he mourns Logans corpse and picks up a pistol to get revenge on Rhoades, as an all-out war breaks out between two human groups and not zombies. The zombies are let in by Miguel who is suicidal and as mentally snapped as they kill him, Roades then abandons his men to be killed on one hand it is completely logical as he just wants to survive but he is also a coward. He is chased by zombies as he desperately attempts to escape as Bud mourns the doctor’s death, as this is happening the zombies go on a rampage killing everyone. One of the soldiers kills himself as the hero’s make there exczpae mowing down zombies, Bud shoots Roades who runs away into a group of zombies who rip him apart killing him as Bud mockery salutes him and walks away. The film ends with John, Sarah and Bill who make it to the chopper and escape to a topical island.
The cinematography in the film is good. The film has decent cinematography throughout with a dark oppressive look. The film also has a dark look to it with a good use of blue lighting. The special effects in the film are good. There is a great effect were zombie hands come out of the wall and well as good looking zombie make up in the film. The film has a god use of blood and gore effects and exposed bones and organs. The has a good use of organ props and good blood effects used in the film. there is a great effect were blood and organs fall out of a zombie’s stomach all over the floor, as well as this there is great zombie make up on Bub. There is a good use of blood squibs as well as a good effect were half a zombie’s head is split open. There is a great effect where the character of person head is ripped off by zombies, there is also good blood effects were one of the soldiers kills himself as blood splatters on the wall, as well as this as the end of the film when Roades gets ripped apart by zombies it is a great bloody gory effect as his organs get ripped out.
Day of the Dead is a great zombie film with an impressive moody feel that any zombie or horror film fan should watch.
