As i start Day Of The Dead, i'm reminded of the great Queen & David Bowie collaboration "Under Pressure"- it would be a very fitting song to start this film off with. You bare witness to a our only female character of the cast having a terrible nightmare that the zombies have gotten her, and it cuts into her being in a 'copter with a pilot, solider, and drunken radio man. Their in Florida searching for any hope of survivors of the zombie Apocalypse. Streets are bare and covered with the lost remains of human civilization, their dire calls of out for any survivors just bring the hordes of the undead to their doorstep.
Romero did a great job on what he has always stated in interviews should have been a bigger budgeted film, it's dark tone and total lost cause of searching for help and a cure is shown here perfectly. Romero's use of "us vs. them" within the human cast is one that not only would happen but is done with pure brilliance, it's Rhodes Army vs. the crew of the 'copter and Logan and his Doctors. All the soldiers have some sort of cabin fever, as they've all lost their minds and are basically brought back to the cavemen days.
The dark comedy to this film brings out Romero's sinister yet playful side as characters react in real ways to extremely fucked conditions. Captain Rhodes being the ringleader of the Army is one pissed off asshole, with attitude to burn. Then there is everyone's favorite "Frankenstein" Doctor Logan (the late great Richard Liberty), this man has completely lost his fucking mind, and is not only is he tearing apart the dead soldiers to look for clues but he's also turning zombies into what basically are pets; and that leads us to BUB- played brilliantly by Howard Sherman. As Sarah says "and all it takes is 15hours of fancy surgery that only a handful of trained surgeons can do" - Logan has lost sight of the goal, and that was of finding a cure, now he's trying to domesticate them. There is a pivotal scene that shows Rhodes complete lack of control and his psychotic nature, the entire team is in the dinning hall and he orders Steele to kill Sarah because she doesn't like there preschool antics and gets up to leave.
She sits down and its in this exchange we see how the pure and utter hopeless situation there truly in. As the film progresses we treated into a peak at how Billy (the radioman) and John (the pilot) live; there in a homey trailer that they've made into a typical home away from home as tho' the zombies don't even exist. Greg Nicotero of KNB special effects fame and Tom Savini of Friday The 13th fame did the special effects for this film and i have to say they are beyond great; in fact to this day you still can see people wearing Day Of The Dead masks nearly 30 years later.
Things start to heat up when Sarah's boyfriend Miguel gets bit by one of the zombies as the collar breaks that he's holding and causing two soldiers to die, he runs are away screaming in extreme pain and heads for John and Billy's trailer. Once there he gets his arm amputated by Sarah and she pleads to Steele and Rhodes that he's ok.
Sarah and Billy go for a late raid on supplies as Rhodes has cut off their supplies, and that's when we see Logan feeding Bub the remains of the Lieutenant. In comes Rhodes and his men and all hell breaks loose, Rhodes men strips the doctors and Billy of their weapons as Rhodes shots Logan in the chest in the meat locker. Miguel then awakens from his shock induced coma and heads up to the ground level and unlocks the fence, hordes of zombies start to stumble after him as he prays to god and starts the elevator down to the ground floor. I won't ruin any zombie kills here but the next 15 minutes of film are a must see! The film ends with Jonny, Billy and Sarah safely on a remote island living it up.
I reviewed the 2-disc Anchor Bay version, and it's loaded with killer extras: A commentary with Romero and Tom Savini, Behind the scenes, Theatrical Trailers, Tv Spots, Production Stills, Behind the scenes photos, and more...
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