Day of the Dead (1985)

Tagline: The dead have waited. The day has come.

Curiousity: It’s conclusion to what was supposed to be a trilogy.

Plot: The human race has been nearly wiped out since the zombie uprising of ’68 (I feel so cool typing that). A military/science base set up to research the zombie infection is nearing the collapsing point. While the area is relatively secure, the personnel have been picked off one at a time on excursions to capture the undead. Cut off from the American government – if it even still exists – the survivors are beginning to crack up. Military leader Captain Rhodes (Joe Pilato) is acting more tyrannical, lead researcher Dr. Matthew “Frankenstein” Logan (Richard Liberty) is conducting increasingly dangerous experiments, and soldier Miguel Salazar (Anthony Dileo Jr.) is becoming more and more of a whiny bitch. In the midst of all this is the film’s lone female character, Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Carille). She’s trying to keep peace with the soldiers, keep Frankenstein from going off the deep end in his attempts to train zombies, and keep boyfriend Salazar from being the crying, girlfriend-beating crybaby that he totally is. Seriously, fuck that guy. All three go to hell once A) Salazar gets bitten by a zombie and B) everyone finds out that Frankenstein has been training Bub the zombie (Sherman Howard) with… HUMAN FLESH.

Thoughts: I get that Captain Rhodes is supposed to be the “villain” of the movie, but I found myself liking both him and his decisions more and more as the film progressed. FACT: Almost everything bad that happens stems from Salazar being a wiener, minus the part where Frankenstein flies too close to the sun, by which I mean he feeds people to zombies in the name of science. Got-damned, scientists… why don’t you respect social taboos? WHY? Bowman is obviously the hero of the movie, but she doesn’t get much done, as most of her scenes consist of yelling at someone and resolving jack poopie. Rhodes, meanwhile, is trying to find a compromise that will allow the station to operate and preserve the most lives, at least in terms of the immediate future. Granted, he’s a total prick about it, but he’s kind of been pushed to that extreme.

Not that Rhodes is my favorite character. He is still a jerk, after all. Fan-favorite Bud the zombie certainly gets points for being the cutest, cuddliest flesh-eater George A. Romero ever created. And of course I have love for drunken helicopter pilots John (Terry Alexander) and William (Jarlath Conroy), those loveable functioning alcoholics.

But those joys are fleeting. Each of Romero’s films has three points – the struggle of the characters against the zombies, the struggle of the human race at large against zombies, and an aspect of zombie evolution. Night of the Living Dead established them as meandering, mindless meat-eaters. Dawn of the Dead showed that zombies do return some memories of past lives. Day of the Dead reveals that zombies possess enough memory to be trained. Frankenstein thinks it’s because of the reward system he uses on Bub, although it eventually comes out that Bub feels some sort degree of loyalty for his master. Unfortunately, this idea gets bogged down in unlikable characters, repetitive scenes, and faux-scientific jibber jabber. I get what Romero is trying to do with the story – and it’s still certainly better than the Return of the Living Dead spin-offs – but the film is a bit of a chore to get through. And while it was the goriest of the Dead movies at the time of its release, time has left Day feeling a little tame in terms of guts by comparison to all the other movies from the ’80s and beyond which, coupled with a faulty story, makes it seem the most dated. Still, at least it’s better than Diary of the Dead.

Reflection: I hate giving spoilers in these posts, but how cool is it that Rhodes gets shot by a zombie? Total role reversal: