Day Of The Dead was George A. Romero's 3rd zombie flick ever created. It was the 3rd film in his suppossed Living Dead Trilogy, though he's created so many more Zombie films I don't think that this could reasonably be called a "Trilogy" any longer.
For those of you who do not know who George A. Romero is why don't you crawl out from under the rock you've been living under for the past few decades and see the light. He single-handedly sparked the zombie genre with his hit film Night Of The Living Dead in 1968 and is the unrivaled KING of the Zombie films.
Romero sees Zombies as two things: as a source for good scares, and as a vehicle to explore society and all of its weaknesses. In Night Of The Living Dead he explored race differences, in Dawn Of The Dead he commented on consumerism, and in Day Of The Dead he has quite a few things to say about military might and the effects that a zombie takeover would have on a small group of people.
Day Of The Dead is a fairly unexciting step in the Zombie Genre. In the film, zombies take backstage to the issues that a small group of military soldiers, ordinary citvilians, and doctors have with each other. By the time the film starts, the small society that this group has created in an underground military bunker in Florida has already started to crumble. The cast of characters includes a mad doctor that is obsessed with finding a way to domesticate zombies, an insane military leader that has lost all sense of reason, and a smart, strong female that just wants out.
Most of the characters are dull and fail to convince the audience to care about them what-so-ever. The message about the extreme amounts of stress and tension that a zombie pandemic would have on society is also fairly weak, luckily the message is strengthened in later films that were inspiried by Day Of The Dead.
Really, the only things that make Day Of The Dead notable is that it was the first film to ever explore said message, it's unusual Florida setting, and the prescence of the first ever "smart" zombie in movie history: Bub. It is never said how Bub was discovered, but through a series of tests it is revealed that he is indeed the smartest zombie around. He somewhat remembers the events of his past life, has ceased to view humans as prey, is able to use some elements of critical thinking, and even knows how to load and use a gun. It is not surprising that when the tables are finally turned, the audience is easily able to root for Bub over the crazed members of the military. Not only is he the first intelligent zombie, but he is also easily one of the most sympathetic zombies you're liable to come across in the zombie genre.
Day Of The Dead is one of the few films where the individual pieces are greater than the film itself. It is recommended viewing for any die-hard zombie fan.
3 Stars/ 5 Stars
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