Starting with a bang, I decided to watch Romero’s third installment in his Dead saga, Day of the Dead.
Here’s my brief summary of the three I’ve seen:
Night of the Living Dead: People are as scary as zombies.
Dawn of the Dead: People are very similar to zombies.
Day of the Dead: People are worse than zombies.
This was far more of a human drama than a horror film, and a grim, cynical look at humanity at that. It’s cold and brutal, with the central story being about a group of military scientists and officers, specifically a tough woman named Sarah, who is surrounded by disgusting, misogynistic, awful men that are drooling over her one second and aiming a gun at her the next, in a dimly lit bunker hiding from zombies.
Sadly sexism is still relevant today, but that's what makes it fascinating to see how blatantly and unapologetically Romero deals with the subject in 1985. It’s a nice change of pace from the other, far less woke films from the 1980’s.
That being said, the most likable character in the film, and the most fascinating, is Bub, the zombie that they’re testing on to learn more about his kind. This is such a brilliant concept, especially for the time, and he’s used sparingly enough that I was left wanting to see more of him.
My main problem with the movie is the ending, which felt like it belonged in a completely different movie, but maybe I just didn’t get what Romero was going for. Felt less like the haunting ending of Night of the Living Dead more like the tender ending to Shawshank Redemption
I won’t say much more because of spoilers, but it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re a zombie fan and for some reason you took as long as I did to see it!
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