No director has done more to define a genre than George A. Romero with zombie movies. Without the groundbreaking, lo-fi shivers of Night of the Living Dead or the high-octane, satirical thrill of Dawn of the deadzombie fans wouldn’t like it The living Dead, Army of the dead, or the seemingly endless horde of zombie thrillers to choose from. But in 1985, Romero’s true opus was rejected by critics and audiences alike. That movie was Day of the Deada grim post-apocalyptic parable whose politically charged subject matter and focus on ensemble drama may have alienated the escape-seeking audience of the ’80s, but makes it a perfect zombie tale in the age of lofty horror.
Day of the Dead revolves around a team of military and scientific personnel who take shelter in an underground bunker to survive the zombie outbreak. As the science team experiments on undead subjects to finalize a cure, tensions rise between them and the enemy soldiers led by the power-crazed Captain Rhodes, who reach critical mass when the survivors discover the secret behind the lead scientist’s experiments. But those tensions are primarily within the human factions, rather than the human-versus-zombie conflicts viewers have come to expect from the genre. Certainly, Night of the Living Dead And Dawn of the dead excelled both for their depictions of human struggles and for their breathtaking gore, but Day of the Dead takes it to the next level and plays out as a taut political thriller within the apocalyptic backdrop.
While many moviegoers at the time were unimpressed with the film’s emphasis on human drama rather than zombie carnage (critic Janet Maslin noted that “a lot of [the film] is devoted to windy arguments”), Day of the Dead is a devastating portrait of humanity that finds its true adversary in man’s hubris rather than undead cannibals.
Image: United Film Distribution Company
That “windy argument” pays off because Romero is so skilled at drama and character building that he can make us root for the zombies. If you can’t imagine that, try watching Day of the Dead and don’t cheer for Bub the Zombie. It’s not possible. It also helps that the human opponents have less humanity than their undead counterparts. Joe Pilato’s legendary performance as Captain Rhodes perfectly embodies the same reactionary anti-science and state-sponsored violence that strained progress during our own pandemic. While Romero offers audiences a glimmer of hope with the film’s more likable characters, Rhodes constantly threatens the survival of humanity to the point that you practically forget about the zombie outbreak above ground, as all hell is already about to break loose among the not-yet-undead.
Besides the weighty themes and rattling suspense, Day of the Dead is also makeup and special effects maestro Tom Savini’s finest hour. A frequent Romero collaborator who made a name for himself with splatterfest hits like Dawn of the dead, Maniac, And Friday the 13th, Savini outdoes herself with the zombie makeup and gory effects. In contrast to the playful, cartoonish violence of Dawn of the dead, Savini’s work is so convincing that it would give even the most enthusiastic gorehound a stomach cramp. More importantly, his effects have never been put to better use. Day of the Dead not only offers a spectacle of dismemberment; the ultra-violence interacts with the themes at play and feels completely earned.
Image: United Film Distribution Company
Day of the Dead has already built a cult following and has been steadily shaking off its reputation as the black sheep of the franchise. The critical disappointment of the subsequent Dead movies probably contributed to that, but it found its audience. Stranger things even gave it a shout out when four of the leads sneak into a screening of it during the season 3 premiere.
The irony is that zombie movies are often accused of being mindless entertainment, but George Romero proved them wrong. Completely wrong. Day of the Dead has only become richer in subtext. Not only is it the most gut-wrenching zombie movie ever made (a description Romero and Savini make quite literally), it’s a humanist masterpiece about survival, and what survival means to us in the first place.
Unfortunately, Day of the Dead’s revaluation has yet to take full swing The thing, which went from being a potential career killer for John Carpenter to his most revered work. Be part of that real-time revaluation today and view or rediscover Day of the Deadwhich is now on Hulu, as well as Peacock and ad-supported platforms like Tubi, Pluto TV, Crackle, and Plex.