During the 1970's the horror movie genre was divided into two camps; directors such as Roman Polanski, William Friedkin, Dario Argento and Nicolas Roeg created supernatural art house films ("The Exorcist", "Don't Look Now", "Rosemary's Baby") packed with suspense and mind bending creepiness. Whilst the European directors drew their inspiration from the likes of Georges Franju those on the other side of the fence focused on the B-movie schlock of the 50's. John Carpenter, George A Romero, David Cronenberg and Wes Craven gave birth to a new breed of horror movie entertainment with an unparallelled creativity the industry desperately lacks today.
"Day of the Dead" is the third zombie movie directed by George A. Romero, as the world is overrun by zombies a small group of soldiers and scientists hide in an underground bunker as they try and research the undead. Released in 1985, Romero originally imagined the film on a much bigger scale but was limited to a much smaller budget than he originally intended and yet the film is still a masterpiece of the genre. Right from the beginning the tension between the group of impatient, gun-ho soldiers and the intellectuals is unbearable as it becomes increasingly apparent that the last remnants of society are starting to crumble. The last straw comes when Rhodes (military leader) finds out that the doctor has trained a zombie to remember some of its human functions causing a rift between the group, as the film progresses it is the struggle between the humans which proves to be their undoing.
Needless to say "Day of the Dead" is not high-art or feel good Oscar-bait; everything from the uncomfortable dialogue to the 80's synthesizer soundtrack and the stereotypical stock characters screams low-brow popcorn movie. The low budget grey sets and the cast of relatively unknown actors gives the film a kind of T.V. movie feel but its the gory special effects and constant suspense which really carry the film along. The gore was provided by former Vietnam War photographer Tom Savini and the effects and makeup work brilliantly on screen. The undead have the "grimacing actor painted blue" look of the films' predecessor "Dawn of the Dead" but the rest of the effects are nothing short of genius. All the zombie movie staples are there; the bite out of the neck, the cutting off an arm after it gets bitten, the only niggle I have is that the classic "fake body being torn to shreds whilst the man screams" effect is over used as a few too many characters seem to suffer this fate. The opening scene in which hands pop out of a wall is truly inspired although my favorite has to be when a corpse sits up on an operating table and its insides splatter onto the floor with an almost slap-stick thud.
Whilst Romero's film is brilliantly entertaining (the babbling surgeon who butchers corpses and wonders around in a blood spattered white coat is a particular treat) there is more to the film than just 90 minutes gore and suspense. Romero's original of zombie trilogy will always be remembered as three films which were reflections of there respective decades; "Night of the Living Dead" represents the turbulence of the late 60's America, a decade defined political assassinations, riots, the Vietnam War and racial tension inspiring the first horror film in which the human beings are being attacked by their fellow citizens. Ten years later Romero made "Dawn of the Dead', a blistering satire of American consumerism in which a small group of survivors take shelter in an abandoned shopping mall. The concept of the undead cannibals representing American shoppers as they literally mindlessly consume is nothing short of genius. The idea says so much; whether its the way in which the zombies thoughtlessly flock to in hordes to consume the same meat as their peers or the absent minded selfishness of the undead the entire film is a fantastic metaphor. The fact that the zombies constantly eat but not for nourishment sums up capitalism brilliantly.
"Day of the Dead" may not have been praised as satire to the same extent as its' predecessors but in my opinion it is just as much a product of its era. Whilst "Day of the Dead" explores the Cold War struggle between the scientific community and the military and the arms race; whilst the intellectuals want to study the undead and find a cure or a way if co-existing with the blood-thirsty cannibals, the military are only interested in killing them and surviving. The walls keeping the dead from flooding the military bunker can be interpreted as a representation of the iron curtain and as supplies run low and the survivors begin to turn on each other many comparisons can be made between the last stand of the humans in the film and the last stand of Soviet communism. Captain Rhodes rules the group like a dictator and Dr Logan begins to introduce "Bub" to civilization letting him hold modern day objects such as a phone but when he lets the zombie hold an empty pistol it points it at Rhodes and tries to shoot. This could be understood as a portrayal of the Soviet Union during the 80's when the policy of openness (glastnost) introduced the Russian people to western civilization.
So why is "Day of the Dead" significant? Today there are more horror films being produced than ever before, the eve of computer generated special effects, giant studio budgets and increasingly lenient censorship has meant that horror movies no longer feel like the zeitgeist sub-culture it was during the era of the "video nasties". Today there is an abundance of horror films and yet nothing western seems to offer anything new or say anything substantial; ever since John Carpenters' "Halloween" everything seems to be another slasher in which impossibly handsome teens are creatively killed off one by one or a "Saw"-style pain endurance marathon, no wonder they constantly remake Japanese films. To me "Day of the Dead" signaled the end of an era of creativity, it was the last truly exceptional film by a generation of filmmakers who pushed the boundaries when it came to horror. The T.V. series the "Walking Dead" has tried to rekindle the "zombie satire" genre but unfortunately the series feels too preachy, too obvious and misses the tone of Romero's work. In 2008 a remake of "Day of the Dead" was released, needless to say it missed the point of the original completely.
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