Day of the Dead is the divisive conclusion to Romero’s original zombie trilogy. This is a tough one for me to write about because I think Romero’s final zombie films (Diary and Survival) are unfairly panned and both I would put above this one. I find the characters here to be annoying and the performances to be loud and unmemorable. The windowless location is dreary, a complete reversal of Dawn’s funhouse mall. All of this makes the film feel really long. The evolution of Zombie Bub back towards humanity is easily the best thing going.
However, for many the dark, bitter cynical tone here is on point, a direct clash between science and military that’s a critique of American politics and Romero’s own battle to raise financing for what he sees as an obvious creative prospect where the art will create the profits. His allegorical writing remains strong, and if you don’t want to do a lot of thinking, the gore effects imagined by Romero and executed by Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero are at their peak, unmatched by any zombie film before or since.
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