31 More Days of Horror: George A. Romero's Day of the Dead (1985)

It's no secret.  Zombies are my favorite.  Vampires pale in comparison; they are distant second.  What is it that makes zombies so deliciously wonderfully?  I think it's George Romero's fault.  Last year, I reviewed my favorite Romero film.  Here's another one.

Writer/director George A. Romero pulls the morality card in Day of the Dead. Surviving in an underground bunker is a remnant of society, cleanly split between scientists and soldiers. The scientists are desperately trying to find a solution for a country overrun by the undead. The soldiers want them all dead. Everyone is on edge, infighting threatens to kill them all.  Then the zombies invade.

Romero's take a different angle with this one and it works beautifully.  He effectively builds the terror throughout the bunker with its claustrophobic feel and fringe scientists.  Throw in the zombies and off we go.  The pace is monotonous; it builds a sense of morbid paranoia within the viewer's own psyche.

 The beer-swilling, crazed, bullying soldiers that seem to get more thrills terrorizing the civilians are just the beginning. The scientist--the only normal one bunch in the bunch--isn't. There is just enough creep--the whirly-bird pilot, crazy-eyed scientist and Bub--to make the film worthwhile.

Day of the Dead contains a perfect gore to scare ratio that is both campy and disgusting. The exploration of the morality of zombie deaths comes to the cusp of annoyance, but the humanizing of Bub is an emotional angle that I didn't see coming. Thankfully, the zombie-fueled mayhem begins just in time.

Just like his others, Romero's Day of the Dead successfully stands on its own merit.