DAY OF THE DEAD (1985)

Like most kids, zombie films were a staple of my adolescence; RE-ANIMATOR, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and, of course, George A. Romero's NIGHT, DAWN and my personal favorite, DAY OF THE DEAD.

Where the previous films took place during the early days of the zombie apocalypse, DAY OF THE DEAD is at an indeterminate point in the future, long enough that most of humanity has either died outright or returned from death, zombified. 

More so than NIGHT or DAWN OF THE DEAD, DAY is less about fear and more about survival and carving out a place for one's self in such a hostile world. It's Romero's most inwardly focused film, having moved on from the consumerism commentary of DAWN, he positions his characters as isolated, from their past and fututre, stuck in a world that belongs entirely to the dead.

Lead Lori Cardille's opening scene, alone in a white room staring at a calendar, sets the tone for the rest of the film, with most of it taking place underground, away from the zombie-infested city above.

Isolation is key to DAY, from star Lori Cardille's opening scene alone in a white room staring at a calendar, to the many scenes set underground in an abandoned military compound. DAY OF THE DEAD presents a world moved on from humanity, alone with its walking dead. Isolated, too, is a zombie nicknamed "Butch" being experimented on by military scientists. Butch's arc was an especially captivating one for me, as seeing a zombie evolve, in any way, was a unique experience. I interpreted this as being Romero's way of giving his trilogy an apothesis and a semblance of closure (though he would eventually follow it up with more sequels years later). In this way, DAY actually ends on a relateively upbeat note. Our three human protagonists escape to an island where they can, presumably, live out the rest of their days peacefully, and the zombies are going to evolve in their time and possibly cultivate a new society of their own. 

I've always loved this film for more than its gore and over-the-top performances. It really felt like the culmination of something for Romero, both narratively and as a filmmaker himself. Starting out with a micro budget for NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, Romero built his career on the walking, stalking dead and continued to escalate spectacle and production value with each installment, DAY being the most ambitious and fun (in my opinion).