THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Can society really recover after it all goes does downhill? I think Day of the Dead has an answer.
PLOT
The 1985 film takes place in the continuing ravaged world as a result of the zombie apocalypse. One of the last groups of survivors hide in a bunker in the Everglades. Doctor Sarah Browning yearns to find a cure to the epidemic, whereas Matthew Logan wants them to make them docile, gaining the nickname 'Frankenstein' thanks to his dissection experimentation. After the former returns from a search for other survivors with radio operator Bill McDermott, helicopter pilot John aka Flyboy and her boyfriend Private Miguel Salazar, they find out from Colonel Rhodes that Major Cooper has died and has taken command of the bunker. The remaining group includes: Private Steel (Gary Howard Klar), Private Rickles (Ralph Marrero), Private Miller (Phillip G Kellams), Private Torres (Taso N Stavrakis), Private Johnson (Greg Nicotero) and Doctor Ted Fischer (John Amplas). Miguel's mental state worsens to the point where Sarah has to sedate him to help him recover. She then sees Logan experimenting on Cooper's body and decides to keep it secret despite knowing Rhodes would not take it lightly. At a meeting held by the colonel, McDermott addresses he hasn't been able to reach anyone lately. Quickly mad with power and aware they're low on supplies, Rhodes threatens to shut down the operation and shoot anyone who challenges his authority, which displeases everyone that isn't a soldier. He only chooses to give more time to the scientists at the request of Logan who shares what he's doing. Later on, John shares with Sarah that he doubts success of the research and should leave to a desert island with McDermott. As she objects, Logan gets beneficial results of his first docile zombie he names Bub which is proven to work when having it engage in rudimentary human behavior such as shave with a razor blade and remember how to read. This doesn't impress Rhodes though, as it only makes him more impatient with the scientists. During another zombie roundup for the sake of more experiments for Logan, it gets awry when an exhausted Miguel gets bit in the arm by one, which in turn results in getting Miller & Johnson killed. Sarah acts fast by severing it and cauterizing the wound in hopes to prevent turning undead. As John watches over the wounded soldier, Sarah & McDermott get medicine at Frankenstein's lab, only to find him experimenting on Miller & Johnson's bodies, feeding them to Bub as a result of positive reinforcement for his behavior. When Rhodes finds out too, he shoots him down for it and seizes the other non soldiers from their weapons. John pitches the idea to take off to the island to the colonel, but the latter insists on the idea to the leave Sarah & Bill behind. When the former refuses to go along, Fisher gets shot for it. The other soldiers then put Sarah & Bill in the zombie corral to leave them for dead but when John intervenes, Miguel leaves the bunker. Hearing this, the non soldiers make a break for it. As they kill mutliple zombies in a mining area, Miguel commits suicide by opening the perimeter fence that unleashes a zombie herd to feast on him. Steel, Torrez & Rickles get overwhelmed by the ghouls whereas Rhodes hides a little bit longer. He only gets eaten when a group of them make their way through an elevator and gets shot by Bub who used his newfound intelligence to escape from restraints. Once avoiding the swarm, the film ends with Sarah, Bill & John reaching the island as the latter had in mind.
THOUGHTS
With a 10 year gap between Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, you know writer/director George Romero is gonna boost things up when it comes to the gore you expect nowadays from the sub genre he created. 7 years after Dawn, we see another success at his zombie-fest. With Tom Savini back for the makeup, even he takes it up a notch on the zombie violence, such as their overall decaying experience or them ripping their meals apart. You know it felt one of a kind when seeing one approach some prey while its guts fall out of its stomach. Moments like that are exactly why this differs from other action/horror films. Although Romero would continue making more movies involving these particular creatures long after the 80s, I think this can be his magnum opus of the sub genre due to how it confronts the ongoing issues of society. This time, the interactions with all the characters define the exact fallout you’ll get from a lack of communication. If we don’t properly talk to one another, then we’re bound to failure as we know it. We have our characters that remain too dense to thrive, whereas we got a fair share of people who try to find maturity in more ways than one. The first human villain the zombie lore could ever get is Rhodes and he doesn’t disappoint because actor Joseph Rialto shows him to be a fine example in how maniacal leaders can be with power they never thought they’d get. With every second that passes, he’s more concerned about himself than others which makes him more of a dictator than a leader and that don’t make it any better. With him being a bigger threat than a biker gang invading a mall, you’re so intimidated of him that you hope he gets a comeuppance, which he does big time along with the others who followed him either out of loyalty or fear. Before his satisfying demise though, it was easy to worry on the fear everyone would act such if an apocalypse. Thankfully, there were others that felt more logical than Rhodes. Lori Cardille was awesome as Sarah because apart from acting tough enough to stand up to Rhodes whenever she felt the need to, she was the most pragmatic in terms of seeking a solution to the outbreak. She differs from Logan because off of Richard Liberty showing the latter to be in his own level of manic because he’s willing to have zombies re-learn humanity whereas the former is all about finding a cure, something she believes to make more sense in comparison. Although Bub seemed promising of Logan’s idea to pay off when Howard Sherman showed off incredible growth of a creature we should be afraid of, it wasn’t enough for either party to be all in. You do feel bad for Miguel becoming mentally broken as shown though Anthony Diello Junior’s impressive performance, I related to both John & Bill the most. Terry Alexander & Jarlath Conroy both respectively showed these characters to have a different take on optimism because they’re self aware that they’re far from ever being close to getting back to what once was due to noticing how off Rhodes & Miguel got to the deep end. It was a great idea to head to the island because it isolates them from the apocalypse and can have the do over to their liking without conflict. With them getting there with Sarah, I hope they find peace with whatever comes next. In short, Day of the Dead is the elite of zombie films due to having us think more than before in between all the gore. If Romero’s filmography got you into zombies, see this now.
コメント