While zombies weren’t new in film, it wasn’t until writer-director George A. Romero’s Living Dead saga that the zombie as we know it today was created. Day of the Dead is the third in the franchise, and like Night and Dawn, Romero was more interested in the way humans were the threat, more so than the flesh-eating monsters, this time between scientific innovation and military force, both that are pushed to the extremes without any ethical restraint, and both being the very same concerns that America held at the time of release. And with Tom Savini and team’s groundbreaking special effects, it’s no wonder that Day of the Dead became a horror classic.
Synopsis
A small group of scientists and soldiers take refuge in an underground missile silo where they struggle to control the flesh-eating dead that walks the Earth above.
Storyline
In an underground missile silo, there are two camps: a small group of scientists studying how to solve the zombie problem, and a military unit assigned to protect them, though tensions rise when they start losing numbers.
TLDR
Even though Romero’s later works didn’t receive the same acclaim, I hope that Twilight of the Dead still manages to get resurrected because of how good this and Night was.
What stands out
The effects. While today’s effects and CGI have substantially improved, there’s no denying that Tom Savini’s work with the franchise was part of the reason behind that improvement.