A-....a-...alloooooleeeeeeesha!


I really enjoyed Day of the Dead  for two main reasons; the characters and the fact that it shares certain elements with old horror films.  Romero has really upped the ante with all the characters in this third installment.  Rhodes is the biggest a-hole in the entire trilogy, an unnecessarily  misogynist, racist, violent person who happens to be the leader.  His men follow his lead not only because he is in charge but also because they have become so desensitized to the world around them they feel they need to exert power over the rest of the team.  While dissecting them, Dr. Logan mentions that the zombies react out of instinct and are not necessarily evil. To his point, we don't see any zombie in this film act "bad" or "evil" or attack anyone out of malice.  This can be said for the zombie sin the previous films but it is in this one where that fact is outright called out for the viewer to retain throughout the film.  Rhodes and his men are also acting out of instinct and not logic each time they threaten, destroy or kill instead of resolving the problem at hand.  As if they are choosing not to think and as a unit, destroy without thinking of how it affects others, 
The misunderstood creature is the basis for all of the Universal Monster movies of the 30's and 40's.  Aside from Dracula and the Mummy ( the most human acting monsters) they do not go out and try to hurt people on purpose.  Most of the time, they are. provoked by humans and react accordingly.  Unless they pick up little girls and throw them in the lake but even that was an accident.  Speaking of Frankenstein, Dr. Logan is refereed to as Frankenstein because of his work and progress with Bub.  Like Dr. Frankenstein, e pretty much finds a way to reinvent life and discovers that the zombies can be trained.  Also, he looks a lot like Dr Caligari who also dealt with at least one "not really living" creature.  In the end, the bad guys get what's coming to them and we have the first purposeful kill from a zombie in the Romero universe. 
Overall this is my second favorite film in the trilogy after Night of the Living Dead.  The evil characterization of the military team along with that annoying hyena laugh really makes you treasure when they finally die.  Also, I believe this is the first time we see a zombie clown on film.  Gross. On a side note, I just found out today that there is a 2008 remake of this film starring Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon and Ving Rhames who was in the last movie we screened, Dawn of the Dead.   I will not be screening the remake because Nick Cannon.  Sorry not sorry.