A George A. Romero Retrospective: ‘Day of the Dead’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

‘Hey. You want to put some kind of explanation down here before you leave? Here’s one as good as any you’re likely to find. We been punished by the Creator. He visited a curse on us. So, we might get a look at… what Hell was like. Maybe He didn’t want to see us blow ourselves up and put a big hole in His sky. Maybe He just wanted to show us He was still the boss man. Maybe He figure we was getting too big for our britches, trying to figure his shit out.’
- John

Whether we like to admit it or not, at some point or another in our lives, disaster is going to strike. The kind that will undoubtedly be supremely personal in nature and when it arrives, it will test us like never before. Because this is the kind of moment that obliterates us emotionally, and in turn we are left feeling lost as we try to figure out how on earth we are going to move forward in life. But while those dark emotions seem as though they will never leave our soul, and we spend days in bed looking for inspiration to leave its comfort, eventually our support network helps us to realize that everything is going to be okay and that this too, shall pass. Which motivates and inspires us to get moving again and face our pain and reclaim the strength we once had, and we tend to come out of those tough times without a newfound focus and direction in life.  
 
But while we absolutely should celebrate our emergence from incredibly dark times, we often gloss over the fact that someone took the time to support us and stand by us in our time of need, and that really is something we need to highlight more often. Because our ability to come together when the going gets tough is one of mankind’s redeeming values, and it goes beyond merely taking care of good friends during a personal crisis, because we see it happen when natural disasters strike too, something that is supremely inspiring. Because this act serves to reinforce the fact that we really aren’t alone in this world, and that good deeds and kindness are worth their weight in gold and most important of all, when we unify for bigger problems, it gives us genuine hope for the future. For perhaps there will come a day when we put our differences aside and offer that level of support and kindness on a daily basis, something that would make the world the peaceful utopia we’ve all dreamt of. 
 
Yet while that is a wonderful thought, the fact of the matter is, most of those feel good moments pass, simply because disasters don’t last. For eventually, we make peace with our trauma, the storms pass, the shaking of the Earth stops, and the world starts to rebuild. And in a couple of years the damage that was done disappears, leaving no trace of that dark day, which allows for us to forget and go about our lives. Which means that in reality, we’ve never been genuinely tested in regard to disaster and that’s a tad frightening for certain. Because we simply don’t know how mankind would respond if a powerful and sustained crisis came our way, and it just so happens that George A. Romero decided that his next living dead related project would be the perfect time to examine that particular notion and that allows for Day of the Dead to wallow in some supremely bleak and powerful concepts.
 
Because in essence, Romero holds nothing back in examining how humanity would potentially handle the greatest disaster of all; the end of the world. For when we catch up with the survivors in this story, the end has come. And there are no more television shows or movies or radio transmissions from Washington for that matter. Which means there is also no cavalry or resupply drops coming their way. For the living dead have conquered the planet, and once proud cities that were once bustling with life are now filled with walking death and that leaves the soldiers and scientists in this bunker in quite the precarious place. For now, it is up to them to decide what comes next for their own futures and the future of mankind as a whole and well… needless to say our group of characters handle that challenge poorly, and understandably so. 

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After all, what truly motivates us to pick up and get moving in life when the going gets tough, is the prospect of tomorrow and the hope that it brings. Because with the sunrise comes new opportunities for us to reinvent ourselves and our paths. But when the sun rises and shines its rays down upon hordes of hungry walking corpses, all that hope disappears and that leads to some fascinating responses from the characters in this film. Because deep down, everyone in this bunker is well aware of the fact that their days are going to be filled with danger and risk and potentially their end at the rotten hands of the living dead. So they dedicate themselves to duties and jobs that no longer matter in the hopes of feeling normal and while that does work for most everyone in the facility, it’s obvious that this particular charade will only take them so far since several members of the team are starting to genuinely crack under the pressure.
 
To the point where sedation comes into play for poor Miguel, and really, having everyone barrel toward the harsh reality that nothing will ever be the same, poses some important questions for these poor souls and mankind as a whole. Specifically, would we use this moment to rise up and show this cruel universe what humanity is made of? Or just let it all fall to pieces and it’s every man for himself? And what is fascinating is that Romero answers all of those questions in a unique manner. In that, we would do all of those things. For some of the characters like John and Bill McDermott and Sarah, work to forge a different path when all is said and done, whilst Rhodes and his happy troupe of soldiers decide it is every man for himself and therein lies the tragedy of this film. In that, all they had to do was look at their situation objectively and try and work together toward a common and beneficial goal, and they could have accomplished wonders. In fact, they could have purged the dead from the caves, created safety for others and started over fresh so that humanity could thrive again. 
 
But instead, as mankind is wont to do, selfishness and divisive paths ruin any hopes of unity, which allows for this grand conflict to serve as the connective tissue to the other films in this saga. Since a lack of unity is what allowed for the dead to win in the first place and this also speaks volumes to how sometimes, humanity simply doesn’t learn its lesson and continues to punish itself in uniquely silly ways and that also makes this an angry film for certain since the conflict between both troupes is constantly on display and honestly, all of these storytelling decisions are downright brilliant. For they are in fact, a perfect reflection of modern America and how digging in and taking sides has allowed for trouble to wash over our nation and rather than work together and solve the problem at hand, we let it persist in order to ‘make a point’ and it is quite fascinating that a movie released this long ago has such gravity and relevance after all this time. 
 
But while this is indeed a fascinating examination of how humanity might function after a major disaster, this is also a supremely terrifying horror film. Because having this film be set underground definitely makes the viewer feel as though the walls are closing in and that uncomfortable feeling is further enhanced by seeing the world in ruin and of course Tom Savini’s outright stunning effects work. Because the dead have a terrifying new look in this tale and the splatter is just a little too on-point and really in the end, this is just another brilliant zombie film from the Godfather of the Dead. Because this one really does make it clear that a sustained disaster would be rough for a species that doesn't believe in forward thinking, and it really does a fine job of terrifying the audience and you really can’t ask for much more than that. And while it may not surpass Dawn of the Dead in the eyes of some, it doesn’t have to. Because this movie proved that zombie stories don’t have to one-up the last entry, they just need to be good and offer something special and that’s a blueprint that Romero would use for this saga, going forward.  

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