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Rating: Third act of a historical trilogy, in its genre and beyond, "Il Giorno Degli Zombi" ("Day Of The Dead") appears as the darkest, most reflective, heaviest and irredeemably political work of George A. Romero. Simply speaking, the first film ("Night Of The Living Dead") viewed the outrage over the Vietnam War and indifferent people through a counter-cultural lens; "Dawn Of The Dead" was an ironic and desecrating attack on consumerism, with a strong dose of pessimistic sarcasm.
We are in 1985, the budget has increased (but we're not talking about a blockbuster), ambitions are high: this third chapter speaks of a world in the hands of the walking dead, with few and isolated camps of survivors. The setting, an underground military base, is divided between crude and violent military personnel and scientists lost in their utopian theories. A handful of survivors waiting to die while trying to contact other survivors, and even doubting the existence of other inhabited shelters.
Romero, without politically correct mediation, clearly flaunts his opinions on Western society: the military, law enforcement are a bunch of ignorant fools, science is a universe of madmen; and he does so through grim, terribly claustrophobic images. A film mostly made up of nonsensical dialogues and situations, of oppressive shots. Perfect is the contrast between the two groups in the shelter: the mad head of research (with his unhealthy idea of educating the living dead, "domesticating them") is massacred by those who should protect him, namely the army captain.
A film of tension that reaches chaos, anarchic apocalypse in the last quarter of an hour, which finally offers an illusory, momentary peace? Accompanying these events is the excellent make-up/costume department (the great Tom Savini, as always). Less significant and "accessible" than the first two masterpieces, this film will offer new ideas for the continuation of the director's career (the more recent "Land Of The Dead", same foundations with a completely different development).
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