This is the third and oft-maligned chapter of Romero's "Dead" series, and, well, for good reason. A bigger budget provides for better overall production qualities and make-up effects, but story-wise this one really comes up short. Gone is the gritty reality that would occasionally surface in the first two, replaced with the faltering storyline of 80s b-movie characters and dialogue, complete with a cheezy keyboard score that makes John Carpenter's compositions seem brilliant. That's kinda how this movie comes off, as a photocopy of a photocopy of a bad 80's Carpenter movie.
Some unspecified amount of time has passed since the plague of zombies has descended upon the face of the earth. Keeping in general theme of the first two, the story's setting is pretty isolated from the rest of the world. A team of scientists and soldiers have a shaky alliance while holed up in a bunker in Florida. While the scientists try to find a way to neutralize the zombie threat, the soldiers are getting more and more pissed off as their numbers are slowly diminished while trying to capture specimens for the lab work. Its only so long before tension and frustration gets the better of them.
It's sorry to see Romero revert to such bland stereotypes. Every character is guilty of over-acting, though not quite so much with the lead (played by Lori Cardille). Logic takes a back seat, not much black comedy to speak of, and you really wonder why the hell any of these people don't just eat a lead sandwich and just get it over with, already. That's what I was hoping to make the credits roll a bit sooner.
Well Damn, I obviously didn’t like this movie much upon previous review, did I? I suspect some Malort may have been involved. Some of the critiques are still valid, if not a bit harsh. I guess I see this now more through the military/scientific lens branch of the Romero “Dead” story, both of which fare pretty miserably here. In that I mean, they both kinda seem impotent. Not really getting the point? The chopper pilot and radio man get it. The chick scientist finally gets it. The others? Yeah, they get their guts eaten. Shit happens, especially during a zombie apocalypse.
I’m upgrading this review rating pretty significantly. While there are definitely some stereotypical character shortfalls (especially with the military guys), the story itself is more decent than previously interpreted. When you get to 3rd tier military guys and bookworm scientist types, maybe they aren’t the best at figuring out the latest apocalypse? The gore really does come in at Maximum levels towards the end. Some excellent, uh, discombobulations. Sad to see the best character here is a zombie named Bub, though.
