Day of the Dead (1978) Question

[Sculpt]

Correction -- I meant DAWN Of the Dead.

Ah, this is what this website is potent at... asking horror fans a question about a classic film!

At the beginning of Dawn at the Dead, this police/national guard/militia force enters a housing project to kill the undead zombies inside. In one scene, that no one would forget, and militia/police dude kicks in a door and blows the head off a black individual.

The question is: was it a zombie... or was it a regular person, a non-infected, not a zombie individual?

Before the 'police force' went in, this dude was using racial epithets, and had just shot at a black dude who was not a zombie, and then kicked in an apartment door and shot the head off a black dude, and the other police said he was "going ape-shit". So, I think, but am not sure, we are to have the impression that it was not a zombie. However, looking closely at the face/head being blown off, which is a model, it most definitely has a blue hue to it, which would make it a zombie (as the zombies have blue makeup on). But maybe, since it's a model, they tried to make it a black man, but the makeup they used was what was available, and had blue tones to it... but they didn't intend that 'he' look like a zombie...

I think the intention of writer/director Romero, is that it was a regular human (which was my impression 30-plus years ago). But the model is definitely has a blue-ish tone. So I don't know. What do you think?

[LuvablePsycho]

Do you mean Dawn of the Dead? :P

And I haven't seen the movie in years but I remember thinking it was a normal human and that the racist cop shot him and the black woman screaming in horror.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by LuvablePsycho

Do you mean Dawn of the Dead? :P

And I haven't seen the movie in years but I remember thinking it was a normal human and that the racist cop shot him and the black woman screaming in horror.

Yes, I meant Dawn of the Dead.

Agreed, I think that's the situation being setup (that it was a normal person), but the model was too blue.

[LuvablePsycho]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

Yes, I meant Dawn of the Dead.

Agreed, I think that's the situation being setup (that it was a normal person), but the model was too blue.

Yeah the special effects in that movie were terrible to be honest. I feel like Tom Savini did a much better job on the special effects in Day of the Dead and Friday the 13th. He must have learned from his mistakes in Dawn of the Dead, or maybe they had a better budget to work with in those other movies?

[Bloof]

I think the racist cop shot him before even realizing he was a zombie. So, yes, he was a zombie but thats not why the racist cop shot him.

[Oro13]

“ Wooley’s gone apeshit, man!”

It was setting up the inevitable “ Man vs. Man/Who Are the Real Monsters “ plot point that all zombie flicks ultimately end up incorporating into the third act. Demonstrating the increasing number of people becoming unhinged during the zombie apocalypse.

The first taste is subtle, in the beginning of the film, with people mocking and heckling the man being interviewed at the tv station. People are scared and want logic and solutions for something that has no explanation. Clinging to society as it starts to crumble under the reality of the plague of the dead spreads across the country.

It then escalates as the raid on the apartment building shows us people who are defending their home and locking up zombified friends and family, refusing to “ kill “ them. The police try to maintain peace while their ranks either degenerate into rampaging psychopaths, can’t face the horror of the world anymore and commit suicide, or ultimately abandon their post to strike out on their own in favor of self preservation.

Lastly, we have the raiding party that shows up in the end of the film. Essentially a band of people gone full on Road Warrior, and have embraced the nomadic lifestyle of constantly moving from place to place, robbing/murdering others for their resources, essentially embracing the anarchy and lawlessness the military and government left in the wake of their absence.

And in the end, all that’s left are the living dead. Wandering through the remains of civilization and feasting on the cooling bodies of those who were unable to flee fast enough to somewhere secluded, where they can slowly wait for the end. As nature wipes the slate clean and retakes the earth. At least, that’s my interpretation. Oh Romero, you so social commentary-y

[LuvablePsycho]

Originally Posted by Oro13

“ Wooley’s gone apeshit, man!”

It was setting up the inevitable “ Man vs. Man/Who Are the Real Monsters “ plot point that all zombie flicks ultimately end up incorporating into the third act. Demonstrating the increasing number of people becoming unhinged during the zombie apocalypse.

The first taste is subtle, in the beginning of the film, with people mocking and heckling the man being interviewed at the tv station. People are scared and want logic and solutions for something that has no explanation. Clinging to society as it starts to crumble under the reality of the plague of the dead spreads across the country.

It then escalates as the raid on the apartment building shows us people who are defending their home and locking up zombified friends and family, refusing to “ kill “ them. The police try to maintain peace while their ranks either degenerate into rampaging psychopaths, can’t face the horror of the world anymore and commit suicide, or ultimately abandon their post to strike out on their own in favor of self preservation.

Lastly, we have the raiding party that shows up in the end of the film. Essentially a band of people gone full on Road Warrior, and have embraced the nomadic lifestyle of constantly moving from place to place, robbing/murdering others for their resources, essentially embracing the anarchy and lawlessness the military and government left in the wake of their absence.

And in the end, all that’s left are the living dead. Wandering through the remains of civilization and feasting on the cooling bodies of those who were unable to flee fast enough to somewhere secluded, where they can slowly wait for the end. As nature wipes the slate clean and retakes the earth. At least, that’s my interpretation. Oh Romero, you so social commentary-y

Yep, Romero loved his social commentary. I think that each of his zombie movies pretty much gave the same message that society is doomed to fail. Every powerful empire like Rome, Egypt, China, and Britain eventually collapsed and the United States won't be any different.

[Oro13]

Originally Posted by LuvablePsycho

Yep, Romero loved his social commentary. I think that each of his zombie movies pretty much gave the same message that society is doomed to fail. Every powerful empire like Rome, Egypt, China, and Britain eventually collapsed and the United States won't be any different.

I see what you mean, though I don’t really think it’s social-political in as much as it is social-existential commentary.

I always took it as humanity as a whole will fail, and that we will be our own downfall if ( and when ) we turn on each other. A classic morality/cautionary tale about our own inability to coexist amidst turmoil and get over our penchant for petty jealousy and being consumerist sheep, in the face of a greater threat.

[Sculpt]

Originally Posted by Oro13

“ Wooley’s gone apeshit, man!”

It was setting up the inevitable “ Man vs. Man/Who Are the Real Monsters “ plot point that all zombie flicks ultimately end up incorporating into the third act. Demonstrating the increasing number of people becoming unhinged during the zombie apocalypse.

The first taste is subtle, in the beginning of the film, with people mocking and heckling the man being interviewed at the tv station. People are scared and want logic and solutions for something that has no explanation. Clinging to society as it starts to crumble under the reality of the plague of the dead spreads across the country.

It then escalates as the raid on the apartment building shows us people who are defending their home and locking up zombified friends and family, refusing to “ kill “ them. The police try to maintain peace while their ranks either degenerate into rampaging psychopaths, can’t face the horror of the world anymore and commit suicide, or ultimately abandon their post to strike out on their own in favor of self preservation.

Lastly, we have the raiding party that shows up in the end of the film. Essentially a band of people gone full on Road Warrior, and have embraced the nomadic lifestyle of constantly moving from place to place, robbing/murdering others for their resources, essentially embracing the anarchy and lawlessness the military and government left in the wake of their absence.

And in the end, all that’s left are the living dead. Wandering through the remains of civilization and feasting on the cooling bodies of those who were unable to flee fast enough to somewhere secluded, where they can slowly wait for the end. As nature wipes the slate clean and retakes the earth. At least, that’s my interpretation. Oh Romero, you so social commentary-y

I was curious about that... When the police setup around the housing project and used a megaphone telling them to come out (I think)... there's armed men that come out and shoot at the police. I didn't understand who they were or why they were shooting at the police. I even thought they might be gang members defending their turf.

So you're saying they were trying to defend the zombies and bodies who were their family members? How do you know that specifically? What scene says what? I missed it.

I noticed there were those bodies and zombies in the cage in the basement, but I guess I wasn't paying attention well enough to get what was going on. I guess I was still a Romero zombie when I first saw it, and partly now.

[LuvablePsycho]

Originally Posted by Sculpt

I was curious about that... When the police setup around the housing project and used a megaphone telling them to come out (I think)... there's armed men that come out and shoot at the police. I didn't understand who they were or why they were shooting at the police. I even thought they might be gang members defending their turf.

So you're saying they were trying to defend the zombies and bodies who were their family members? How do you know that specifically? What scene says what? I missed it.

I noticed there were those bodies and zombies in the cage in the basement, but I guess I wasn't paying attention well enough to get what was going on. I guess I was still a Romero zombie when I first saw it, and partly now.

I think he was right, I think the scene was set up to make us think that it was cops fighting another typical gang of criminals but it was actually just people wanting to protect their dead loved ones from being killed again. In fact in the basement when the two cops saw all the zombies kept locked up the one guy asked "Why were they keeping them here?" and the other cop said "Because they still believe there's respect in dying.", so yeah.

Romero did a similar scene in Diary of the Dead where an old couple were keeping their dead family members locked in a room and some soldiers got angry because one of them got bitten and they decided to murder the old couple in cold blood.