“Day of the Dead” is the third film in George A. Romero’s zombie series; it follows on from “Night of the Living Dead” and “Dawn of the Dead”. I haven’t cared much for his films or the genre; the movie is an achievement in terms of special effects and costume design but overall it is a boring movie.

In “Day of the Dead”, we find a group of scientists and military men in an underground facility as they bicker about the problem of the dead overtaking the world. After endless amounts of boring discussions, the zombies finally show up in large quantities but that’s not even fun because most of the action takes place in a dull environment.

I like the zombies in this movie as they look great because the make-up is high-tech and they all look individual. There are only two living people I liked: the first is a mad scientist named Logan (Richard Liberty) and an equally mad army guy named Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato “Pulp Fiction”) but both are in the wrong movie here. The others are roles that don’t require overacting but the people playing them clearly didn’t understand that; they’re unpleasant and so one-dimensional that they make the zombies look as if they have depth.

“Day of the Dead” changes the location from something people can relate to so it lacks that appeal and some of the characters could easily put you into a coma with their pointless speeches. However, the zombies look very good, the revelations about them are somewhat interesting and the gross death scenes are done well but I’m still saying this is a downgrade from Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”, not much of one but a downgrade nevertheless. Movies involving zombies so rarely work (unless done with a good sense of humour) and if the supposed ‘master’ and ‘father’ of the genre can’t get it right then that I have very little hope.