Romero finest.
Examination of contemporary culture. Strained interpersonal relations. And more zombies than any of his previous films with gore in splendid technicolour.
The setting of a three way conflict between research scientists trying to combat the zombie problem, self interested civilians and an army squad under the leadership of the clearly unstable Captain Rhodes in an abandoned nuclear missile base is a microcosm for America at that time in history.
The thing about this film is that the real enemies are the opposing groups of people rather than the zombies. Although they're a constant menace, the real danger comes from the military.
Out of the two major scientists, Sarah is more reasonable, although ambitious one trying to completely eradicate the zombie problem altogether. Logan through, is trying a quick solution to 'make them behave' conducting bloody and increasingly disturbing research as the film goes on, much to the viewer's delight.
Captain Rhodes is a complete lunatic. Sick of being stuck underground surrounded by zombies with 'Dr. Frankenstein' his behavior becomes more and more pathological until it reaches breaking point.
You do feel like you've been thrown into a story part way through having missed important developments (none of which are part of Dawn of the Dead if you haven't seen that one) but it's still easy enough to get a handle on events.
The only thing I felt let the film down was the appalling soundtrack which as well as being gross jarrs terribly with the tone of the film.
The ending however is one of the best moments in zombie cinema. Enjoy!
