FOR AFTER THE NIGHT, COMES THE DAWN AND THE DAY

The Night of the Living Dead. Not the remake by the way – the George Romero original. Analyzed, talked over, written about ad infinitum. But the thing I always find is that if you are not into deepest darkest Film Studies (ehm, like some people) the fact that the film is actually part of a trilogy seems to be quite quickly forgotten. For reasons best known to itself, the Dawn of the Living Dead has found its way back onto TV recently (don’t get wrong, it is more than welcome it’s just a little random that’s all) so I thought now would be an excellent time to remind ourselves of the rest of the trilogy. Not least because the Day of the Living Dead is one of my favorite zombie films of all times.

As some of you may already know, the series is an “anthology” series (I don’t know if you’re the same, after American Horror story, I’ve started noticing so many anthologies everywhere it’s a miracle I didn’t give it more in depth thought before). The inexplicable event has happened, the zombie apocalypse is here and everywhere there are small groups of humans fighting to survive against diminishing odds.

As a side note and just before we begin, let me tell you unequivocally that the trailer by NO MEANS represents the tone of the film. It is scary. Yes there are flesh eating zombies. But it is NOT as "shock horror" as all that. No, really. Still, I love the classic '70s alarmist style of the trailer - so I kept it.
Dawn of the Living Dead takes us one step up the food chain from Joe public. We kick off at a local TV channel, the place we all turn to for info in times of trouble. But this time the channel is in no fit state to guide as chaos as taken over there as well. Francine who works at the channel and her boyfriend Stephen who is a helicopter pilot (funny how in these Romero films there is always one (but never more than one) helicopter pilot knocking around and the whole affair of -but he’s our only way out- comes up again and again buuut anyway… So, sorry, Francine and her boyfriend. As you probably guessed they make a dash for it in the helicopter. On their travels they team up with two very hard hitting police officers (because honestly, you’re not going to survive long if you’re anything less) and ultimately end up in a mall. And being surrounded by such bounty (granted, they are also surrounded by a good number of zombies) they decide to stick around a while and catch their breath…

I would be the first to tell you that this is not my favorite film in the trilogy (my personal fave is the 3^rd, Day of the Dead, followed by the 1^st, with this fella bringing up the rear) but you would be wrong to dismiss it as just some sort of re-hash of the first. Group dynamics, claustrophobia and the way each and every member of the gang copes with the apocalypse and the tough decisions it brings with it every day makes for a fascinating viewing. Ever present throughout the film is dark humor and of course, a damning and barely obscured criticism of capitalism as zombies trample dollar bills, knock over luxury items and just shuffle around the mall aimlessly consuming –whenever they find anything to consume – merely for the sake of consuming. In pretty much all three films they are described as –mechanized instinct – and very little else besides. Of course when all is stripped down the only thing is left is consumption for the sake of it (the dead bodies need no sustenance) and savagery. Not exactly complimentary of the human race but… Dare I say it, he may have a point…

But if you thought this was bad, I would honestly steer clear of Day of the Dead. No, honestly. It is the bloodiest and most brutal of the three as far as physical violence goes and it doesn’t exactly let up as far as the psychological pressure goes either… For the third film, we move one rung up the proverbial ladder. We are now in the bastion of the last remaining authorities (pretty much, anyway) in the country. It is a military facility guarded by a handful of soldiers and housing a handful of scientists and a few technicians. The scientists are trying, against hope, to find some sort of cure for the epidemic. The advances are minimal however, and as practically every day brings a new loss in their ranks, the patience of the military men is beginning to wear a little thin… Tensions rise slowly and surely, leading to a showdown the group can’t really afford to have under the circumstances… But with neither side backing down, it seems like less of an option and more of an inevitability…

In this film, we see Romero enlarging on several themes and storylines we have seen in the previous films. The military authority is shown as closed in on itself, selfish and crude – much like the group of security guards in the Night of the Living Dead (the 1^st film that also by and large took place in a mall). They are pitted against pretty much all the civilians in the compound and approach them with disdain –only the helicopter driver (again there is only one)can feel some level of actual security, based purely on the fact that he is the only one who can drive the chopper… It is, in short, a nightmare scenario – the rule of law has broken down on all levels, and armed militias rule the roost. In this chaos, however, there is one positive and fascinating breakthrough… One doctor, Dr Logan, may actually have broken through and managed to communicate with one of the zombies…

The question is of course will he have the time to elaborate on this and actually use this advance to some advantage. Romero being Romero, the answer is no. This is where it all winds down ladies and gentlemen. This is where the nightmare reaches its climax, and yet you cannot wake up… True to previous form, come the end of the film, the safe house (and by now it is feeling like the only one left on Earth) is overrun and zombies chew on the broken remains of the last humans…

Romeros trilogy is, in short, a prolonged nightmare where there is no real escape and no real solution. We neither find out what caused the outbreak nor if there is any solution to it. But with our very survival as a species now under threat, we suddenly manage to take a good long look at all those things -  status, money, power and the rest of it – we used to deem so important. We ask ourselves who we really are when put under pressure – and if the way the film paints the authorities, the people responsible for protecting us , even the most seemingly virtuous of us has a few nasty skeletons to hide, deep in the closet. This is why Romero’s zombie films will remain classics. No matter how much time goes by, we will still be scared by the already old-fashioned zombies and the characters reactions to them. Not because we are afraid of the living dead, but on some level, we know we have been confronted by potentially one of the greatest monsters that still walks the earth today… The dark depths of our own souls…