The film's most visually accomplished sequence is a bizarre but brilliantly realized hide-and-go-seek chase scene down blue and red illuminated tunnels deep inside the silo, where Sarah and her two remaining friends, the helicopter pilot John (Terry Alexander) and the hard drinking Irishman William (Jarlath Conroy), are pursued to the exit by crawling, stumbling, and lumbering zombies. During this there is a scene of William utilizing a shovel to seperate a zombie's head from its body that has to be heard to be believed.
The most apparent strengths of Day of the Dead lie in the social commentary that bubbles beneath the surface but never bursts through, never taking on an openly didactic tone, but also never restricting itself to being entertainment for entertainment's sake. While watching, you could ostensibly go through the film just enjoying the strict horror aspects: the intestines, the blood, the decapitations, and the constant chewing, but beneath these layers of sublime gore, there are true, universal criticisms on the society we live in. This movie does not bash you over the head (with a shovel?) with its message, it does not resort to self-referential humor, and it requires little knowledge of the zombie universe to enjoy.
The acting is strong by all parties, but this is hardly an actor's film. The film relies on admirable direction from a seasoned veteran, wonderful cinematography by the great Michael Gornick, a chilling score by John Harrison, and underrated but magnificent makeup by a whole new team of experts which combined add up to the most realistic, frightening, and gravely misunderstood zombie film of all time. Period.
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