Survival of the Dead

Directed By George A. Romero
Starring Alan Van Sprang, Eric Wolfe, Kenneth Welsh,Richard Fitzpatrick, Stefano Di Matteo, DevonBostick, Athena,Karkanis

Whether he means to or not , George Romero's living dead films make comments on social and political issues of the times. In Night of the living Dead, Ben played by actor Duane Jones is the only black character. And the only one to survive the night of an attack by the undead upon an old farm house.He makes it through to the morning, only to have a bullet enter his skull from the rifle of some red neck, trigger happy country bumpkin. Ben could have been mistaken for one of the undead, or merely shot at because his skin was black. This is 1968, segregation is still in the minds of most Americans, especially the southern states. Ben's body is dragged from the farm house and thrown onto a pyre to burn, reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan? Referred in the film NOTLD how a satellite probe of Venus may have become radio active and raised the dead upon it's return to Earth. Many people were against the space race and the exploration of space, believing we have no right to be there.NOTLD could also be taken as a metaphor of the war in Vietnam.Dawn of the Dead, zombies can't think,they just do what zombies do.Then why do thousands of the undead congregate at the local mall ? We live in a disposable society, after something is used it is thrown away for something newer, bigger or more improved. Like it or not, most of us are materialistic, we like to buy and have things. Things that can be had from the mall. Zombies are the ultimate consumer, they consume themselves. In Romero's film The Day of the Dead there is a break down of the government's infrastructure and a lack of science/ medicine to combat epidemic diseases, there is also the conflict between science and the military. I won't be discussing Land of the Dead or Diary of the Dead here . Basically I feel the first three of Romero's Living Dead films are his best and the latter two failed to sugar coat my sweet tooth for a zombie fixin'. Which brings us up to date for Romero's latest zombie offering Survival of the Dead. We see a disgruntled looking member of the military sitting, smoking a cigarette. Sarge as he will come to be known is going through in his head the statistics of how many people there are in the world, how many have died and how many will rise again to infect others. This is accomplished with a voice over.He is pissed off , he and other members of the National Guard have just returned from a hell hole of a mission and his best friend DJ has been killed. Sarge and a small group of guards go AWOL, they become thieves, but stealing only what they need. Sarge has an us versus them attitude, and he is looking for a place with no them. Heading north in an armoured truck, a broadcast is picked up on a computer laptop offering sanctuary on Plum Island,the group redirects the wheeled fortress towards the small island. After some gun play at the harbour our protagonists finally board a ferry with their vehicle. Making their way to Plum Island, Patrick O' Flynn is discovered as a Stowe away . O' Flynn was exiled from the island when he and his posse took it upon themselves to kill the undead or anyone who had become infected from a zombie. Seamus Muldoon who had forced the exile of O'Flynn, Muldoon believes the zombies can be cured, given time. He keeps the infected alive, some in their natural habitat, others corralled at his ranch like cattle. This difference in the two brought the two families to war. Could this be another social comment being implied by the director Romero ? Two parties at war with each other, and a third party , foreign, introduced to the war in progress. This sounds very similar to the U. S . military involvement in the middle east. As the two families go to battle, I thought it was interesting how Romero staged the gun play to look like a western, men hiding in wooden barrels, and on roofs. The only thing missing was the swinging doors of a saloon. Finally during the gun play, a barn full of dead heads are released and some zombie mayhem ensues thanks to the special effects make up by Francois Dagenais. Tom Savini can still sleep soundly knowing his reputation of make up artist extrordinaire is still safe, but Dagenais adds his own brand of ooey gooey goodness. There is a couple of special effects striving for comic relief, one zombie has a fork thrust into it's head with a hot dog still on it . In the credits as wiener zombie. Another scene shows a flare shot into the chest of the undead, causing his head to ignite into flames like the comic book character Ghost rider. Sarge lights a cigarette from the flaming skull before karate kicking it off the ferry. My favorite zombie kill being that of a fire extinguisher nozzle thrust into it's mouth, the foam forcing itself out from the nostrils, ears and eyes, eventually the eyes pop out with nerve stems still attached.

In the last minutes of the picture, sarge is heard in another voice over. " Someone puts up a flag, another person tears it down and puts up his own, pretty soon no one remembers what started the war in the first place, and the fighting becomes all about those stupid flags. "Throughout the film Romero gives us different reasons to switch sides with the antagonists. Like O' Flynn we will be anti zombie and wish them eliminated. Other times Muldoon's reasoning seems acceptable, and yet again at other times he will come across like a raving lunatic. But in the end Sarge learns he and his fellow comrades have joined forces with one of the families hastily.

My Thoughts: I think it's pretty clever, through the use of zombies, how George Romero feels about the state of the world.The zombie as a metaphor, mirroring political and social events throughout the years. I'm curious to see where George will take his zombies next, it looks to me like there's not a whole lot to go to .

My Rating: 2.5 Go Go Girls out of 5, The first three are still the best.