ABSTRACT
I give readings on the three film renditions of Day of the Dead, spanning the years 1985–2018. Day of the Dead is the third film of George Romero’s original trilogy of zombie films, along with Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Like I Am Legend it is very close to the now legendary Night of the Living Dead. Also like I Am Legend, Day has been remade multiple times, which attests to its continued draw for viewers and the staying power of its basic narrative. My reading of the overall trajectory here is similar to what I notice about I Am Legend. There is a decline in moral reasoning leading toward a reductive friend-enemy schema. Loyalty, however, stands out as increasing between renditions. The view of science is ambivalent and wary, whereas the view of the military becomes less complicated and more positive.
