How do you follow an action packed zombie fest like "Dawn Of The Dead"? Romero followed it with a more reserved, quieter movie that still delivers the goods but not on the same level as its predecessor. I know a lot of fans were disappointed by this lower-key entry but Arrow dug it. Think about it: how can you top Dawn in terms of gore action? Impossible.

I really enjoyed the reflections this film makes on humanity and our values. Only when society is stripped of its rules does the real meaning of life come into perspective. This point is driven home on many occasions by John (Terry Alexander). I related a lot to the character and if I were in his shoes I would have had the same idea: Take the helicopter, go to a deserted island and live the rest of my life with the basics: food, sex, nature and peace. The dude made sense to me.

I also liked the E.T. like relationship the Doc (Richard Liberty) has with Bub the zombie. He tries to train him (like a pet) and teach him things. I always forget that zombies were once human, this subplot reminded me. We don’t see that approach towards a zombie too often.

One thing that hinders the movie is the endless bickering between the army dudes and the doctors. At first I perceived it as conflict and conflict is always good. But as the movie rolled on it felt like fighting for the sakes of fighting. The army dudes are way too one note: bad. You can’t reason with them and that makes for an eventually boring back and forth. I will admit that I did enjoy every time Joseph Pilato threatened to kill someone. Why do I love psychos so much?

Considering that Sarah is the only chick underground, that none of the army dudes have gotten laid in eons and that the movie hints at it, I’m surprised that there wasn’t a rape sequence. Not that watching rape scenes are fun but I think it would have elevated the human conflict fer sure. Why hint at it when you can just do it.

Another thing I didn’t dig is the rushed ending. It really felt like Romero ran out of money and had to edit what he had. The ending is abrupt and kind of a cheat, especially since the movie leads you on, making you think something else will happen before the last frame.

Real pig intestines were used for the scene where Rhodes gets ripped apart in the hallway. Unfortunately, someone had left the guts out of the freezer over the weekend, and after the scene was shot the cast and crew ran away gagging.

Canadian version released by Media Home Entertainment in 1986 is missing most or all of the gore. The editing was done very sloppily: the removal of scenes of zombies' brains being blown out causes the sound effects to be cut as well, so zombies are shot without the noise of gunfire.