Day of the Dead

No. 6: "Day of the Dead" (1985)

Romero turned away here from the gaudier, funnier "Dawn of the Dead," for his darkest, most realistically gruesome movie to date. The last vestiges of humanity (a military outfit and a team of scientists) bicker their remaining time away while ... morehordes of the dead mass outside their bunker. Meanwhile, mad Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty) is teaching lab rat zombie Bub (Howard Sherman) some simple behavioral tricks, while Bub picks up his own, like firing a gun. Bub represents the screen's first great evolutionary leap forward for the zombie species, raising the question: Could the dead replace the living as the dominant race?

('Day of the Dead'/Anchor Bay/Courtesy Everett Collection)