- Directed by: George A. Romero
- Written by: George A. Romero
- Stars: Alan Van Sprang, Kenneth Welsh, Kathleen Munroe
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOj3Wjr5eao
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
It’s an action zombie flick with military action, set on an island off the coast of Delaware that is populated by Irish people and cowboys for some reason. While this wasn’t actively bad, we were both disappointed in it, feeling it lacked Romero’s usual touches and relied too much on CGI augmenting practical effects. It’s a weak finish to the “Dead” movies.
Spoilery Synopsis
Sarge narrates how the zombie apocalypse simply overwhelmed the living. The soldiers argue over killing one of their own who has been bitten. We get a flashback to when Sarge and his AWOL soldiers robbed a bunch of filmmakers in an RV. Credits roll.
We cut to Plum Island, off the coast of Delaware, six days after the dead began to walk. Patrick O’Flynn and his friends went around the island and killed all the zombies. They go to see Matthew, whose children were “injured” a few days ago. The men end up shooting the children’s mother and then go after both children.
Suddenly, Seamus Muldoon comes in and makes O’Flynn stop. He thinks somebody’s going to find a cure, so he wants to round up the zombies and protect them. O’Flynn and his gang backs down and leaves. O’Flynn is exiled in a tiny boat, but his friend James and daughter Janet opt to stay behind and work with Muldoon.
Three weeks later, Sarge and his crew investigate sounds in the woods. They run into some hunters who have a whole bunch of living heads on sticks. They kill the zombie heads and the hunters, and pick up one young guy who goes with them. The kid suggests finding an island where there aren’t any zombies. He shows them a video made by O’Flynn, and it’s a sort of recruiting video for Plum Island.
We cut to the docks, where a hapless fisherman catches something too big to reel in. The soldier group arrives. Francisco ends up swimming to the ferry as the others fight the Irishmen. The Irishmen lose badly, as only O’Flynn escapes alive and makes it to the ferry with the soldiers. The group sets to work on clearing the ferry of zombies.
O’Flynn tells the story of his exile, and they soon arrive at Plum Island. There’s a gunfight, and Kenny gets killed. They find the bodies of all the other people that O’Flynn had sent here for safety.
Meanwhile, Muldoon has rounded up a bunch of dead and is keeping them in the barn. Muldoon’s been killing the dead recently if they don’t “show promise.” He wants the dead to learn to eat something other than people, but they won’t touch a pig.
Francisco got bitten during his swim earlier, and he knows he’s going to turn. He asks Tomboy to kill him. She’s immediately captured by Chuck and Lem, two of Muldoon’s men. Muldoon questions her over dinner. He’s got his dead wife chained up in the kitchen. Of O’Flynn’s daughters, Jane is a dead zombie, and Janet is alive and helping Sarge’s group. Janet and O’Flynn argue about family responsibilities.
There’s a standoff between the two groups, and O’Flynn decides to surrender to the Muldoons. After a lot of discussion, there’s a shootout, and the zombie corral gets opened. Muldoon eventually shoots O’Flynn in the back, but O’Flynn returns the favor. Then Janet sees Jane eating the horse; maybe Muldoon was right after all. O’Flynn gets up and shoots her as well.
Sarge, Tomboy, and the Kid go back out to the ferry and move on to another place.
We cut back to the island, where the zombies are eating the horses now. We see Muldoon and O’Flynn, now zombies, still trying to kill each other…
Brian’s Commentary
I still wonder why this island in Delaware is populated exclusively by Irishmen with thick accents and cowboy wannabes?
It’s a Romero movie, so I was expecting social commentary of some sort. If it was here, I missed it this time. It’s basically just an action zombie movie, probably the weakest of the series.
Kevin’s Commentary
These are supposed to get better as they go along, not worse. It was clever putting in a direct link to “Diary of the Dead” with a different point of view when Sarge and his group encountered the film folks. CGI, when it’s obvious, isn’t an improvement over purely practical effects. I’d call this one my least favorite of the series.