It's practically humans rounding up zombies and training them to take out their own kind. One early concept design of it had zombies wearing GI gear and carrying rifles and assorted weapons to kill their 'untrained' ghoulish ilk.
A promising premise and I'm sure would have been great fun to watch, but the machinations of capitalism and studio meddling proved to be a more horrifying and debilitating factor for the kind of grand production Romero had in his head ("Ben Hur with zombies", according to top FX master Tom Savini).
The result: a weak installment that paled to its predecessors. Zombie vs zombie out, another installment in the study of human fragility: in. The only residue left from the original treatment was Bub, the domesticated zombie pet of the demented scientist played by Richard Liberty.
Face-offs between monsters have always held a high place among fanboys. Since the 40s, where Universal monsters were made to square-off (Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman) to an East vs West battle between Godzilla and King Kong to Freddy vs Jason and Aliens vs Predator. There's always the nagging question of how one monster would fare against another.
Because let's face it: we're in awe of the villain more than the hero.
That's why it's good that there's a TV show that features a serial killer whose victims are the same kind of sick monster that he is.
Dexter (Showtime) features and provides a deeper treatment of serial killers than most films on the subject, notably its protagonist Dexter Morgan. A forensics blood-spatter specialist for the Miami Police who happens to have a very interesting hobby when he's not out working.
Michael C. Hall's portrayal of the character is an excellent guide on how not to underestimate the most boring and normal looking guy in the crowd. You'd be amazed at how the character actually go to such great pains in putting out an effort to look and act like the most mundane and uninteresting person in an environment where everyone wants to be noticed. But that's the real thing about these kind of people isn't it? Whenever one of them gets caught the usual reaction from those who think know them best is always a resounding "He looked so normal".
Every season pits the guy against an assortment of killers with different methods of satisfying their urges, but by far the best (in my opinion) was Season 4; where he butts heads with John Lithgow's 'The Trinity Killer'. Lithgow, a brilliant actor who can play gentle, almost pathetic characters to funny clueless guys like 3rd Rock From The Sun's Dick Solomon is stone cold disturbing as Arthur Mitchell, a seemingly affable family man who in truth is a vicious and calculating monster. Even his villainous roles where he played mentally unstable characters like that in Raising Caine aren't as compelling. And the banter between the two serial killers at the end is priceless.
Having just concluded a terrific run for Season 6 where he fought off two religious doomsday zealots---Edward James Olmos & Colin Hanks---the cliffhanger of an ending looks for a very promising Season 7.
And if all the shows you ever watch are anything except this, I'd like to leave a quote from TMZ's Harvey Levin: "You watch lame shows."
