Day of the Dead

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS: Well, no one knows.  It just kind of happens one day.

SYMPTOMS:
The dead come back to feast on the living.  This creates problems.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?
A group of scientists have been teamed up with a group of army guys and put into an underground storage-facility-cum-laboratory for the purposes of studying the zombie problem and coming up with some solutions.  Solutions have not, as yet, been forthcoming and this is stressing everyone out a little.

THE ARMY GUY IN CHARGE says “Forget about our mission, let’s just get out of here.”  (By “us” he means himself and his fellow army guys.)
THE OTHER ARMY GUYS say “Yee haw!  Let’s kill some zombies!”
THE MAD SCIENTIST says “Let’s socialize the zombies as we would children or domestic animals.”
THE RATIONAL SCIENTIST says “We have to figure out a way to reverse the process.  That will take time and patience.”
THE JAMAICAN HELICOPTER PILOT says “Why you want to waste your time wit’ dat, mon?  Scientific knowledge an’ record keepin’ ees pointless mon, let’s jes’ find a nice island somewheres, make some babies an’ enjoy the rest of the time we’s got ‘ere on dis Eart.”
THE IRISH GUY drinks whiskey and says “Jaysus, Mary an’ Joseph” at every opportunity.

WHERE DO WE LEAVE THINGS?  George Romero is a populist and secular humanist.  His head is with the rational scientist, but his heart is with the Jamaican helicopter pilot and the Irish guy.  (Strangely, the Jamaican and the Army Guy both have the same plan, but the Army Guy is a selfish, autocratic bully whose plan includes shooting everyone else before escaping, so we don’t like him.)

AND THE BEST DEATH GOES TO: It’s hard to top the Army Guy whose eyelid gets torn away and the Other Army Guy who keeps screaming after his head is torn away from his body (not to mention the zombie who’s decapitated with a shovel-blade — man, I’ve always wanted to try that — but the winner has to be the Army Guy In Charge who lives to see his own intestines dragged away by zombies and still has the gumption (and the lucidity) to scream “Choke on ’em!” before he succumbs.

NOTES: This movie is a lot more compelling than I remember it being.  Especially since it doesn’t have much of a plot, or very good acting.  It’s pretty much: Act I: introduce everyone and delineate the situation they’re in, Act II: gather and sort theirconflicting viewpoints and theories, Act III: set the zombies loose and see who survives.

The scenes of zombie carnage still carry an undeniable punch of profane revulsion.
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This is the way the world ends

Favorite post-apocalyptic scenarios.  Let’s not worry too much about the quality of the movie, what I’m looking for is ideas — is it a virus, a nuclear war, invaders from Mars?  What are the symptoms of that apocalypse?  Is it flesh-eating bacteria, zombies, intelligent insects, people living underground?

Bonus points for uniqueness.
Extra-special bonus points for a surprise twist ending.

*bonus points not redeemable for cash or merchandise
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