Okay. I had to take into account the year this movie was made, and believe me when I say the movie industry has come a long way where such movies are concerned, and in some cases, so have the actors.
First off, I can see why many of the people I saw in this movie are out of work, at least in the entertainment industry. Especially anywhere they can be watched. Some people know they can't act. So we don't try to do it. Just like I don't try to fix anything mechanical. However, most of the people in this movie tried and failed miserably. Even for the 80s. Their performances struck me as forced, and completely unbelievable in any sense. Many of them moved between hysterics to down right stupidity so often I'm surprised they didn't throw up from all the turn around.
Second, the makeup department and it's crew should have been burned at the stake. Most of the zombies looked like they were done up by a 3 year old with a can of Playdoh and some cheap water colors. As for the general costumes, etc. I'd say were average at best in many cases. Some were well thought out, but not many. Like the nurse at the hospital who's hat suddenly put me in mind of the Flying Nun as she running away from a would be attacker. I've never seen a nurse hat like that before, and I can definitely understand why I haven't. Not even a zombie would be caught dead wearing one of those things. I'm surprised the zombie didn't fall down laughing at her.
Third, my personal favorite, so called zombies that run around like track stars and use a variety of weapons. Add to that, they know how to fly a plane and drive motor vehicles. I mean seriously people! Zombies using machine guns and cruising the boulevard! Even a crack head wouldn't buy that one. What's next? Drag racing for brains?
About the only thing that actually held any real merit was some of the outside scenery, and they didn't build most of it. They just found and used it. Thankfully.
I did appreciate the basic story itself. There were a few points that I felt could've been better done, but in general the main premise was interesting. Radioactivity causing a sort of zombie-like mutation could be interesting. However, I didn't notice any of their victims getting back up and joining the fray. Even the zombie movies from the 70s recognized that zombie victims usually join the party at some point after being bitten, but this one didn't seem to get that part of the zombie lore. Disappointing.