Day of the Dead (1985)

Chapter three of George Romero's mighty zombie trilogy has big footsteps to follow. Night of the Living Dead was a classic that revitalized a certain corner of the cinema, and Dawn of the Dead was nothing short of epic. Day of the Dead, however, has always been regarded as a comedown compared to those twin peaks--and perhaps it is. But on its own terms, this is an awfully effective horror movie, made with Romero's customary social satire and cinematic vigor--when a "retrained" zombie responds to the "Ode to Joy," the film is in genuinely haunting territory. The story is set inside a sunken military complex, where Army and medical staff, supposedly working on a solution to the zombie problem, are going crazy (strongly foreshadowing the final act of 28 Days Later). Tom Savini's makeup effects could make even hardcore gore fans tear off their own heads in amazement. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

A MASTERPIECE OF ZOMBIE-HORROR! 9.5 OUT OF 10

First and foremost, I would like to thank my Amazon friend J-Train for recommending this sublime zombie movie to me. It truly blew away what I thought of zombie movies. This is a great film, that was unfairly panned by film critics and other people who gave it low review scores. This film, in my opinion is George A. Romero's true zombie-horror masterpiece.
WHAT IT'S ABOUT: It's about a group of survivors who live in an old missile silo working on research for domestication and possibly a cure for the zombie infection. There is a lot of tension between the survivors that gets so bad they threaten each other with weapons and interfere with the research. An insane dictator-like leader has taken over command of the silo and despises anyone who opposes him. The main characters also have their own problems between each other, hope to find a cure, and leave the hellhole they reside in. This film is focused more on great dialogue than zombie gore, but it's assembled in a superbly crafted fashion.
MUSIC: This music is a mix between crappy and good. I can't tell if I like it or hate it. This is ultimately the low point of the film.
GORE FACTOR: This film is gorier than many zombie films even to this day. I let out more than a few "EEEWW" remarks because the gore looked more graphic and far more disgusting than Dawn of the Dead. You too will probably be disgusted by the gore as well.
ENTERTAINMENT: This film is great and truly awesome as a zombie movie. If you like zombie movies there is no reason to overlook it in any way. This film has great dialogue and tension between the characters, disgustingly graphic gore, and characters you truly care about. This film must have had a good enough impact to influence later zombie films like Resident Evil because I spotted some of the similarities between them, not much but some ideas were borrowed from this movie.
OVERALL: This film has a great story for a zombie movie, but unfortunately it's not on par with Resident Evil's storyline, but it's close. This is a fantastic zombie-horror classic that should not be overlooked like it was when it released those many years ago.
THE GOOD: Great story, great characters, good dialogue, disgusting gore, and good zombie designs.
THE BAD: The music is not very good, the film is a bit slow in the beginning.
P.S.: J-Train, you must now go watch the Resident Evil trilogy! I loved your recommendation and I hope you love the Resident Evil films as much as I do! Oh, but be warned about watching the Day of the Dead remake, it's not even like the original at all. It's basically an entirely different zombie movie. September 4, 2008

The Best of the Romero Films

There's no doubt that this is the best of the Romero films.
I. The special effects really are the most convincing in this film. There is a particular scene with guts spilling out of a zombie and it is incredibly realistic. It is so real it leaves you wondering how they did this.
II. The feeling of claustrophobia is intense. The characters are alone. There is no link to the outside world through t.v. or radio. They have a helicopter but their search through surrounding areas is in vain. To top it off they are underground which brings the feeling of claustrophobia and hopelessness to an extreme. It is odd that the Zombies rule the day and the world while humans have been relegated to the dark underground. Quite a reversal!
III. The issues dealt with are very, very current. The whole thing about the manipulation of humanity by the military and scientists is very alive at the moment and is arguably of more importance than the other issues dealt with in the other Romero movies.
IV. I've read many reviews that criticize that there is a lot of talking in this movie. It is true that there is, but there is a lot of action too. The speeches really illustrate very well the different groups represented in the film.
V. The soundtrack is incredible. August 31, 2008

Aww man, I can't resist...CHOKE ON 'EM!!!

George A. Romero's Day of the Dead is a hands-down zombie classic that is criminally underrated, not only in comparison to "Night of the Living Dead" or "Dawn of the Dead" but as a zombie movie itself. Of course, this doesn't mean it's unheard of, look at all the great reviews it's gotten! But "Day of the Dead" is quite the contrast to "Dawn of the Dead", for several reasons.

1) "Dawn of the Dead" was a two-hour cross between zombie gore and social satire. It looked at the sociality of consumerism and exploited it, and added the gore of the undead at multiple times.
Now, "Day of the Dead" isn't so much about social satire as it is about character development. That's something you don't see too often in horror movies, as horror is about what happens to you, but the character development works great here. Also, "Day of the Dead" is only 90 minutes, so it didn't aim to be the social epic "Dawn..." was.
2) "Dawn of the Dead" did something similar to "Night of the Living Dead". It left the zombies only as the ravenous monsters that were out to attack and munch. Even so, I gotta admit, it was something else to see the blue Hare Krshna zombie in "Dawn..."!
In "Day of the Dead", a zombie is treated as a full-fledged character, "Bub". He picks up traits and habits he did in life before he got turned into a zombie, and the doctor here studies Bub's habits and treats him as a friend and a lab specimen.
3) "Dawn of the Dead", as previously mentioned, has gore all throughout, in between the comedic scenes and social satirism.
"Day of the Dead" waits until the last fifteen minutes for the zombie outbreak to rip everything apart!

So that's the difference between DAWN and DAY. How does DAY do on it's own? Well, I know my review's already pretty long, but READ ON!

DAY OF THE DEAD takes place at an underground military base in the middle of the day, with lots of characters that eventually develop themselves. As the movie progresses, you discover which characters you like...and which character you wouldn't mind see get their intestines eaten.
As I said, the gore doesn't fully kick in until the last 15 minutes, but when THAT happens...WATCH OUT! Seeing the guy getting literally ripped in half by the zombies and consumed is totally awesome, and the gore you'd expect from special effects wizard Tom Savini!
Now, the movie ends on a positive note, a little brighter than NIGHT and DAWN, a little more hopeful, indeed. The all-of-a-sudden happy ending kinda comes outta nowhere, but at least it makes sense to the plot.

So, what are you waiting for? Don't miss out on this zombie classic! It's one of the defining moments in zombie movie history! Though it isn't as critically acclaimed or remembered as DAWN, DAY OF THE DEAD definitely delivers! Get your piece of flesh today! Thanks for the time, and peace. July 26, 2008

Excellent presentation of perhaps the weakest "dead" film

As the good commentary track with Romero, Tom Savini, and Lori Cardille notes, Day of the Dead is some fans' favorite film of the "Dead" series. Generally, though, I think it's considered the weakest, certainly in comparison to Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Now I think Diary of the Dead may have displaced it as the least favorite all around. However, this excellent Blu-ray presentation did give me a chance to re-think my opinion of the film and to recognize the many virtues I had not noticed or considered before. The best thing about Blu-ray may be that its picture quality allows us to pick up on small visual details that were obscure in previous versions. The commentary track helps in this respect as well. This edition is definitely well worth purchasing, particularly if you can get it at a good price, to replace the previous "regular" DVD release. Oddly, I was hoping that the "tongue" zombie seen over the credits would be clearer, but he isn't. Oh, well. July 25, 2008

Hungry For More?

Day of the Dead doesn't get the same attention as Dawn of the Dead, but I think it is a great story and a great film. What I really like about Day of the Dead is that it begins to give us more insight into the zombies. The story takes place in an underground storage facility where a team of scientists are working to find answers about the zombies. We meet "Bub" who is a tame zombie that still holds onto some of what made him human. The head scientist figures out that zombies still maintain some human instincts in their brain stems and therefore he believes that rather than trying to cure the problem they should be looking at trying to domesticate the zombies. The military team in charge of protecting the scientists and gathering up the zombie samples starts to grow restless for answers and results, as more of their men are dying. There is a rift between the two groups and all hell breaks out. This is a classic movie and a must see. I love zombie movies and this is probably my favorite one because the story is so interesting to me. The acting is pretty bad and it isn't a perfect film by any means... but I have to give this 5 stars because, if nothing else, the story is just awesome. July 17, 2008

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