Day of the Dead (1985)
First there was "NIGHT of the LIVING DEAD" then "DAWN of the DEAD" and now the darkest day of horror the world has ever known
Starring: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joe Pilato, Jarlath Conroy, Antonè DiLeo, Richard Liberty, Howard Sherman, G. Howard Klar, Ralph Marrero, John Amplas, Phillip G. Kellams, Taso N. Stavrakis, Gregory Nicotero
Director: George A. Romero
Running Time: 100 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 18
Drama, Horror, Science Fiction, Thriller
On DVD Three films, three different decades, thousands of walking dead. George A. Romero's zombie trilogy, known to its adoring fans as the Holy Trinity, has proved the most influential horror franchise ever, with its winning combination of intelligent social commentary, high dramatic tension and flesh-ripping gore. Night of the Living Dead unearthed the racial and intergenerational tensions of the sixties, Dawn of the Dead the mindless consumerism of the seventies, and the last in the sequence, 'Day of the Dead', brings the macho fascism of Reagan's eighties to the cold light of day - but the consistent message of Romero's agitprop splatter has been that a small group of humans can be far more divided, vicious and bestial than any number of ravenous undead.
As 'Day of the Dead' begins, zombies have taken over the world. Sarah (Lori Cardille) is the only woman in a group holed up in the underground Seminole Storage Facility in the hope that their research will find a key to defeating or controlling the ubiquitous zombies. The chief scientist, Dr 'Frankenstein' Logan (Richard Liberty), wants to domesticate the undead, and has had some success with star pupil 'Bob' (Howard Sherman) - but the soldiers who had been assigned to protect the scientists are starting to take over the operation, as their leader Captain Rhodes (Joe Pilato) grows increasingly psychotic. Sarah turns for help to chilled helicopter pilot John (Terry Alexander) and alcoholic electronics specialist Bill (Jarlath Conroy), who both have tried to keep themselves apart from the tensions in the group, but can no longer avoid taking what might be humanity's last stand.
All three films follow tiny pockets of isolated people as they try (and mostly fail) to survive, but whereas the first two are occasionally punctuated at least by emergency radio signals or confused television broadcasts from the outside world, in 'Day of the Dead' there is no sign of life beyond the narrow confines of the twelve main players, making it a far bleaker evocation of apocalyptic desperation. "All the shopping malls are closed", as Bill puts it, in unwitting allusion to the setting of 'Dawn of the Dead' which, compared to this cavelike facility, now seems to have been positively luxurious. Everything in 'Day of the Dead' is pervaded with a sense of utter hopelessness. Sarah's claustrophobic nightmares are almost indistinguishable from her real circumstances, Logan's experiments require a horrific ingredient whose supply is impossibly limited, the 'logic' of the soldiers' plan for survival seems to involve letting everyone else (including the only remaining woman) die, food and ammunition are running low, the number of the living is rapidly dwindling, and the zombies are closing in for a final feasting.
'Day of the Dead' is a grimly fitting conclusion to the trilogy, outdoing the gut-wrenching outrageousness of its predecessors as it shows the last remains of humankind being torn apart - in some cases very literally. Even if Romero dies before making his long awaited 'Twilight of the Dead', the legacy of his zombie films will live on, mutating and multiplying in their influence. No future could be more appropriate.
DVD Extras: Digitally remastered widescreen picture; optional subtitles (Dutch/Danish/Finnish/Norwegian/Swedish); unusually entertaining 'behind-the-scenes' (20 minutes) with lots of zombies interviewed on set, plus make-up, stunt and gore effect set-ups; photogallery; trailers for all three films; bio and filmography of George A. Romero and Tom 'the Godfather of Gore' Savini.
The fourth disk of Anchor Bay's new boxset 'George A. Romero's Trilogy of the Dead' (2004) also features a fine photogallery from all three films, and Roy Frumkes' 83-minute (plus supplementary material) 'Document of the Dead' (1989), an excellent study of Romero as an auteur, focussing on 'Dawn of the Dead', but with more general material on his other films, and a supplement at the end featuring stills from 'Day of the Dead'.
It's Got: A mad scientist, trigger-happy soldiers, hedonist slackers, hungry zombies, little hope - and an ex-military undead named 'Bob' who likes to read 'Salem's Lot'.
It Needs: For 'Twilight of the Dead' finally to get made.
Alternatives: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead (1978), Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 Days Later..., Shaun of the Dead
Summary: A grim, gory vision of humanity being torn apart.
External Links
Official Web Site
Day of the Dead at the IMDB
Comments3 Comments |
| Possibly the greatest zombie movie ever made. As much fun as Dawn of the Dead is, even after repeated viewings, it does come across to me as primarily a black comedy whereas Day is pure relentless, bleak horror. Tom Savini hit his career high with the inventive effects in this movie and they still look better and have more originality than any computer generated crap. Mr Romero has just announced Land of the Dead for November 05. Can he outdo the holy 3? On a related note the new version of Dawn of the Dead is a great horror movie. Anybody who watches this, please watch the credits til the very end. Superb ending. |
| Comment by:- Rob Parkinson | | 15 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| I thought that this film would be pretty bad before i watched. However it was brilliant. A good storyline, loads of blood, and it was just excellent, almost as good as nandos chicken. BUY IT |
| Comment by:- JJ | | 30 October 2004 | ip: logged |
| Hard time deciding which was better, Day or Dawn. They each offered something different. I loved Rhodes in Day. His character was awesome and while most characters seemed like caricatures, his thought process was pretty sound. My only issues with Day are with the zombies. The whole point is that they eat you! They don't remember you and they certainly don't care. The "emotional" zombies just didn't sit well with me. If this was the case then they would all be so human that they wouldn't need to eat us cause they cared about our feelings. Also, what's with all the teeth appliances? The only thing should have been decayed teeth. Not the ridiculous hillbilly teeth seen on the most prominent zombies. Some effects are great (like Miguel's arm) and some are bad (like Rhodes lower "missing hip bone" torso. Favorite scene has to be where Rhodes drops a full 30 rounder from his M-16 into Dr. Frankenstein. Okay, so go buy the dvd already. |
| Comment by:- Mark Brett | | 11 December 2004 | ip: logged |
