The Story:

The film opens with a dream sequence showing our lead female character Sarah portrayed by Lori Cardille. She awakes from a nightmare gazing out the window to the abandoned streets below only to find her reality far more hellish then she prior imaged. Flying off the coast of Florida looking for survivors, her crew set their helicopter down in a small vanquished suburban city. Hoping to find some sort of human existence, the group calls out into the abandoned streets only stirring up a lively swarming nest of the living dead. The crew has been stationed in an underground missile silo, an operation put together by Washington in a matter of days. Their operation isn't really clear, but we have to assume that's its based on research and scientific purposes.

Once back at the missile silo the crew discovers major Cooper, the leader of the whole operation died earlier that morning, leaving Rhodes (Joe Pilato) a loud mouth captain to take charge of the group. Rhodes sets up a meeting between everyone later on that evening in which Logan (Richard Liberty) AKA Doctor Frankenstein arrives late. Tensions are fueled by heated arguments and controversial debates leaving the surviving members to take different sides. Logan expresses that Sarah’s research is keened on more so reversing the process of zombiefication, while his scientific methods are fueled to making them behave.

Angered that his men are dying, Rhodes begins to question the intentions of Mr. Logan and tells the rest of the group that they only have a matter of time to show him results before he leaves their high fluting asses to rot in the stinking hell hole. Dr. Frankenstein’s only successful specimen is entitled Bub; A zombie who's rewarded the remains of dead soldiers for his good behavioral efforts. Once Rhodes discovers his men have been fed to Bub, all hell breaks loose. The remaining army officers strip the guns from the crew, and corral them into a sectioned off part of the cave where the living dead roam. Without any weapons they are left to defend for themselves and are forced to trench through the dark to seek safety from the flesh hungry creatures that lye in wait.

The tables are turned however as Rhodes and his men are stopped dead in they’re tracks by the riveting sound of the elevator lowering down into the silo. The crew unaware of what lies in wait, watches on as the elevator moves closer to ground level only to finally reveal hundreds of zombies waiting on the platform above. With no escape at hand, the remaining army officers betray each other, and are left to meet their ultimate demise at the hands of the living dead. Will Sarah ever make it out of the silo alive? And if so, where will she and her crew go?

Reviewer's Thoughts:

Day of the Dead was the least successful film out of the trilogy. I really have to question why it wasn’t received so well? It could have been people were expecting another Dawn of the Dead, or even perhaps George Romero was way ahead of his time in his writing, and people didn’t want a film filled with logical and in-depth talk. Whatever the reason Day to me remains my all time personal favorite horror movie. And I’m not just saying that because it just came out on DVD or I’m trying to get you to buy it, no not at all. What I like to take the time to do right now is actually add my insight if I may on the film, after all this is the reviewers thoughts section, so if you don’t mind then I will begin, and if you do mind, well…”Then so help me god, I’ll have you shot.”

It can be said that Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead are all uniquely different films. To compare one to another is unjust and unfair. Dawn of the Dead was considered a classic, and by all means it deserves its title. George Romero did a fantastic job portraying a world of sadistic beast known as man. It dwelled deep inside the psyche of every human and showed just how cruel mankind can become when his or her race is threatened to extinction. Dawn had a social commentary theme that played throughout the film and even during the final minutes when viewers questioned the character of the women who was pregnant, and if she really wanted to raise a child in that kind of world. Regardless of George intentions or not, Dawn struck a nerve with everyone and so it was inevitable that Day would struggle in it's footsteps.

Day of the Dead seemed to rely more on the psychology of a human. How long their mentality will hold together before slowly crumbling under the pressure of stress. Day of the Dead to me had an emotion driven story, in which George Romero had to rewrite his script to fit to a much smaller budget. His writing can be felt like the force of an f5 hurricane.(Possible reminisce of Isabel, ha ha just joking) His anger and emotion seeps from every character, their interaction with one another seems to rid them motionless as the walls that surround them begin to move forward. Day is certainly a gritty film, and some may argue it’s atmosphere isn’t surreal like Dawn of the Dead or even Night of the living dead for that matter, but the atmosphere in Day plays out more like a nightmare. Picture yourself living in a dream. You move as though in reality, but your spirit seems dismal and edgy. You are on the break and at any given moment you know you can wake up, but you don’t want to, because your reality is far worse then anything your dream can imagine. This is held true in the first couple minutes of the film when Lori Callider awakes from her hellish sleep only to realize her reality is holding the same faith.

You are in a world where the living dead are all around you, and you cannot escape it. Like Dr. Frankenstein said to Rhodes, “Where will you go?” My point exactly, where will you go? It’s the end of the world, society has succumbed to a flesh-eating virus, and you are the only one left alive. If it sounds quite scary, it's because in actuality it really is. Day literally takes you to those depths, believing that the few people remaining down in the silo could very well be mankind’s only existence. A cast of fantastic actors drives Day of the Dead. Joe Pilato is one of the greatest “bad guys” to ever grace a horror screen. He plays Rhodes a captain who has taken command of the operation due to a recent death by Major Cooper. His character is likable because of his bruteness to lay the reality of the situation out and he doesn't try to butter it up. Lori Cardille plays a scientist struggling to find a cure to make the process of zombiefication reversed. She had no prior acting experience, except performing in on-stage plays, and she really gave it her all in this movie. Howard Sherman or Sherman Howard if you will played Bub. He was highly convincing underneath the make-up and although his character had no lines, Bub has become a sort of cult icon as a zombie figure goes. John who was played by Terry Alexander was a great actor and hit all the right notes as the man who's job was to fly the whirly bird and nothing else. This character adds a lot to the film, possibly more then you'd be led to believe. Day of the Dead is a very well written film, George Romero had originally conceived a much bigger project, but was told he would have to deliver an R rating for him to get the extra funding he would have needed for the picture. Romero declined and opted to scale down his work and deliver a version of the film where he wasn’t going to be restrained by anyone.

Video:

Day of the Dead is presented here in the DIVIMAX series in an enhanced widescreen presentation (1.85:1). The print is gorgeous. The blues are much darker in this presentation and add depth to the film. The blood is disturbingly realistic with its bright color and thick substance that makes for highly believable gore. There have been quite a few releases of Day of the Dead on DVD, but this is by far the most superior quality I have ever been given the opportunity to watch. Day was shot inside of an actual existing mine, so many shots in the film may appear quite dark, which is natural for the muted color palette it seems to be given. Anchor Bay does a fantastic job at cleaning up the grain that previously graced the first DVD release. A very solid transfer by Anchor Bay, couldn't ask for anything more.

Audio:

The film is presented in a variety of tracks. Firstly is a Dolby Digital Surround Ex track, and a 6.1 DTS-ES track. The tracks are a wonderful enhancement, but don't add much in the way of surround sound as this film was originally recorded in mono. John Harrison composed the score for Day of the Dead which offsets the film with it’s Jamaican vibe. It comes across more lighter then something you’d think you would hear in a horror movie, but the music fit’s the film quite well. The synths that ring out softly during the emotional breakdown of Sarah enhance the scene dramatically. The opening dream sequence where the Dead Suite plays adds to the dream like structure. Side Note: When reviews started to pop up all over the net, one thing many people found very odd was a mention of the dialogue being somewhat peculiar. This was the result of some few minor alternate dialogue loops. The difference in the dialogue isn't too noticeable , unless of course you were to compare it with your old DVD or VHS. But regardless of the minor flaw, the DTS track is a wonderful improvement over any previous release.

Special Features:

• Theatrical trailer
• Stills Gallery
• Audio Commentary - (Featuring Writer/Director George Romero, Special Make-up Effects Artist Tom Savini, Production Designer Cletus Anderson and Actress Lori Cardille.)
• Audio Commentary with Filmmaker Roger Avary
• The Many Days of Day of the Dead
• Day of the Dead: Behind the scenes
• Audio Interview with Actor Richard Liberty
• Zombie Make-up Gallery
• Gallery of Memorabilia
• George Romero Bio
• Behind the scenes Photos
• Production Stills

When first released on DVD the film was a double sided disc that contained a theatrical trailer and a behind the scenes featurette It’s been two years now, but thankfully Anchor Bay has decided to give us a much better special edition DVD. First up is the commentary that features writer and director George Romero, special make-up effects artist and long time friend of George, Tom Savini, actress Lori Cardille, and production designer Cletus Anderson. The commentary reunites the group in almost eighteen years since the films theatrical release. It’s quite interesting to listen to. While they concentrate on the technical aspects of the film, they also share their joys of making it and prior experiences that lead up to Day. While not too informative, it’s all around a great commentary.

The Many Days of Day of the Dead is a terrific featurette that has some great interviews with cast members and is quite informative. Tom Savini and George Romero hint at teaming up to perhaps make a fourth dead film which should peek every horror movie enthusiasts interest. The featurette concentrates on outlining how the film came about, and the pitfalls that fell before it. Some would say the information feels recycled, but that's not the case here. Joe Pilato talks about how he enjoyed playing the mean character of Rhodes, Lori Cardille expresses her love for the film and her appreciation for portraying a strong female character. A great featurette to start the second disc off.

Day of the Dead behind the scenes offers a unique look at some of the zombie make-up that was done. We get to see people struggling with the adhesive and tugging at their half fallen off latex mask, it's quite funny to watch. There's also about a sixteen-minute long phone interview with Richard Liberty that took place three years ago. It's great to listen too, although the audio seems to fade in and out a bit. One thing I did not mention was the extra commentary, which features Roger Avary. I have to admit while it's nice to see a fan of George rave about his films, this commentary doesn't really hold anything. It's a fan boys dream, but nothing exciting.

The disc is rounded out by a handful of pictures, ranging from gallery stills, behind the scenes photos, production photos and zombie make-up photos. There's a great bio on George Romero, that includes just enough information on Mr. Romero himself, and talks about his films and the lack of funding he's had to deal with. A theatrical trailer and some TV spots round this fine second disc out. I should further mention that the packaging for this film has been done quite nicely. Anchor Bay has designed a yellow gatefold case that opens with the use of Bub's head. It's attached by Velcro, and provides a much sleeker look then the standard black cases we always seem to have.

Overall:

Day of the Dead to me was the high point of Romero’s career. This film has some of the best dialogue ever conceived and not to mention some really great at that time unknown actors. Tom Savini broke the mold for fantasy horror and created some of the most memorable make-up effects ever. The acting is top notch for a picture of this standard, the music composed by John Harrison is brilliant, just a very solid film all around.

Movie: 4.5/5

Video: 4/5

Audio: 4/5

Special Features: 4/5

© 2003 horrortalk.com. No use of this review is permitted without expressed permission from horrortalk.com