Directed by George Romero
Starring Lori Cardille
Terry Alexander
Disappointing follow-up to Romero's action-packed "Dawn of the Dead" has the world almost completely taken over by zombies who started eating the flesh of the living in Romero's ultra-classic, "Night of the Living Dead."
Romero has even gone on record to say that "Day" wasn't the movie he really wanted to make. His original screenplay would have been expensive and he couldn't get investors to pony up enough cash unless the movie qualified for an R-rating.
But Romero didn't want to make an "R" film—his zombie films are much too bloody to be anything but unrated. So he made this, a film set largely in a government underground facility, where scientists are conducting experiments on zombies. Most of the action involves a battle between scientists and military personnel. Basically, the film starts off strong -- with characters looking for survivors in a Florida city packed with zombies -- then slows down to a snail's pace as our heroes go underground and argue with one another. One of the film's goriest moments is actually a dream sequence.
It's a boring film, despite some mind-blowing gore effects by Tom Savini. No exploding heads though.
Followed by the superior "Land of the Dead" 20 years later.
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-- Review by Lucius Gore
Posted by Evil Eddie on January 8, 2008 I personally loved this film...and thought it was quite well done. From the storyline to the FX to the characters, I was very pleased with the third part of Romero's "thrillogy"; and I thought "Land of the Dead" was far inferior to this film in almost every way.
Posted by William3 on May 24, 2008 I was disappointed with Day of the Dead when I saw it in the theatre, but have since grown to....if not love it, then like it a lot.
I feel that it portrays pretty well the disintegrating relationships between the soldiers and the scientists in a last-ditch effort--created by a government that no longer exists--to understand and combat the zombie plague.
The team knows it is cut off, and the scientists feel driven by their mission to understand what's happening, while the soldiers are increasingly motivated by a kill-em-all mentality, which at base is suicidal since there are only five or six soldiers and millions of zombies beyond the fence.
There is plenty of gore, and while it doesn't draw the same kind of love of Dawn of the Dead, and it's not groundbreaking in the way Night was, it's a great movie in its own right....but it definitely has a different feel than the others...much bleaker...but when the zombies have taken over and for all you know, you're the last surviving humans, the outlook is pretty damn bleak!
Posted by PhantomCloneInX on October 10, 2009 I personally thought "Day of the Dead" was the best of Romero's zombie films after the groundbreaking "Night". The story was bleak and claustrophobic, and horrifying.
Also, I thought the zombie effects in "Dawn" pretty much sucked. The majority of the zombies looked like hippies with blue facepaint. Not very scary, at all. In "Day", the zombies were hideous, rotted-looking monsters....they actually looked like the walking dead.
"Day of the Dead" is a vastly underrated horror film, and probably the Romero film I watch the most.
Posted by on May 24, 2012 Classic Zombie film totally awesome
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