Day of the dead is a follow up from dawn of the dead by the same director George A. Romero. The story takes place underground in an abandoned missile silo , where a group of scientists and soldiers are barricaded in.
Now let me explain something. After the release of the successful dawn of the dead in 1979 Romero intended to end his "trilogy of he dead" with a big budgeted follow up. But because of major budget disputes and the artistic need to release the film unrated, Romero was granted £3.5 million for the budget, just under half the initial £7 million he had at first. This forced Romero to scale back his story, rewriting the script and adjusting his original vision to fit the smaller budget. so the movie we see today is completely different from the one we were intended on having. Apparrerntly the script for the original version is leaked all over the Internet but i haven't read it yet. But i wouldn't change this movie for the world its the essential horror film , just look at how many other films and TV shows have used material from Day of the Dead - resident evil extinction ( the zombie using the phone like bub) 28 days later( with the physcotic military & keeping the infected alive for testing) the band GORILLAZ use audio from day of the dead in the beginning of the song, south park made an episode about zombies and borrowed a lot of elements from Day of the dead.
I must say that the opening scene in this movie throws you into the action head first, the characters land the helicopter in a city and use a megaphone to see if there is any survivors. but then the undead rise and within seconds,there are literally hundreds of the undead around the city. the first thing i noticed when i first watched this film, was just how genuinely scary the zombies looked compared to the blue skinned ones from Dawn of the dead. These zombies look outstanding, Tom Savini i salute you!
The phsycotic military leader Captain Rhodes ( Joseph Pilato) is a truly outstanding character. I mean he is such an ar*ehole and you are always hoping throughout the movie that he gets killed (and trust me you wont be disappointed). Now I've heard people say that this movie is full of terrible acting, but i find it really good. Its not too over dramatic or bland its just right. I also hear people say daft sh*t like " There was no action until the last 10 minutes" and "All they did was argue all the time". well thats okay i suppose, they weren't exactly lying, but it only makes sense that everyone in the movie is at each others throat. They are the last people on the face of the planet, there is bound to be a lot of tensions!
I gotta go all out and say this film has the best zombies ever in it. they can tear limbs off like its no problem, and the eat everything they can from humans, unlike some zombie films where they just eat certain parts, and that makes these zombies seem all the more scary. The special effects are out of this world . Back in 1985 i couldn't imagine what the peoples reactions were to the gore fest in the last 15 minutes of the film. Tom Savini at his best no doubt, he received a Saturn award for his work on day of the dead and he more than deserved it. Another aspect of the movie that does it well is the soundtrack, its brilliant and helps set the dark tone the movie goes for. I Always liked the dawn of the dead soundtrack but i think this one makes dawns just sound a bit silly
The trailer for this films describes day of the dead as "the darkest day of horror the world has ever known" , and it is well worthy of that statement. This movie has to be one of the darkest, most claustrophobic and gory films in history. that being said, is it a good film? plain and simple - YES!!
By Scott Dewhurst
Now let me explain something. After the release of the successful dawn of the dead in 1979 Romero intended to end his "trilogy of he dead" with a big budgeted follow up. But because of major budget disputes and the artistic need to release the film unrated, Romero was granted £3.5 million for the budget, just under half the initial £7 million he had at first. This forced Romero to scale back his story, rewriting the script and adjusting his original vision to fit the smaller budget. so the movie we see today is completely different from the one we were intended on having. Apparrerntly the script for the original version is leaked all over the Internet but i haven't read it yet. But i wouldn't change this movie for the world its the essential horror film , just look at how many other films and TV shows have used material from Day of the Dead - resident evil extinction ( the zombie using the phone like bub) 28 days later( with the physcotic military & keeping the infected alive for testing) the band GORILLAZ use audio from day of the dead in the beginning of the song, south park made an episode about zombies and borrowed a lot of elements from Day of the dead.
I must say that the opening scene in this movie throws you into the action head first, the characters land the helicopter in a city and use a megaphone to see if there is any survivors. but then the undead rise and within seconds,there are literally hundreds of the undead around the city. the first thing i noticed when i first watched this film, was just how genuinely scary the zombies looked compared to the blue skinned ones from Dawn of the dead. These zombies look outstanding, Tom Savini i salute you!
The phsycotic military leader Captain Rhodes ( Joseph Pilato) is a truly outstanding character. I mean he is such an ar*ehole and you are always hoping throughout the movie that he gets killed (and trust me you wont be disappointed). Now I've heard people say that this movie is full of terrible acting, but i find it really good. Its not too over dramatic or bland its just right. I also hear people say daft sh*t like " There was no action until the last 10 minutes" and "All they did was argue all the time". well thats okay i suppose, they weren't exactly lying, but it only makes sense that everyone in the movie is at each others throat. They are the last people on the face of the planet, there is bound to be a lot of tensions!
I gotta go all out and say this film has the best zombies ever in it. they can tear limbs off like its no problem, and the eat everything they can from humans, unlike some zombie films where they just eat certain parts, and that makes these zombies seem all the more scary. The special effects are out of this world . Back in 1985 i couldn't imagine what the peoples reactions were to the gore fest in the last 15 minutes of the film. Tom Savini at his best no doubt, he received a Saturn award for his work on day of the dead and he more than deserved it. Another aspect of the movie that does it well is the soundtrack, its brilliant and helps set the dark tone the movie goes for. I Always liked the dawn of the dead soundtrack but i think this one makes dawns just sound a bit silly
The trailer for this films describes day of the dead as "the darkest day of horror the world has ever known" , and it is well worthy of that statement. This movie has to be one of the darkest, most claustrophobic and gory films in history. that being said, is it a good film? plain and simple - YES!!
By Scott Dewhurst