Day of the Dead (1985 film)

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Day of the Dead
Production
Director	George A. Romero
Producer(s)	Richard P. Rubinstein
Writer(s)	George A. Romero
Starring	Lori Cardille Terry Alexander Joe Pilato Jarlath Conroy Richard Liberty
Music by	John Harrison
Distribution
Release date	19 July, 1985

Day of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Day of the Dead) is a 1985 horror film by director George A. Romero, the third of Romero's Living Dead movies. It is preceded by Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. Director George A. Romero describes the film as a "tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society".

Steve Miner directed a remake which was released on February 15, 2008.

Plot

Restless and alone in a brick-paved cubicle, Dr. Sarah Bowman sees a calendar before her on the wall. It is the month of October and every day is crossed out. While gazing at the image of a pumpkin patch, a dozen decayed arms punch through the wall clutching at her. She wakes from this surreal horror in the back of a helicopter with calm Jamaican pilot John, flask-swilling Irishman Bill McDermott, and her lover Private Miguel Salazar. She's reminded she is living a real nightmare, looking down over a deserted Fort Myers, in which they land near an abandoned harbor. She is part of a team searching for survivors of a gruesome crisis that began almost a year earlier, something that had started mysteriously and eventually collapsed human civilization.

Miguel takes out a bullhorn and calls for survivors on a bullhorn as they stand on the edge of the street of the now-decaying town. Though there are living alligators, tarantulas, and sand crabs, there are no signs of human life. Amid the scattered palm fronds, a newspaper blows in the death-scented wind near an early century federal building. The paper reads in big bold headline, "THE DEAD WALK!". The zombies in the town hear Miguel calling on the bullhorn, and the hundreds of wailing hordes march en masse toward the survivors. With still no humans heeding their calls, the team is forced to head back to their sanctuary.

The helicopter lands almost out of gas inside a military compound surrounded by wire fence. A large group of the living dead have managed to find the post and surround the entrance gates, their numbers growing every day. Two more soldiers help secure the chopper down giving their new past times an afternoon break: Johnson, who reads the last issues of porno magazines while Torrez grows gardens of marijuana plants. John and Bill are anxious to get on the elevator but not before urging the soldiers to fill the chopper up with gas. Sarah notices Miguel's becoming increasingly stressed and despondent. He hasn't gotten out of the chopper yet, and apparently wasn't even aware they had landed.

They descend into the underground sanctuary Seminole Storage Facility, where they will not see sunlight again for days. Miller is another officer waiting below for results of the team's search. This time he can tell it was another waste of time. Everyone has to stay in the cold, lonely, clinical white cubicles of the complex while John and Bill choose to stay in one of the Winnebagos stored near the barricades. These are the corrals leading to miles and miles of caves occupied by bats... and specimen zombies, collared at an earlier time by the government. Major Cooper who died earlier that morning, was buried above the complex near six other graves of men the unit has lost. Men lost to the dangers of capturing the hostile specimen zombies corraled from the caves. Privates Steel and Rickles are now in charge of the zombie corralling as Dr. Logan has requested two more guinea pig zombies for his experiments. Sarah and Miguel are asked by the soldiers to go along. Though tired from the 24-hour search mission, they agree and off they go into the caves in the golf cart towards the corral.

At the corral capturing pen, Steel and Rickles both sexually harass Sarah verbally before Miguel, who is of course, oblivious. Then Steel, making his sexism clearer than ever refuses to have Sarah handle the capture and Miguel defiantly takes on the dangerous task. He loses control of a particularly excited female specimen jeopardizing the lives of all involved. Hot-tempered Steel, enraged that his buddy Rickles was almost lost because of his actions, grabs Miguel, forcing him into the clutches of a caged zombie. Sarah orders him to let him go aiming her Uzi as a possible consequence. After all is said and done, two more specimens are brought back to the lab for study. Miguel is sedated by Sarah. In the dining hall, Dr. Ted Fisher pleads for sterile equipment to conduct proper tests on the specimens. He discusses this with Captain Rhodes, now in charge, who is also beginning to question the research that has been going on in the months the team has been sharing the facility. Throughout the day, Dr. Matthew Logan works on captured specimens, vivisecting the ghouls' chests and removing their organs. When Sarah enters his dark operating theatre to inform him of the meeting Rhodes has scheduled, he excitedly explains that the dead do not eat flesh out of hunger, but rather motor instinct. Another corpse is under a sheet. Logan reveals this one to be only a body with its face carved away leaving only the brain exposed. With electrodes leading to a machine, Logan begins shocking the corpse back to momentary life. Sarah notices Major Coopers fatigue on the floor. And that is when Logan confesses the faceless body is his corpse and that he had switched it with a specimens for burial. He wanted a fresh corpse. Frustrated that he has already lost five men to capture the dangerous specimens for their "research" Rhodes makes threats to shut the operation down during the meeting that evening in the dining hall. He is aware that the unit is low on ammo, food, medical supplies and now his own men. McDermott explains that his radio equipment is outdated and this makes the soldiers think that there may indeed be survivors but that they are out of radio signal range. When Sarah gets up to leave in the middle of bickering between Steel and McDermott, Rhodes threatens to have her shot. In fact he announces anyone who challenges his orders will be shot. None of this is taken seriously by the scientists who have gotten used to threats and the soldiers' depraved harassment.

Later on, Sarah finds herself unable to sleep on the floor of the cubicle as Miguel lays in bed. By now he must be awake. He leans over and his whole chest has been surgically opened. Sarah is dreaming of course, the result of the visit to the lab earlier that day. She wakes to find Miguel is indeed up and waiting to hassle her about her fear she tries to keep a secret. She finally loses it, screaming at Miguel to leave the room. A few moments later, she wanders the hall of the complex, nearly getting caught in the middle of a scuffle between the soldiers in their bunk. She meets up with McDermott, who has been wandering the halls too. They head back to the "Ritz"-the Winnebago where he stays with John. Serving Sarah drinks, John treats her to his calm, cool Caribbean atmosphere he's created in the trailer. Not to mention a lengthy philosophical lecture on how he believes that the Creator has cursed mankind and that there can be no cure for zombification. So he urges Sarah to forget about the research and wants to leave before the soldiers lose it completely. The next day, Sarah finds Fisher frustrated that the specimens are not accepting a meat substitute called Beef Treats. And Logan is trying to convince them that reward is the key to conditioning them. Bub is one specimen that seems to be under control. Sparing him from dissection, and instead reacquaints him with toothbrushes, razors, phones, books, tape player and even an unloaded gun. His infantile, docile behavior is unique among the zombies although Rhodes and the men witnessing this progress still think these creatures should all be destroyed.

The next day, there's another capture attempt. Miguel once again loses control of a female specimen-an old lady, unleashing her on an unsuspecting Miller who is bitten on the neck. His finger is on the trigger of his machine gun when it goes off killing Johnson in the process. Sarah destroys this lady. Miguel is then thrown into a fit of denial, attacking the priest specimen which takes a huge bite out of his forearm, forcing Miguel into hysteric shock. The priest is destroyed by Steel. Sarah runs after Miguel now fleeing towards John and Bill's area. Miller begs for Steel to end his life as he knows he would certainly become cursed with living death. Steel looms over him and blows the soldier's brains out.

John and Bill hearing Miguel's cries, wait in front of the Ritz. As Sarah draws John's machete from his belt, Miguel is overcome by a blow to the head and laid down. Sarah amputates his mutilated arm in one clean slice. After a hasty treatment, the soldiers led by Rhodes confront the three heroes, ready to destroy Miguel. John and Bill draw guns to defend his life. Rhodes declares that there will be no more experiments and that the specimens will be destroyed tomorrow. Leaving her shaken, Sarah finally breaks down and John comforts her.

Going back to the lab for supplies for Miguel, Sarah and Bill discover Johnson's decapitated head has been reanimated by Logan. Horrified, they follow Logan from the refrigerator room into Bub's room. There they witness the rewards he had stressed all along...the fresh remains of Miller and Johnson.

Just as the two realize what Logan has done Rhodes and the remaining soldiers appear behind them. The Captain drags the pleading Logan into the refrigerator to finish him off with a machine gun...amidst the dumped corpses of the military men killed in the capture attempts. He then orders the guns removed from Sarah and Bill. Then out by the corral area, ordering John to get ready to fly, Rhodes fires a bullet into the head of Fisher to make his point. Rhodes orders Sarah and Billy into the cages leading into the zombie-infested caves. John refuses to go anywhere until they are released. Then they hear the sound of the elevator as Miguel, who has regained consciousness, is now heading above ground with the manual controls. Steel and Rickles go to investigate and discover Miguel has taken apart the control box -- and there is now no way out of the complex. While they try to rewire it, John attacks Rhodes and knocks him out. John flees with Rhodes' guns through the corral area to search of his friends in the caves. He yells for Sarah and Billy and kills many would-be specimens in his pursuit. Rhodes finally wakes up, and he and Torrez head back to find Steel and Rickles after realizing they are without weapons.

Meanwhile, Miguel opens the front entrance gates above the complex and runs to the helicopter platform, bringing the zombies to him. As he is savagely eaten alive, he hits the lift button and the elevator descends, carrying the hundreds of zombies with it. The soldiers run for their lives, but one by one are attacked and dismembered by ten or more ghouls at once, until the whole place is infested. Steel makes it to the complex, where he finds Rhodes had locked everyone out, so he machine guns the door and enters taking all the dead with him. He hides in a lab where Bub finds him...firing one of the weapons he had found near the refrigerator room where he found his slain master, Logan. Just as Steel reloads his weapon and has an opportunity to kill Bub from behind a door, he is reunited with the mob of zombies, who've entered the room through another door. Steel is bitten as he tries to fend off the mob, and in his final moments, he takes the last of his ammunition and shoots himself.

While John finally meets up with Sarah and Billy near the silo, Rhodes desperately goes for his last bit of ammunition and has a final encounter with Bub. Though his aim is still improving, Bub fires his pistol at Rhodes, who leads him to a door he believes will lead him out. Rhodes opens the door and finds that a large group of the dead are waiting for him, and Bub shoots him one last time, knocking him into the zombies. As Rhodes is devoured by the zombies, Bub offers him a final stilted salute before shambling off into the bunker, refusing to join his fellow undead in eating the soldier. In a few moments, the dead are all over the labs and storage rooms, feasting on the remains of the soldiers.

When the three survivors finally exit the silo they see at least a hundred zombies marching towards them and the helicopter...which may or may not have any gas. John and Bill cover Sarah as she runs to the chopper door. She opens it only to be greeted by another swarm of arms.

Sarah then wakes up on the beach, with sand and surf around her. Nearby, John is fishing in the surf and Bill is interacting with the birds overhead -- and there are no zombies in sight. On her calendar, Sarah marks out November 4th -- the Day of the Dead, according to Latin American folklore.

Cast

Humans

• Lori Cardille as Dr. Sarah Bowman, a scientist researching the cause of the zombie outbreak. Sarah is continuously at odds with Rhodes due to their conflicting desires and stances on the current situation.
• Terry Alexander as John "Flyboy", a skilled Jamaican helicopter pilot. He believes the zombie plague to be a divine punishment, and urges Sarah to abandon her research and escape the complex before the soldiers become unstable enough to try to kill them.
• Jarlath Conroy as William "Billy" McDermott, the alcoholic radio operator. Bill is into drinking booze at any time, including when he's running from the dead, and only abandons his flask when it's completely empty.
• Joe Pilato as Captain Henry Rhodes, an increasingly mentally unhinged soldier and the self-appointed leader of the military group. Rhodes has become stir-crazy in the bunker and is eager to escape the base and go someplace else, despite being reminded that with the dead above ground, they have nowhere else to go that's safe.
• Anthony Dileo Jr. as Private Miguel Salazar, Sarah's lover and one of Rhodes's men. Miguel has become increasingly depressed and suicidal in the time following the outbreak.
• Richard Liberty as Dr. Matthew Logan, a morbidly-jovial professor who believes that the way to human survival is to condition the dead from being violent killers to being as socially-equal and intellectual as the living. He is nicknamed "Frankenstein" by the soldiers due to his obsession with cutting open the dead.
• Sherman Howard as Bub, a zombie Logan named after his father and his only successful test subject. Under Logan's care, Bub has developed more complex motor skills, shows some faint signs of human emotion, and most notably no longer possesses a burning desire for human flesh.
• Gary Howard Klar as Private Walter Steel, the short-tempered yet easily-amused second in command of Rhodes who often gets more commands than his comrades.
• Ralph Marrero as Private Robert Rickles, Steel's best friend and a soldier who serves Rhodes.
• John Amplas as Dr. Ted Fisher, a scientist who heavily objects to Rhodes' tyranny as well as a close friend to Sarah, John and Bill.
• Phillip G. Kellams as Private Miller, one of Rhodes' soldiers who wasn't a villain.
• Taso N. Stavrakis as Private Juan Torrez, one of Rhodes' soldiers who has no dialogue. Stavrakis also portrays the Knock-On-Wood Zombie and the Biker Zombie.
• Gregory Nicotero as Private Johnson, one of Rhodes's soldiers.

Zombies

• Barry Gress as Major Cooper's Corpse (uncredited)
• Debra Gordon as Featured Zombie (1st pulled out of mine)
• Mark Tierno as Featured Zombie (2nd pulled out of mine)
• Barbara Holmes as Featured Zombie (Corral Captive)
• Mike Trcic as Eviscerated Zombie (as Michael Trcic)
• Barbara Russell as Featured Zombie (who kills Miller)
• David Kindlon as Featured Priest Zombie (who bites Miguel's arm)
• Bruce Kirkpatrick as Featured Zombie (Shovelhead)
• Deborah Carter as Featured Cave Zombie (Hippie/2x4 whack)
• Don Brockett as Featured Shot Cave Zombie (Splatterface)
• Jeff Hogan as Featured Zombie (Hat Puller)
• William Andrew Laczko as Featured Zombie (who bites Steel's Neck)
• Winnie Flynn as Featured Silo Zombie (shot by John)
• Gene A. Saraceni as Featured Silo Zombie (shot by Billy)
• William Cameron as Featured Zombie
• Susan Martinelli as Featured Zombie
• Kim Maxwell as Featured Zombie
• John D. Schwartz as Featured Zombie (as John Schwartz)
• John Vullich as Featured Shot Cave Zombie
• Matt Bartlett as Steel's Zombie Attacker (uncredited)
• Howard Berger as Spinaround Cave Zombie (shot by John) (uncredited)
• J.R. Bookwalter as Zombie (uncredited)
• Tom Brown as Chef Zombie (uncredited)
• Everett Burrell as Cave Zombie (Surgeon) (uncredited)
• Donald Farmer as Underground Zombie (uncredited)
• Peter Iasillo Jr. as Elevator Zombie (Tip O'Neil Zombie) (uncredited)
• Daniel Krell as Zombie (uncredited)
• Ed Lammi as Zombie (with Cast Arm) (uncredited)
• Annie Loeffler as Female Cave Zombie (shot by John) (uncredited)
• Pat Logan as Bald Mustachioed Zombie (uncredited)
• Paul R. Gagne as Rickles' Zombie Attacker (uncredited)
• Robert "Bob" Martin as Rickles' Zombie Attacker (uncredited)
• Mark Steensland as Rickles' Zombie Attacker (uncredited)
• Vincent D. Survinski as Elevator Zombie (uncredited)
• Al Magliochetti as Bathrobe Zombie/ Sunglasses Zombie (uncredited)
• Akram Midani as Fisherman Zombie in the Mine (uncredited)
• Watfa Midani as Mine Zombie with Fisherman Zombie (uncredited)
• NRBQ as Mine Zombies (uncredited)
• Rhodes's Zombie Attackers - Hermie Granati, David Granati, Joey Granati, Rick Granati
• George A. Romero as Zombie with Scarf (Pushing cart Zombie) (uncredited)
• Sputzy Sparacino as The Balladeer (voice) (uncredited)
• Delilah as The 2nd Balladeer (voice)

Template:EntThis person was also part of the special effects & make-up crew.

Production

Development

Romero originally intended the film to be his undead epic; "the Gone with the Wind of zombie films." Following budget disputes and the artistic need to release the film unrated, the budget of the film was cut in half, dropping from $7 million to a scant $3.5 million. This forced Romero to scale back his story, rewriting the script and adjusting his original vision to fit the smaller budget.

Filming took place in the fall of 1984 at locations in Pennsylvania and Florida. All above ground scenes were filmed at several locations around Florida, where Romero was living at the time. Underground scenes were filmed in a former mine shaft located near Wampum, Pennsylvania, which had been converted into a long-term storage facility for important documents. Though the mine maintained a constant temperature of about 50 F, its high humidity played havoc with the crew's equipment and props. Mechanical and electrical failures were a constant problem throughout filming, and caused several of special effects leader Tom Savini's props to fail during the filming of crucial scenes. The remote location also complicated the transportation of crew members and equipment. "Zombie" extras were recruted from among the citizens of Pittsburgh, with preference given to those who had worked on previous Romero films. Extras were paid $1.00 for their services, and given a hat that read "I was a Zombie in Day of the Dead".

The film was given a very limited release. This is chronicled in the documentary "The Many Days of Day of the Dead" on the 2-disc Anchor Bay special edition DVD of the film. Some of the original concepts and characters remain, but the film differs greatly from Romero's original script, as stated by actress Lori Cardille: Template:Cquote

Casting

Joe Pilato was cast as "Rhodes", a sadistic and fascistic U.S. Army Captain who wants to declare militaristic rule over the others. As stated by Pilato "He pretty much just gave it to me. I don't know if he auditioned other people, but it was very quick. I came in and it was like, "You got it!." Pilato had acted in two prior films directed by Romero, the first being Pilato's debut Dawn of the Dead and the second being Knightriders, in between those films he played his first lead role in a film entitled Effects. In an interview Pilato was asked if Romero "had him in mind", Pilato stated that one of the reasons why he got the role was because of the budget being scaled down from 7 to 3.5 million.

Release and Reception

The film was widely criticized upon release, though in recent years it has become a cult classic and developed a reputation as one of the best films in the series. Fans of the previous films were disappointed as the plot is less sweeping in nature and the film sported a much darker tone. The characters were also portrayed as unsympathetic and unpleasant. The film has gone on and grossed over 30 million dollars worldwide. Day of the Dead would gross most of its gross revenue when the film was released internationally on VHS format, and later DVD and Blu-ray. This was in lieu of the film flopping when it was released to domestic cinema.

Reception

Based on 28 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Day of the Dead had a high approval rating by 22 critics in Rotten Tomatoes' and rotten by 6, receiving a 79% approval rating, becoming at the time of its release the lowest approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes of any of the films in Romero's Dead series. Both Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead have garned a 95% approval rating.

Day of the Dead was given a limited release on July 3, 1985 and a wide release on July 19, 1985.. It opened to mixed reviews, with some critics complaining that the film was too depressing and slow. Roger Ebert, who reacted favorably to other films of Romero's Dead Series, gave Day of the Dead one and a half stars. BBC reviewer Almar Haflidason stated "It benefits from a far larger budget than its predecessors, but suffers from a story as malnourished as the zombies that are chewing it up," Haflidason would go on to give the film three out of five stars. As noted by the New York Times reviewer Janet Maslin "Yes, there are enough spilled guts and severed limbs to satisfy the bloodthirstiest fan. But these moments tend to be clustered together, and a lot of the film is devoted to windy argument. " Allmovie reviewer Keith Phipps stated that: "The last, to date at least, of George Romero's living dead films is in many respects the least interesting, although it's not for a lack of ambition." Day of the Dead would peak at 23 on the Billboard chart Top VHS Sales in 1986 a year after its initial release.

Despite its lackluster critical reception, the film grossed $5.8 million domestically. It fared much better internationally, grossing $28.2 million outside of the United States. Day of the Dead's total gross is a little over $34 million. The film is also noted for its special effects work, notably Tom Savini's make-up, he was honored his second time in 1985 with a Saturn Award for Best Make-Up, the first time being with Dawn of the Dead in 1980. Romero himself cites Day of the Dead as his personal favorite of his original trilogy of zombie films.

Home video

The film was released on DVD on November 24, 1998 in the United States and on March 5, 2001 in the United Kingdom. Both the theatrical and an unrated director's cut were released as a special editions containing identical bonus features, the DVD uses a Dolby Digital sound and was released in the United Kingdom in a region 2 DVD. According to Blu-ray.com the Blu-ray version of Day of the Dead was released october 2, 2007. The Blu-ray edition included many special features, including two audio commentary tracks with writer-director George A. Romero, Tom Savini, production designer Cletus Anderson, and lead actress Lori Cardille. There is also a interview with fellow filmmaker and self-proclaimed Romero fan, Roger Avary. It also includes two documentaries, the first one is en-titled The Many Days of 'Day of the Dead, which focuses on the original script and the budget, it also included information about shooting in the Gateway Commerce Center. What is also mentioned is the casting details. The second documentary entitled Day of the Dead: Behind the Scenes, focuses mostly on make-up effects.

Popular culture

Near the end of Resident Evil, the protagonist Alice walks outside of her quarantine into a ravaged city street jammed with traffic. The camera pans past a newspaper blowing in the wind stating "The Dead Walk!", a direct homage to George Romero's work on Day of the Dead. Another homage is one episode of Stroker & Hoop featured the characters battling zombies using guns made by Double-Wide. They turn out to fire only sunlight, to which he claims because the film is called Night of the Dead and not Day of the Dead to hint out their weakness to sunlight. Coroner Rick yells at him "That was the sequel!"

The song "M1A1", from the self-titled 2001 Gorillaz album samples the pulsing synthesizers and cries of "Hello! Is anyone there?" from the opening of the film. The song "Hip Albatross", also by Gorillaz, features a clip of Terry Alexander's dialogue. Furthermore, the artwork for the song "November has Come" off of the Gorillaz' 2005 album Demon Days has a picture of a calendar pinned to a brick wall set to the month of October with all the dates marked off in red Xs (reminiscent of the opening scene in Day of the Dead).

The song "Battlefield", from the This is my battlefield 2004 Panzer AG album samples Captain Rhodes asking one of his soldiers: "You think he want to walk around after his dead? You think he want to be one of these things?"

The band Through the Eyes of the Dead sampled a clip at the beginning of the song "Between the Gardens that Bathe in Blood", released on the Scars of Ages EP.

The film "Resident Evil: Extinction," incorporates many plot points, such as trying to train a zombie to be human, or in a deleted scene when trying to capture zombies to experiment on. Also, the idea of an underground facility and how the floor moves up without any indication on the surface (impossible to know it was there) is also very similar.

Soundtrack

Main article: Day of the Dead (soundtrack)

The soundtrack was released in 1985 the same year as the film; it includes 11 tracks, all of which was composed and performed by John Harrison. The vocals came from Sputzy Sparacino who is the lead singer of Modern Man and Delilah on the tracks "If Tomorrow Comes" and "The World Inside Your Eyes". The album would be released in 2002 with a limited release of 3000 copies, the limited release included a 12 page booklet with information from Harrison and Romero regarding the score.

Sequel and Remake

An unofficial quasi-prequel was released in 2005, entitled Day of the Dead 2: Contagium. Although it is advertised as an official sequel as Taurus Entertainment Company hold the rights to the original film, no one from the original Day of the Dead had any involvement in the film.

A loose remake of the film was released straight to DVD on April 8. Little of the original plot exists, with only a few basic elements remaining; notably the underground army base near the end of the movie, and some of the characters names.

Almost two decades later, a follow-up to Day of the Dead titled Land of the Dead was released, expanding upon themes about the undeads' recollection of past memories and lifestyles and humankind's present day frame of mind when confronted with crisis.

Gallery

Promotional Material