Miguel Salazar

"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth." This article is related to the films created by George A. Romero.

Miguel Salazar
Portrayed by	Anthony Dileo Jr.
Traits
Gender	Male
Ethnicity	Hispanic-American
Hair Color	Dark-brown
Personal Information
Status	Deceased Alive (alternate ending)
Death	Devoured by zombies
Known Relatives	Spouses Sarah Bowman (ex-lover)
Professional Information
Occupation	Soldier
Titles	Private
Equipment	Machine gun
Media
First Appearance	Day of the Dead (1985)
Final Appearance	Day of the Dead (1985)

Private Miguel Salazar is a major character in the 1985 film Day of the Dead. He was the lover of Sarah Bowman and a member of Colonel Rhodes's troop.

He is portrayed by Anthony Dileo, Jr.

Biography

About a year after the zombie outbreak, Miguel is one of the remnants of the US military hiding out with several others in the Seminole Storage Facility while zombies overrun the surface world.

Day of the Dead (1985)

About a year after the zombie outbreak, Miguel is one of the remnants of the US military hiding out with several others in the Seminole Storage Facility while zombies overrun the surface world. After a failed search of Fort Meyers for survivors, the group returns to the facility, where Miguel has to be Steel forces Miguel to help him capture and cage a zombie from the infested caves. When Miguel accidentally lets the zombie free, Steel almost feeds Miguel to another zombie for nearly getting Rickles killed.

Eventually, due to Miguel's violence and insults towards Sarah, the two fall out. Two days later, Steel is forcing Miguel once again to help him cage a zombie. The zombie once again breaks free, sending Miguel completely insane. He attacks a zombie specimen, which then bites a large chunk of flesh out of his arm. Miguel runs through the caves, chased by Sarah, to "the Ritz," where he is knocked out by Sarah. Sarah, John and Bill then amputate Miguel's infected arm, and nurse him back to health in the Ritz.

Miguel's death; Day of the Dead (1985)

When an insane Miguel awakens, he sabotages the bunker's elevator controls and rides the elevator up onto the surface. There, Miguel unlocks the gate to the fence surrounding the complex entrance, allowing the surrounding zombie hordes in. Miguel then activates the elevator, allowing the zombies into the complex, while he is eaten alive by the hordes.

Personality

Due to his experiences, Miguel becomes less stable and more cowardly, and progressively more aggressive and violent towards Sarah, whom he is having a relationship with, and others around him. Miguel slowly succumbs to stress and his own suicidal thoughts, refusing to sleep at best and becoming physically abusive at worst.

Trivia

• In an alternate ending to the film, Miguel survives being eaten by the zombies.
• A character in the post-apocalyptic zombie-horror TV series Fear the Walking Dead is named in tribute to Miguel.
• Miguel is the first character to provide a theory on how to survive a zombie bite, as demonstrated when Sarah amputates and cauterizes his bitten arm. However, he gets overwhelmed and devoured by the zombie horde he lets in before anyone knows if it worked or not, leaving said theory ambiguous.