Day of the Dead (1985)

Director:

George A. Romero

Writer:

George A. Romero (written by)

Release Date:

19 July 1985 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The Dead have waited. The day has come.

Plot:

A small group of military officers and scientists dwell in an underground bunker as the world above is overrun by zombies.

Plot Keywords:

Military | Scientist | Bunker | Florida | Death

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Lori Cardille	...	Sarah
Terry Alexander	...	John
Joseph Pilato	...	Capt. Rhodes (as Joe Pilato)
Jarlath Conroy	...	William McDermott
Anthony Dileo Jr.	...	Pvt. Miguel Salazar (as Antonè DiLeo)
Richard Liberty	...	Logan
Sherman Howard	...	Bub (as Howard Sherman)
Gary Howard Klar	...	Pvt. Steel (as G. Howard Klar)
Ralph Marrero	...	Pvt. Rickles
John Amplas	...	Dr. Ted Fisher
Phillip G. Kellams	...	Pvt. Miller
Taso N. Stavrakis	...	Pvt. Torrez
Gregory Nicotero	...	Pvt. Johnson
Don Brockett	...	Featured Zombie (chief)
William Cameron	...	Featured Zombie

Also Known As:

George A. Romero's Day of the Dead (USA) (complete title)
El día de los muertos (Argentina) (Spain) [es]
Dzien umarlych (Poland) [pl]
Elävien kuolleiden päivä (Finland) (TV title) [fi]
I mera ton zontanon nekron (Greece) [el]
Il giorno degli zombi (Italy) [it]
Le jour des morts-vivants (France) [fr]
Zombi - Ölüm günü (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Zombie 2 (West Germany) (censored version) [de]
Zombie 2 - Das letzte Kapitel (West Germany) [de]

Runtime:

102 min | Argentina:101 min | Norway:97 min | Australia:97 min | Canada:96 min (Ontario)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) (1986) (cut) | UK:18 (video re-rating) (1997) | UK:18 (original rating) (cut) | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (video rating) (1998) | Canada:(Banned) (Nova Scotia/Ontario) (uncut version) | Canada:R (Ontario) (cut) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Chile:14 (uncut DVD version) | Canada:14A (Ontario) (Re-rated 2008) | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Norway:(Banned) (original rating) | Norway:15 (re-rating) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:(Banned) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

Florida, USA

Company:

Dead Films Inc.

Trivia:

Dr. Logan figures that the ratio of the undead to the human survivors is 400,000:1. When the film was made, in 1985, the population of the United States in our universe stood at about 240 million. If Dr. Logan is right, and the US population of this universe stood at roughly the same, and this film took place in 1985, there are 600 living human beings left in the USA. However, since the history of the universe in the "of the Dead" movies had radically diverged from real world history even before the ghouls emerged (notice the Venus probe in the first movie), the timeline of the "Dead" movies remains unclear (the Stephen King novel 'Salem's Lost appears in this film, even though in the real world it came out in 1975; note that the first film in this series came out in 1968; Diary of the Dead, set simultaneously with the events of Night of the Living Dead, features technology not available in 1968 in our world), and we do not know how long after the ghouls emerged that this film takes place, one cannot easily presume that this film takes place in 1985 or that the US population would have remained the same.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning of the movie, when Sarah had a nightmare, the October calendar as the day matching with the year 1985. But at the end of the movie, her November calendar no longer matches with that year.

Quotes:

[first lines]
McDermott: Nothing, nothing at all.
Sarah: Send again.
McDermott: I've been sending up and down the coast from Sarasota to the Everglades and still getting back the same dead air. There's nothing! There's nobody or at least nobody with a radio.
Sarah: All right then let's set down, we'll use the bullhorn.
McDermott: Set down? Wait a minute, that's not in our contract!
Sarah: It's the biggest city within 150 miles and we're going to give it every chance.
McDermott: Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Sarah: Set down, John!
John: I'll set us down. But I won't leave my seat and I'll keep the engine running. Now the first sign of trouble, I'm going up. If you ain't on board when that happens, you're likely to have a lousy afternoon.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Zombie Genocide (1993) (V)

Soundtrack:

Break Down

Dark and morbid climax to the Dead Trilogy

The third part of George Romero's masterpiece; The Dead Trilogy, is the darkest and most compact of the bunch, and while it never reaches the awesome highs of the previous two, it still stands on it's own as a more than passable zombie gorefest. Speaking of gore; this film has oodles! Because the film is darker and more unpleasant than the other two, the gore hits home more. Whether it be the nasty experiments of a man nicknamed "Dr Frankenstein" or the now legendary splatter soaked finale, you can always be sure that this film will have something up it's sleeve to shock and/or disgust you! The way that the trilogy has panned out is rather good, and George Romero has obviously put some thought into what would be the consequences of the events of Night of the Living Dead. This film takes into account the idea of humans not being able to co-operate with one another, which makes the people in the movie just as big a threat as the zombies. We follow 12 humans that are holed up in an old World War 2 bunker, and we see the threat that the humans cause themselves with the conflict between the scientific and military interests.

Romero has shown his inventiveness with the make-up effects throughout this series. In Night of the Living Dead, the zombies were hardly decayed at all. By Dawn of the Dead, they were more bloody and more decayed, and by the time of this film; it would seem that effects guru Tom Savini has been given free licence to create some of the most disgusting effects ever to be seen in a zombie movie! The often green and white skinned living dead walk around with dried blood caked to their carcasses, limbs and jaws missing; you name it, these zombies have it! Naturally, it's the make-up and gore that are the stars of this movie, and the human stars take a back seat. It's a good job that's the case as well; as the actors here aren't up to much. This is almost a benefit to the movie; however, as it gives it that low budget feel that many movies fans, such as myself, love. There are some elements of the movie that don't work - seeing the talking zombie always makes me cringe - but on the whole, this is an invigorating and inventive zombie flick and while it isn't as great as the previous two; it's still pretty damn good.