Day of the Dead (1985 film): Difference between revisions

Day of the Dead
Directed by	George A. Romero
Written by	George A. Romero
Produced by	Richard P. Rubinstein
Starring	Lori Cardille Terry Alexander Joseph Pilato Jarlath Conroy Antoine Dileo Sherman Howard
Music by	John Harrison
Distributed by	United Film Distribution Company
Release dates	July 19, 1985 September 12, 1986
Running time	102 min.
Language	English
Budget	$3,500,000 (est.)

Day of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Day of the Dead) is a horror film by director George A. Romero. The third of Romero's five Living Dead movies. It is preceded by Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, and succeeded by Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. Steve Miner is directing a remake which is set to be out in 2008, and Romero himself is also in the midst of completing a fifth zombie film, Diary of the Dead, but claims it is not directly a part of the series. It is due to be released on February 15, 2008.

Romero himself cites Day of the Dead as his personal favorite of his original trilogy of zombie films.

Day of the Dead deals with the zombie assault on a military establishment, satirizing the military mindset in the process. The film received the least enthusiastic critical review of the four films. The film has been widely criticized for various reasons. Many fans of the second film, Dawn of the Dead, were disappointed in this third offering, as its plot is considerably less sweeping in nature. Fans of the film point out, however, that the iconic human characters purposely contrast with the precocious zombie lead, "Bub", underscoring that zombies and humans are not so different. An outrageous selection of zombies are presented, and the special effects are worlds ahead of what was presented in the previous installment. Although the film is set somewhere in Florida (perhaps in Fort Myers or Sanibel Island, where the initial scenes were filmed), it was primarily filmed in Wampum, Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh, and near Beaver Falls.

The overall tone of the movie is grim, unrelenting and dour, a change from the comedic satire of Dawn. The survivors in the film fear that they are the last humans on the face of the earth, though in Land of the Dead, it is evident that this is not the case. Perhaps more prevalent than in the other films in the series, Day plays on the theme that humanity is a greater danger to itself than any outside threat. The living characters in the film are made up of three distinctive sects who have their own ideas regarding their predicament: soldiers who want to destroy the zombies, scientists who want to study them for a resolution, and civilians who want nothing more than to live out their last days without care. This causes friction and a lapse in cooperation as characters struggle with one another rather than work together to survive the world that has changed beyond their control. The violence and gore also reach a level of intensity that the two previous movies did not. Being killed by a zombie in this film is presented as a horrific, extremely painful and brutally drawn out ordeal.

Despite its lackluster critical reception, the film is noted for its special effects work, notably Tom Savini's make-up and special effects work; and it was honored in 1985 with a Saturn Award for Best Make-Up.

Plot

The film is set within an underground facility that now houses two warring factions of the living: a small group of scientists who are studying the living dead in hopes of stopping whatever is reanimating them, and a small group of soldiers who are growing increasingly despondent and volatile. The commanding officer is the dangerous Captain Rhodes, who is verbally abusive and shows signs of being on the verge of a complete breakdown. Sarah is one of the main scientists, and her lover is a soldier named Miguel Salazar.

The helicopter pilot John and his friend William McDermott live in a small trailer deeper inside the tunnel, away from the others, and remain neutral in the disagreements between the two other factions. Sarah learns that John and William have a simpler outlook on the situation, believing that the scientists are wasting their time when they should be finding a way to enjoy whatever life they have left. They would prefer to find an island some place and live as comfortably as possible.

File:CaptRhodes.jpg

The malicious Capt. Rhodes.

One particular tunnel complex of the underground compound has been used to corral zombies for study by the scientists. During an operation to retrieve a few undead “specimens,” Miguel is bitten, along with another soldier who is killed immediately by one of his comrades (the previous films have established that any bite from a zombie will inevitably lead to death, no matter what kind of medical attention is provided). Rhodes reluctantly allows Miguel to live after Sarah amputates his wounded arm with a machete, but Miguel lingers on in a feverish, unstable frame of mind.

One of the chief scientists, Dr. Logan, has been conducting experiments on the undead collected from the corral. He has been working with a zombie he has named “Bub” to see how much of his human mind he may have retained. Amazingly, Bub seems to respond to common objects, and even reveals a docile nature instead of simply viewing Logan as "food".

File:Bubgun.jpg

A progressive subject nicknamed "Bub".

Rhodes, who refers to Logan as "Dr. Frankenstein", is not impressed by his progress, and after he discovers that the doctor has been using his own deceased troops as food for the zombies, he shoots the doctor. Rhodes orders John to prepare the helicopter for evacuation, telling him that only the army personnel will be evacuated, and the scientists will be left in the silo to die. John refuses and Rhodes responds by immediately murdering another doctor, Fisher, by shooting him in the head. John realizes he must obey Rhodes. William and Sarah are taken to the holding corral and are forced inside with the undead. They make their way through the dark caverns and tunnels, trying to stay alive amongst the zombies who lurk there.

Meanwhile, the wounded and delirious Miguel has become completely unhinged and has made his way to the compound’s main elevator to the surface, deliberately opening the gates and leading the zombies into the complex. The dead advance immediately and kill Miguel. The distraction allows John to escape, taking the weapons from the two soldiers he knocks out (after deciding not to kill Rhodes), and running to help Sarah and William in the holding area. Together they find an alternate way to the surface through a large missile silo. The undead easily infiltrate the complex in overwhelming numbers. After seeing the infiltrating horde, Rhodes quickly flees, leaving his men behind to their own devices (essentially, to die). Two soldiers showing more fear than combat ability are quickly dispatched. Steel, Rhodes second in command, flees in the bunker and kills several zombies, but ends up being bitten, and kills himself. Meanwhile, Rhodes seeks refuge in another room, unaware that Bub has gotten free and acquired a M1911 pistol. Rhodes flees from Bub, but is shot twice. Rhodes tries to escape via a door, but is ambushed by a group of zombies. Bub shoots Rhodes in the liver. Bub lumbers away, while Rhodes is torn in two at the waist. Using what's left of his breath, Rhodes says, "Choke on 'em!" (an ad libbed line by Joseph Pilato) and dies. The camera then pans to the zombie horde eating the remains of the soldiers.

Then it shows Sarah, William, and John running towards the helicopter, as the dead slowly advance towards it. When they finally get there, several zombie hands immediately burst from the chopper doors as soon as Sarah opens it and grab her, then immediately Sarah wakes up on a tropical island beach with John and William, as if the whole movie was her dream. The movie ends with Sarah taking out a calendar that was shown at the beginning of the movie and marking it the 4th of November.

Original script & budget cut

The original script of Day of the Dead has been referred to by Romero as his "zombie epic". Taking place five years after Dawn of the Dead, the script featured a group of survivors living in an army base surrounded by electric fences in the jungle with several army posts and corales to secure the fenced areas (as opposed to those seen in the underground storage areas in the film). It also featured a large army of trained zombies that could be controlled and manipulated with food. At the end of the original script, the dead are no longer rising; this is never explained and all current zombies remain.

Problems arose, however, when the film studio that green-lit the production demanded that Romero release the film with an 'R' rating instead of without a rating, as he wanted. If he did so, the studio would give him a $7,000,000 budget to work with. Romero refused because he believed you could not have a good zombie movie without excessive gore and the studio compromised by allowing him to film as much gore as he wanted, but the budget would be cut drastically to $3,500,000. Romero accepted, adjusted the script to the new budget, and filming began in late 1984. According to Tom Savini, had they used a studio approved script to make the film more mainstream friendly, "it would have been like Raiders of the Lost Ark...but with zombies.". The original script was considerably more complex and ambitious, involving the training of zombies to fight other zombies. Most of the lost themes were carried over to 2005's Land of the Dead. A copy of the original script is available here.

Differences from previous films

The following differences have been noticed in Romero's zombie universe since Dawn of the Dead:

• Zombie film and Romero fans noted the change in zombie behavior in this film. Many of the zombies generally had a grey green color to their skin. This was done possibly to show the long term effects of decomposition and the elements. Another interesting change is the sudden increase in zombie strength. In both Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, the zombies were generally weak and easy to push past. In Day of the Dead, the zombies had the power to pull human limbs, heads and bodies apart with relative ease - leading some fans to call this the "Play-doh effect."
• This is the only George A. Romero zombie film in which a zombie actually has a line of dialogue. Bub the zombie slurs, "Hello, Aunt Alicia," when prompted by Dr. Logan.
• Day is the only film in Romero's Dead series which does not show people being bitten by a zombie and returning as zombies themselves. It is explained that by amputating the infected limb in time, the infection can be halted, preventing the victim from dying. (Technical note: in a Romero zombie film, zombie bites cause lethal infection, after which the victim rises as a zombie. Infection may also be possible through direct contact with internal zombie fluids. In Day, Dr. Logan wears precautionary medical gloves while handling his undead specimens.)

References to Dawn of the Dead

• In the scene change right after Logan tells the zombie that it needs to sit in the dark and think about what it did, and punishes it by turning off the light, a rendition of "The Gonk" (the mall music used at the end) from Dawn of the Dead can be heard (as performed by John Harrison).
• In the dinner scene, McDermott says that "all of the shopping malls are closed," a clear reference to the film's predecessor Dawn of the Dead, which is set primarily in a shopping mall.
• The character of John is referred to as "Flyboy" by Captain Rhodes, just as Stephen was in Dawn of the Dead.
• At the end of the film the survivors escape using a helicopter, similar to the ending of Dawn of the Dead.

Sequel

Day of the Dead was followed by an unofficial sequel in 2005, entitled Day of the Dead 2: Contagium

Remake

Day of the Dead (2008 film) has been in the works, but little information is known about the plot and the progress of the film seems to be on hold for the time being. A trailer was posted on youtube.com, but a release date has not been announced as of yet.

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References from other media

File:Deadwalk.jpg

A newspaper headline displaying: The Dead Walk in Resident Evil

• Near the end of the film 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.
• 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. My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult also sampled dialogue for a track on their album Confessions of a Knife.
• Due to the rights issue being owned by another studio, in an attempt to cash in on the name, Day of the Dead 2: Contagium was released through Taurus Entertainment. The film itself has nothing to do with any of the Romero movies although the box art claims otherwise.
• The film Resident Evil: Extinction references several plot elements including Bub, an underground facility, and a global outbreak.

Miscellaneous

• The book Dr. Logan gives to Bub is Stephen King's ’Salem's Lot. King is a good friend of Romero's and was reportedly to appear in the film as a zombie for a scene, but couldn't make it.
• All the zombie extras in the climax received a cap that read "I Played A Zombie In Day of the Dead", a copy of the newspaper from the beginning of the film (with the headline "THE DEAD WALK!"), and a one-dollar bill.

• Joseph Pilato is one of five actors to appear in more than one of Romero's Dead films (although he plays different characters). In Dawn of the Dead: Extended Cut he plays a police officer at the docks. (This has led some fans to speculate that it is the same character, though this has never been confirmed nor denied. However, it is unlikely because the character is not wearing military fatigues and has no clear affiliation with any branches of the military.) Taso Stavrokis appears in Dawn of the Dead and Day, also as different characters. Tom Savini reprised his role of "Blades" from Dawn of the Dead in Land of the Dead (however, since he dies in Dawn, he is a zombie in Land). John Amplas, who played the title role in Romero's Martin, appears in Dawn as a squatter and as Dr. Fisher in Day. Romero himself has appeared (uncredited) in the first three films and with a voice cameo in Land. Romero can be seen most clearly in at the beginning of Dawn working at the news station and from the chest down in Day as the zombie with a scarf when the dead are feasting upon the fallen soldiers.
• Rock group NRBQ play zombies in the film.
• The intestines seen in various scenes were actually real sets of pig intestines. After a crew member had supposedly accidentally left the guts in an unplugged refrigerator over the weekend, the intestines had become so vile and rotten that Joseph Pilato was nearly unable to complete the scene where Captain Rhodes is torn in half, due to the smell.
• Romero took Cinema '84 and the producers of The Return of the Living Dead to court for infringement over the title. Where as Romero was shooting Day, the court proceedings were taken in favor of Cinema '84 and the title was kept as the judge saw that Romero had two movies without "Living" in the title (Dawn & Day). Romero wanted nothing to do with Return - but a year later after Romero saw Return, he stated that he enjoyed the movie quite a bit.

Soundtrack

Composed and performed by John Harrison with vocals by Luther Vandross for tracks 5 and 6, this album was given a limited release of 3000 in 2002. It includes a 12 page booklet with some information from John Harrison and Romero regarding the score.

Track listing

• 1. The Dead Suite
• 2. Breakdown
• 3. Escape Invasion
• 4. The Dead Walk
• 5. If Tomorrow Comes
• 6. The World Inside Your Eyes
• 7. Deadly Beginnings
• 8. Diner of the Living Dead (Zombie Voice excerpts from the movie re-edited)
• 9. Dead Calm
• 10. Bub's 9th
• 11. Dead End

External links

• Day of the Dead at IMDb
• Template:Movie-Tome
• Original Day of the Dead script