Resurrected: ‘Day of the Dead’ 35 Years Later

Day of the Dead | United Film Distribution Company
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There was a time, maybe just seven years ago, when I would title this article “The Unpopular Opinion.” I would have to make some grandiose persuasive argument as to why Day of the Dead (1985) is the chef d’oeuvre of George A. Romero’s original Dead trilogy and convince you, critical horror cinephiles, that Day reached a level of cinematic depth, FX mastery, societal synecdoche, and storytelling above those that came before. However, I believe the tide has turned, and there exists a recognition that Romero’s personal favorite zombie fantasy is the magnum opus it has always been, since 1985. 

This is going to sound arrogant, but for me, Day of the Dead has always been my favorite Dead film. There’s something hauntingly claustrophobic about the research cave setting juxtaposed by the vacation-worthy Florida tropics above. A muted irony prevails as we dive into a tale of very human madness. It’s also conceptually mature, marrying many ideas only touched upon in his previous installments.

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Romero introduces us to a world where the fantastic and reality meet, and, for the first time in his zombie fair, glimpses the dreams of our protagonist. The fears ever present in her life actualized in the first moments of the film as Sarah (Lori Cardille), trapped behind four starkly white brick walls stares at a calendar – all the days crossed out –  until the moment the undead literally break through the walls and grasp at her reality. And it just builds from there, setting up pieces like a game of Battleship where, at any moment, the entire operation sinks.

The threats come from all sides, as the unhinged Rhodes (Joseph Pilato) grows impatient, the Military team more reckless, Miguel (Anthony Delio Jr.) more hopeless, and Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty) more ambitious with his experimentation. All to say nothing of the actual zombie horrors trapped with them, hiding in their dark cave mere 2×4’s away from eating them alive. More than just farmhouse squabbles about who gets the gun or lotus eating in a mall for days on end, Day envelopes a hopelessness, a ticking clock to Armageddon, that makes every moment heavy, meaningful, and captivating. 

And despite all of this doom and gloom storywise, Romero and Tom Savini both praised the time they spent on the film as some of the most fun they ever had on set. Savini, in his interview in Fangoria #47, celebrated his crew as the best he’s ever worked with. And it’s easy to see why. This would mark the first official outing of Greg Nicotero as a full-fledged team member and Savini’s right-hand man. Howard Berger was recommended to come on board – introducing two founding members of now legendary KNB EFX Group. John Vulich, who had done nothing more than provide the masks in Tommy’s room for F13: The Final Chapter (uncredited), followed Savini to Day and now has an incredible list of indelible credits. I could go on, suffice it to say the FX team was a solid group of all-around aces in their craft. At the time of its release, critics applauded the effects as the film’s only achievement, with spattered guts and anatomical grotesques set up like paintings at the Louvre. The film itself, however, got a different reception. 

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Romero would often share Day as his favorite Dead film. He loved the crew, the cast, the commitment. Despite having a script with sweeping scale and conflict (a script never produced in entirety and actually available to read online), Romero took half the offered budget so Day of the Dead could be released “unrated” like his previous entries (the producers wanted an “R”). This subsequently cut almost half his intended story. Some of the original mascinations can be felt in Land of the Dead, with battle sequences and organized zombie hoards, and I’ve often heard it lamented that this script wasn’t realized. It’s a sentiment that I don’t entirely agree with, as the taught drama the story produces may have seen some muddling with a script of his original scope. However, it appears the cutting of the script led to what one might call today an unfair critical reception. The story was called “malnourished” and “clustered,” reduced down to a series of “windy arguments” that came off as the “least interesting” of all Romero’s works to this point. 

And yet, 35 years later, it’s hard to feel what-in-the-zombie-hell any of these critics were talking about. 

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Joseph Pilato’s aggressive and authoritative portrayal of Rhodes is downright Pacino-esque, undulating between shouting orders and soft-speaking demands that are halting as they are hilarious. As instigator of much of the arguing, he’s often thwarted by Dr. Logan’s childlike glee in his scientific works, contrasting Rhodes’ spectacle with amusement and charm. John (Terry Alexander) and Bill (Jarlath Conroy) vacationing away in their island caravan retreat also offer a repose from the intensity, putting their predicament in a grand perspective that falls beyond the confining walls of the research cave.

The pacing is exquisitely driven, with small set pieces being expertly driven through Sarah’s interpretation, and her struggle to deal with their predicament that she ultimately has no control over. Everyone is moving around Sarah, dealing with internal battles and motives that force her strength and ultimate action of saving Miguel’s life. It’s a philosophical tale about mistrust, hate, and misunderstanding, less outwardly political than Night and Dawn, and aims to answer what it means to be human and what our legacies will be when the world finally ends. How anyone would say Day isn’t interesting is simply beyond comprehension. 

This vision is most actualized, and almost wholesome, in the very first on-screen hero-zombie, Bub, played with endearing sentimentality by character actor Sherman Howard. Bub comes as both an evolution to the zombies presented in previous Dead films, but also a compassionate contrast to Rhodes and his men. Bub is more civil and respectful than they are, offering a from-memory salute when he sees a uniform that fails to be returned. He sees wonder in the encapsulated world, and there’s a sense of hope instilled in what he could become. And it’s downright jump-out-of-your-chair cheer-worthy when he and Rhodes face off at the climax of the story. 

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All of this is scored with island-synth-rock optimism put forth by assistant director and composer John Harrison. Harrison started work on the score with the original script, in which more of the action took place above ground with a tropical Florida feel. Once the script was dissected, Romero and Harrison made the decision to keep the anempathetic music, which evolved into an iconic and diverse masterscore of horror cinema. It’s as haunting as it is melodic and, as you may assume, was lauded by critics as distracting and thoughtless (an assertion that some critics would later apologize for). 

Day of the Dead went largely unnoticed upon initial theatrical run, and notedly did not receive critical appeal. Its ultimate legacy would come to fruition through its home video releases, the most recent and beauteous incarnation being Shout Factory!’s 2013 Blu-ray incarnation. Many fans are recognizing Day as the ultimate culmination of Romero’s trilogy, regarding it as a truly poetic and thought-provoking conclusion. And begging the questions, do we make it to the island paradise, or is it just the final dream that passes through our mind as the world devours us? 

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I would be remiss, and perhaps my constant readers would be disappointed, if I didn’t take a moment to recognize the relevancy and necessity to rewatch Day of the Dead in our current time. The divides that rattle us, grasp for authority at our throats and demand compliance, while we try to navigate a new world order are exemplary of the fable Romero casts so defiantly. Though the political arguments could be made, the philosophical recognition of what it means to be human, to feel and experience our lives, are poignant and significant. Poignant because our world is smaller and more connected than ever, and you can cast the villains and you can cast the heroes for yourself, but it will only tear you apart. The world is moving around us and, much like Sarah, our actions are no longer planned by ourselves despite the agency we try to take, they are only reactions to the world we’re living in. And what do we do when we’ve lost that control? In the eternal words of John, “You ain’t never gonna figure it out, just like they never figured out why the stars are where they’re at…Let’s get in that old whirly-bird, find us an island some place, get juiced up and spend what time we got left soakin’ up some sunshine! How’s that?” 


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1 COMMENT

  1. Hi there!

    I did a “Day of the Dead” thing, hoping to raise awareness for the film! Would love to share it with you!!

    Email me?

    In the meanwhile, my “Day of the Dead” thing-y in the YouTube link down below. Enjoy!
    https://youtu.be/b8REO5MXJ7E

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