Decades before The Walking Dead dominated TV, moviegoers relished George A. Romero’s Dead films. Night of the Living Dead became a cult sensation when it was released in 1968. It played for years as a midnight movie since there was no way a broadcast channel could run a film about the undead rising from their graves and feasting on the living. Even in black and white, the images were stomach churning to timid viewers peeking between their fingers. Romero went even further in 1978’s Dawn of the Dead with full color grotesque attacks courtesy of special effects wizard Tom Savini. In a theatrical world obsessed with trilogies, it was only natural that Romero would return to his zombie universe with Day of the Dead in 1985. How was humanity doing nearly 20 years since the first corpse returned to a life?
Sarah (Lori Cardille) finds herself looking out for a sign of life that isn’t an animated corpse. She flies around the East coast on a helicopter with John (Terry Alexander) and McDermott (Jarlath Conroy). The only thing moving are the decaying zombies eager for fresh flesh. After another futile search, the trio return to their base which is a joint military-science operation. While there are walkers at the fence, the camp is secured deep beneath the ground in a massive bunker complex. They aren’t entirely safe since Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty) and Dr. Fisher (John Amplas) are trying to uncover the cause of the phenomena. So they brought a few undead humans undernearth. They’re also seeing if there’s a chance to get the undead to act like they’re alive and do simple chores. Their prize pupil is “Bub” (Gary Sherman). He seems to be reacting well to a system of rewards for doing simple things. There’s also punishment for messing up. Bub doesn’t seem to care too much to being punished. The soldiers stuck deep below the surface are getting antsy about this whole process. They really don’t trust the scientists with their rehabilitation program. The life in the bunker is getting more and more tense. People are about to snap from subterranean cabin fever. Will anyone be alive if the undead ever break through security measures?
Surprisingly Day of the Dead didn’t do well at the box office. Why? Perhaps because it was too bleak for an ’80s crowd that wanted bright endings. Night of the Living Dead was a great scary film with an audience not expecting the extreme for the time effects. Dawn of the Dead had a bit of comedy with the mall walking zombies. Day of the Dead lacks the comedy and the shock of monsters that eats people innards. It’s a grim view of isolated survivors stranded in the middle of nowhere. There’s barely a glimmer of hope that the zombie situation is peaking. For all they know, they are the last people alive in the world. Is being stuck hundreds of feet under the earth the way they want to live? Dan O’Bannon’s comedic Return of the Living Dead came out a few weeks later and made over twice the box office as Romero’s zombie vision. That film had a fun punk rock soundtrack, plenty of humor and Linnea Quigley naked in a graveyard. But there’s no reason to wish for a lighter Day of the Dead. This is the attitude that needed to be presented at this stage of the Dead saga. This is the bleakness that has to come when there’s no quick fix for a Hell on Earth vision. What’s interesting is that so many of the aspects found in this movie have been used on The Walking Dead. Third season was all about people thinking that they can make the undead act like they did when they were alive. Such is the same case for Romero’s third installment of his Zombie saga. Day of the Dead is must see viewing for zombie lovers.
George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead: Collector’s Edition makes the case that the third installment of the series deserves the same respect as the first two films. This is also the one that recently played on MeTV’s House of Svengoolie (although with a bit of censoring). Now you can see it all and in 4K UHD. Make sure you get the original Day of the Dead and not the 2008 remake starring Nick Cannon (Masked Singer).
The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The transfer is a 4K restoration from the original interpositive. The upgraded image brings out the depth of the bunkers and the beauty of Tom Savini’s rotting creations. The audio includes Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono and DTS-HD MA 3.0 Stereo mix from the laserdisc. It’s a stark mix for a bleak movie. The movie is subtitled.
Audio Commentary is a reunion with Romero, Savini, production designer Cletus Anderson and star Lori Cardille discussing the film. They recount even more of what went into the third installment. There’s a second commentary track with Daniel Kruas and Drew McWeeny.
Blu-ray with movie and the audio commentaries.
World’s End: The Legacy of Day of the Dead (85:25) is a really indepth documentary about the film. Everything gets explored as Romero, cast and crew discuss what happened during the production and release of the third Dead movie. Romero mentions that certain elements of the original script were slid into Land of the Dead. We also learn that Ernest R. Dickerson worked second camera for the Florida shoot.
Interview with actor Lori Cardille (26:32) explains her dad was a horror host. She was not a fan of the genre. She met George Romero through her dad as a kid. Years later Romero would see her in a play with Mia Farrow. He offered her Day of the Dead after the curtain call. She talks about the original script.
Interview with Greg Nicotero (34:54) has him reflect on being an actor and assistant to Tom Savini. Greg met George Romero at a restaurant at Rome. At 15, Greg went up and explained how his uncle was in The Crazies. George told him to drop by the office back in Pittsburgh. Which he did. This led to him visiting Creepshow and hanging with Tom Savini. He was hired for Day of The Dead and took a semester off college to be Savini’s assistant. Greg is now the big force on The Walking Dead.
Interview with Composer and First Assistant Director John Harrison (28:41) which is an unusual combination of gigs on a movie set. Turns out he wanted to meet George after seeing someone puke at a movie theater. He hooked up with George on his athletes tv series. He started as assistant director and then got to composing the msuic.
Interview with Founder of the George A. Romero Foundation Suzanne Romero (25:58) has her supporting late husband’s legacy. She’s thrilled that Scream Factory discovered the interpositive for this 4K UHD release. There’s a horror studies program at the University of Pittsburgh. She supports projects about George’s films and work.
Interview with Actor John Amplas (8:22) has him talk about meeting George after appearing in a play. He rewrote the part for Amplas. They worked on six movies together. He praises his cast members including Lori Cardille.
Interview with 2nd Unit Cameraman Ernest Dickerson (15:27) has him talk about shooting the zombies in Ft. Meyers, Florida. He only had one day to do it all including the undead alligator. Turns out the alligator was very temperamental. He had been working on Romero’s Tales From the Darkside TV series. He landed that gig after shooting Brother From Another Planet. The TV show got him the Day of the Dead gig. He tells about the issue with the dailies screening.
Interview with Filmmaker Tina Romero (24:45) is George Romero’s daughter. She was learning to walk on the set of Day of the Dead. She points out which character in the film has her father’s spirit.
Monster Mania: Restoring Day of the Dead (29:21) talks about how twice, they thought they found the original elements only to discover it was the Nick Cannon remake.
Stink of the Dead (8:51) goes into what happened during the scene where a character was taken apart by the undead. Did everyone get violently ill during the scene? Greg Nicotero goes into the three things he provided for “guts.”
Behind the Scenes Footage (30:42) are the videos taken by Tom Savini. The master effects maker wanted to see how things were looking before they got the film back from the lab.
Wapum Mine Promotional Video (8:12) is the industrial pitch to the last hold out of humanity.The limestone caves do serve a purpose for industry.
Underground: A look Into the Day of the Dead Mines (7:37) is a visit to the mines with Cult Magazine. They talk with Skip Docchio, the facility tech for Day of the Dead. He has a few tales from the time Romero and crew set up deep below the Earth’s surface.
Theatrical Trailers (5:55) reminds the audience that Romero had previously made Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. There’s even a gag involving a zombie eating popcorn in a crowded movie theater that appears made for the trailer and not a lost scene.
TV Spots (1:35) are a trio of ads that will shock small children. The film was rated so that no one under 17 was allowed in the theater.
Still Galleries features behind the scenes photos, Locations, posters, lobby cards and oddities.
12 Reproduction Mini Lobby Cards are suitable for framing.
Scream Factory presents George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead: Collector’s Edition. Directed by: George A. Romero. Screenplay by: George A. Romero. Starring: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joe Pilato and Richard Liberty. Boxset Contents: 1 4K UHD disc and 3 Blu-ray discs. Running Time: 101 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Released: June 16, 2026.
