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7
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9 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Kevin
Novinski |
Anchor
Bay Entertainment continues their DiviMax series with the third,
and tentatively final, installment in George A. Romero's "Dead"
saga, Day Of The Dead. Since its
1985 release the film has frequently been overlooked by many
horror fans and fans of the Dead series alike. Romero and his
crew attempt to pull out all the stops in this one, including
topnotch zombie/make-up effects — no blue-faced ghouls here
as in the previous film, Dawn
Of The Dead. The acting won't win any Academy Awards
(and can actually get rather shrill at times), but what can
one say about a George Romero film? In a way, Romero achieved
what he wanted to with Day by making
not just some of the characters depressing, but the entire atmosphere
along with it. Rest assured, though, zombie/gore fans won't
be let down.
The film begins
with a young woman alone in a desolate white room as the opening
credits appear on screen accompanied by a repeating unsettling
soundtrack in the background. After some time the woman begins
the rise from her seated position and walks across the floor
toward a calendar hanging on the wall. She moves her hand over
the calendar. It is just then that a horde of undead arms smash
through the wall, reaching for her. We are then tossed out of
what was a dream and back into reality.
The woman's
name is Sarah (played by Lori
Cardille, daughter of Bill Cardille, the TV news correspondent
in Romero's original Night Of The Living
Dead). She's a
governmental scientist, riding in a helicopter along with three
other men. The group is flying across Florida trying to find
any signs of life left in the world. From above, it appears
that locating anyone alive is hopeless... The living dead walk
the streets below. The helicopter sets down on a deserted street
where Sarah and a soldier, Miguel (Antone DiLeo), use a bullhorn
to try and signal any remaining humans. A few tries with the
bullhorn only summons a legion of zombies that inhabit the city.
Having no choice but to return to the helicopter, they depart.
Upon
returning to their fortified underground military base, Sarah,
along with Miguel, is asked to help and collect a few of the
walking dead for scientific experiments, which are being conducted
by the psychotic Dr. Logan. The zombies are kept in a cavern,
a segregated area of the underground complex which is separated
from the survivors' living quarters by a large wooden fence.
One of the soldiers, Steel (G. Howard Klar), begins to taunt
the zombies upon arriving at the fence, but they don't come
toward him. Because of this Sarah and the others begin to realize
that the ghouls can learn things over a period of time. More
vulgar taunts are hurled as the creatures begin to shuffle towards
the fence. An emotionally unstable Miguel takes up a pole, used
to keep the zombies beyond arm's length, much to the disapproval
of Sarah. Quickly, one of the zombies is attached to the pole
by the collar around its neck and reeled in through the fence.
Miguel can no longer hold the zombie away from the other soldiers
and accidentally loses his grip; the thing is now loose inside
the perimeter. Sarah quickly picks up the pole and gets the
zombie under control while an angry Steel grabs Miguel and threatens
to feed him to the zombies. Sarah tells the bully to back off
or else she'll shoot him dead. Miguel is soon released by an
extremely pissed-off Steel. Later on we're introduced to Captain
Rhodes (Joseph Pilato), a power-mad officer who wants results
—
pronto —
for the time, effort, and casualties spent on the scientific
experiments being conducted. Sarah pleads to have Miguel temporarily
relieved of duty due to his instability but is only met with
profanity-laced insults from Rhodes. (There is a lot of
cursing in this film.) She soon leaves, against Rhodes' orders,
and decides to visit "Dr. Frankenstein" to find out
exactly what he's been up to.
Sarah visits
Dr. Logan (The
Crazies' Richard Liberty),
an obviously cracked scientist who's determined to find out
what makes the dead walk the earth. He schools her on how he's
discovered the secret to teaching the zombies to act beyond
their "primitive" instincts; even going as far as
teaching them to not attack the living. Following his speech,
Sarah pleads to see preliminary results of his bizarre experiments,
telling Logan that the soldiers are growing impatient and increasingly
hostile to the scientists — the situation could get violent.
Suddenly a cadaver on one of the lab's operating tables rises
up, reaching for Sarah. Dr. Logan immediately picks up a drill
and shoves it into the zombie's forehead, killing it instantly.
I apologize but I cannot tell you anymore of the story without
giving away the really interesting stuff...
Overall, the
film packs a good wallop for gore freaks and just plain horror
fans in general. Those who are looking for a film of the likes
of Dawn Of The Dead... sorry, you
won't find it here. Day features
substantially less humor, satire and social commentary. But
it is this film that Romero calls the goriest and most underrated
of his "Dead" epics.
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To
start off, I'd like to address the controversial audio editing
issue, which has gotten many die-hard Deadheads angry. Unless
you know the entire script from beginning to end you'll most likely
not pick up on the change to the original dialog. There aren't
many adjustments, just small tidbits here and there. (Example:
for some reason the word "Shit!" is changed to "Right!"
in one passage of dialog.) The soundtrack is excellent and is
far better than that of the old Anchor Bay release. Day
is finally given a Dolby Digital 5.1 audio mix along with a very
interesting commentary track featuring Romero, gore effects maestro
Tom Savini, production designer Cletus Anderson, and star Lori
Cardille. The track will be most interesting to those new to the
film and the lore surrounding it. A second commentary track by
director Roger Avary doesn't contribute much of anything.
The picture is superb, right up there with the sound quality,
and is anamorphic widescreen to boot. The transfer is sharper,
compared to the older release, and the colors are beautiful and
vibrant. Disc # 2 is packed to the brim with special features,
many of which are not available on any other previous release.
Firstly, Anchor Bay has produced an all new 39-minute documentary
featuring interviews with many of the cast and crew about their
experiences and enjoyment making Day Of
The Dead. This worthwhile documentary provides loads of
information about the filming and locations. A behind-the-scenes
featurette, running 31 minutes, consists of rare footage shot
by Tom Savini during his special effects sessions on the set and
is rather interesting for those who ask, "How did they
do that?" We also get every theatrical trailer ever used
in America, along with TV spots.
An extensive library of production, behind-the-scenes,
advertising art, memorabilia, zombie make-up, and continuity photos
is also included. As usual, Anchor Bay includes a text biography
of director Romero. Nothing new here. Last, but certainly not
least, a DVD-ROM extra is accessible for PC users. It provides
production memos and the entire original screenplay, which was
rejected for being far too violent and expensive. A special note
for those film completists out there: the original Day
Of The Dead DVD includes extra behind-the-scenes footage
that is not available on the new disc. After almost two years
of the original Anchor Bay release being out of print, and going
over $60 on auction sites, we finally get a well deserved re-release
that's well worth the buy (especially since it retails for under
$25). 9/23/03 |
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