History Film / DayOfTheDead

* MadScientist: Dr. Matthew Logan, nicknamed "Frankenstein" by the soldiers, is the embodiment of this trope. He is so obsessed with his work he fails to consider how the soldiers will react to him cutting up their deceased comrades for his experiments.

* ForScience: Dr. Logan believes he can teach the zombies good manners - an obsession that comes to a head when the soldiers guarding the place finds out he's using the corpses of their fallen comrades as positive reinforcements.

* AfterTheEnd

* InNameOnly: Hoo boy... The creators basically took a supremely generic, Uwe Boll/SyFy original movie quality zombie flick and slapped on the "Day of the Dead" title and a few character names. This movie has literally NOTHING to do with the original in terms of plot, characters, themes, competence, scariness, etc, and at times seems to actively try to stray as far from the original as possible.

* BigBad: Dr Logan.

* DaylightHorror: Averted. The remake takes place entirely at night.

* ZombieApocalypse

''' 2008 Version'''

The movie opens with a group of [[DeathBySex teenagers are engaging in sexual activities]] in a disused bunker. Trevor's girlfriend wants to leave and so with Trevor being the transportation they all leave and find that the military has blocked off the town and there are a bunch of sick people in town. At the same time Private Bud and Corporal Cross go to visit Cross's mother who has become sick (Cross is Trevor's sister). Trevor and his girlfriend and the two privates end up taking their mother to the local hospital. At the hospital suddenly all the infected take a turn for the worse and turn into [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]] with super human strength and speed, their mother as well. Trevor and girlfriend rush over to a local radio station while Bud and Cross get stuck in a cupboard, after a quick AirVentPassageway escape they get out, rescue the teenagers and head over the bunker at the start of the film. Bud managed to get bit but doesn't turn against other humans. At the bunker [[spoiler: they find that the zombie attack all part of a government study of viruses]]. They managed to burn all the zombies in the bunker that have followed them and are last seen driving off into the distance.

Not to be confused with November 2, aka Día de los Muertos in [[UsefulNotes/{{Mexico}} Mexico]].

* AirVentPassageway: Averted. Not only do the zombies figure out this escape route immediately and destroy the vent from below, but one manages to follow them into it.
** Played straight in the remake, though a zombie does manage to follow them in and the ones on the floor make multiple attempts to break in (even picking up mops and brooms to poke at the vent).
* ApocalypticLog: In the original, when Sarah and Bill are searching through Logan's office, they decide to listen to his recorded lab notes, which quickly degenerate from clinical analysis of one of his zombie test subjects into an argument with his dead mother, where he claims that "[The zombies'] minds are talking to me," proving to them that the doctor has totally lost it.
** In the remake, the survivors find a scientist's video log in an underground medical facility, which shows him having a psychotic episode while apparently talking to a zombie.

* ArmiesAreEvil: The 1985 original. George Romero doesn't like the U.S. military at all, and it shows; none of the soldiers have any redeeming qualities. It could be argued that they were going insane after all the isolation and the threat of zombies.

* BullyingADragon: In the remake, as soon as the survivors figure out Bud isn't aggressive to humans, Salazar starts slapping him around gleefully. Nothing bad comes of it, but c'mon, WhatAnIdiot.
* ChekhovsGun:
** Bud in the remake tells a love interest that he is a vegetarian to impress her. Later on, [[spoiler:after he is bitten and turned into a zombie he doesn't eat people]], providing a [[AssPull justification]] for his [[spoiler:being a heroic zombie]].
** In the original, Bub is shown to remember portions of his life, including saluting, shaving, and the operation of a handgun. [[spoiler:That last one comes in handy]].

** A similar scene occurs in the remake with Bud, though he had not been shown to remember anything beyond following orders and his love of Sarah [[spoiler: and he only manages to distract the zombie long enough for her to escape anyways, rather than killing it, and is torn to shreds soon after.]]
* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner. "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8s7JAmLF4M Choke on 'em!]]"

** The slovenly DJ in the remake was played by Ian [=McNeice=], who you'd never guess was a classically trained British actor who spent four years with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

* GenreSavvy: Nick Cannon/Salazar. He is, in fact, extremely Genre Savvy, figuring out that bitten = zombie and BoomHeadshot rules within minutes of the outbreak.

** A few in the remake, most prominently [[spoiler: a screamer-esque appearance of a zombie right before the credits roll.]]

* NoFEMAResponse: The Army cordons off the town in the remake.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The remake takes this to the extreme. Not only are the zombies fast, they also have the ability to leap as high as a first floor window, and [[WallCrawl crawl across ceilings.]]

* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: [[spoiler:Ving Rhames was one of the only survivors of the ''Dawn of the Dead'' remake. Though not the same character, he appears in this movie and is killed very quickly.]]

* WeaksauceWeakness: In the remake, even the slightest contact with fire causes the zombies to instantly disintegrate.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: In the remake, zombies that were vegetarians in life not only do not eat people, but are completely harmless. This leads to a debate on whether or not the remaining humans should kill them anyway because, well, they're ''zombies''.
** That said, the "vegetarian" excuse isn't entirely confirmed.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The remake takes this to the extreme. Not only are the zombies fast, they also have the ability to leap as high as a first floor window, and [[CeilingCling crawl across ceilings.]]

''Film/DayOfTheDead'' (also known as ''George A. Romero's Day of the Dead'') is a 1985 horror film by director George A. Romero, the third of Romero's Living Dead movies. It is preceded by ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'' and ''Film/DawnOfTheDead''. George Romero describes the film as a "tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society". Steve Miner directed a remake which was released on February 15, 2008, and there is an official sequel called ''Day of the Dead 2: Contagium'' which nobody from the original movie had any involvement with.

* AssholeVictim: Captain Rhodes and his 3 remaining soldiers.

The movie opens with a group of [[DeathBySex teenagers are engaging in sexual activities]] in a disused bunker. Trevor's girlfriend wants to leave and so with Trevor being the transportation they all leave and find that the military has blocked off the town and there are a bunch of sick people in town. At the same time privates Bud and Cross go to visit Cross's mother who has become sick (Cross is Trevor's sister). Trevor and his girlfriend and the two privates end up taking their mother to the local hospital. At the hospital suddenly all the infected take a turn for the worse and turn into [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombies]] with super human strength and speed, their mother as well. Trevor and girlfriend rush over to a local radio station while Bub and Cross get stuck in a cupboard, after a quick AirVentPassageway escape they get out, rescue the teenagers and head over the bunker at the start of the film. Bub managed to get bit but doesn't turn against other humans. At the bunker [[spoiler: they find that the zombie attack all part of a government study of viruses]]. They managed to burn all the zombies in the bunker that have followed them and are last seen driving off into the distance.

* Played straight in the remake, though a zombie does manage to follow them in and the ones on the floor make multiple attempts to break in (even picking up mops and brooms to poke at the vent).

** In the remake, the survivors find a scientist's video-log in an underground medical facility, which shows him having a psychotic episode while apparently talking to a zombie.

** A similar scene occurs in the remake with Bud, though he had not been shown to remember anything beyond following orders and his love of Sarah [[spoiler: and he only manages to distract the zombie long enough for her to escape anyways, rather than killing it, and is torn to shreds soon after.[/url]

** The slovenly DJ in the remake was played by Ian McNeice, who you'd never guess was a classically trained British actor who spent four years with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

* WeaksauceWeakness: In the remake, even the slightest contact with fire causes the zombies to instantly disintegrate and their heads to explode.

* WeaksauceWeakness: In the remake, even the slightest contact with fire causes the zombies to instantly disintegrate.

* ShoutOut: "Logan" and "Bub", as if to dispel any doubt, the two are listed in the opening credits together. In fact, they are the only characters to be named in the opening credits.

* {{Hello}}: The plan to find survivors, summarized in a single word.

[[caption-width-right:325:[[AWorldwidePunomenon Dead men walking.]]]]

''DayOfTheDead'' (also known as ''George A. Romero's Day of the Dead'') is a 1985 horror film by director George A. Romero, the third of Romero's Living Dead movies. It is preceded by ''NightOfTheLivingDead'' and ''DawnOfTheDead''. George Romero describes the film as a "tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society". Steve Miner directed a remake which was released on February 15, 2008, and there is an official sequel called ''Day of the Dead 2: Contagium'' which nobody from the original movie had any involvement with.

-->'''Bill''': The power's off on the mainland now, in case you haven't heard. And all the [[DawnOfTheDead shopping malls]] are closed.