History YMMV / DayOfTheDead1985

* OlderThanTheyThink: ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', the previous installment, was the first to feature a thinking zombie (an honor many fans think Bub holds in this movie) in the form of the Hare Krishna zombie as he's seen heading towards the door Stephen went out of instead of following him like his other fellow zombies. In addition, when Stephen becomes a zombie, he is smart enough to lead the other living dead to the hideout where Peter and Fran are.

** She antagonises the soldiers by being as provocative and antagonistic as possible, while talking big about getting along and cooperating -- which the soldiers ''had been'', despite losing more and more of their men.

** Several of the characters from the original script who didn't make it into the final movie (including HandicappedBadass Spider, WideEyedIdealist zombie behavioral training assistant Julie, LargeHam WastelandWarlord Governor Dickerson, and Diesel TheBigGuy and CombatMedic) enjoy decent reputations among the Romero fanbase.

** Several of the characters from the original script who didn't make it into the final movie (including HandicappedBadass Spider, WideEyedIdealist zombie behavioral training assistant Julie, and Diesel TheBigGuy and CombatMedic) enjoy decent reputations among the Romero fanbase.

* OlderThanTheyThink: ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', the previous installment, was the first to feature a thinking zombie in the form of the Hare Krishna zombie as he’s seen heading towards the door Stephen went out of instead of following him like his other fellow zombies. In addition, when Stephen becomes a zombie, he is smart enough to lead the other living dead to the hideout where Peter and Fran are.

** Rhodes also makes some good points which are not addressed, but treated as wrong because he's the DesignatedVillain. And it should be pointed out that he was, reluctantly, cooperating, and he ''does'' have every right to ask the question on what his men risking their lives is achieving -- and when the science team claim they are not far away from progress he does grant them more time. While this does not excuse his actions, it should also be pointed out that his worst moment pre-breakdown was incited by Sarah undermining him in front of his men by repeatedly ignoring a request to sit down and answer his questions and indulging his request for the meeting. His breakdown? Discovering the remains of his men are being fed to zombies in experiments... and he doesn't ever seem to have discovered this isn't the worst thing Logan was doing.

* FanPreferredCutContent: The original script (which many fans hold out hope may one day be used for a remake) has an EpicMovie feel and more scientists, soldiers, civilians, and trained zombies (and more morally grey characters in the first three groups) and a prison break plot reads that like it could have been significantly better than the final version, even to people who actually liked the finished film. However, studio executives felt it would have cost too much to make and told Romero to either cut down on the budget by eliminating scenes, characters, and set pieces, or cut down on the gore from unrated to R-rated levels so they could release the film for more moviegoers and recoup a bigger budget, leading to the version that got filmed when Romero chose the former.

** Several of the characters from the original script who didn't make it into the final movie (including HandicappedBadass Spider, WideEyedIdealist zombie behavioral training assistant Julie, and Diesel TheBigGuy) enjoy decent reputations among the Romero fanbase.

* FanPreferredCutContent: The original script has an EpicMovie feel and more scientists, soldiers, civilians, and trained zombies (and more morally grey characters in the first three groups) and a prison break plot reads that like it could have been significantly better than the final version, even to people who actually liked the finished film. However, studio executives felt it would have cost too much to make and told Romero to either cut down on the budget by eliminating scenes, characters, and set pieces, or cut down on the gore from unrated to R-rated levels so they could release the film for more moviegoers and recoup a bigger budget, leading to the version that got filmed when Romero chose the former.

** In the original, Captain Rhodes: a monster? Or a man at the end of his patience doing the best he can with what little he has to try to put order into a society that has degenerated into chaos?

* FanPreferredCutContent: * The original script has an EpicMovie feel and more scientists, soldiers, civilians, and trained zombies (and more morally grey characters in the first three groups) and a prison break plot reads that like it could have been significantly better than the final version, even to people who actually liked the finished film. However, studio executives felt it would have cost too much to make and told Romero to either cut down on the budget by eliminating scenes, characters, and set pieces, or cut down on the gore from unrated to R-rated levels so they could release the film for more moviegoers and recoup a bigger budget, leading to the version that got filmed when Romero chose the former.

* FanPreferredCutContent: * The original script of ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'' has an EpicMovie feel and more scientists, soldiers, civilians, and trained zombies (and more morally grey characters in the first three groups) and a prison break plot reads that like it could have been significantly better than the final version, even to people who actually liked the finished film. However, studio executives felt it would have cost too much to make and told Romero to either cut down on the budget by eliminating scenes, characters, and set pieces, or cut down on the gore from unrated to R-rated levels so they could release the film for more moviegoers and recoup a bigger budget, leading to the version that got filmed when Romero chose the former.

* FanPreferredCutContent: The original script has an EpicMovie feel and more scientists, soldiers, civilians, and trained zombies (and more morally grey characters in the first three groups) and a prison break plot reads that like it could have been significantly better than the final version, even to people who actually liked the finished film. However, studio executives felt it would have cost too much to make and told Romero to either cut down on the budget or cut down on the gore from unrated to R-rated levels it so they could release the film for more moviegoers and recoup a bigger budget, leading to the version that got filmed.

* FanPreferredCutContent: The original script has an EpicMovie feel and more scientists, soldiers, civilians, and trained zombies (and more morally grey characters in the first three groups) and a prison break plot reads that like it could have been significantly better than the final version, even to people who actually liked the finished film. However, studio executives felt it would have cost too much to make and told Romero to either cut down on the budget or cut down on the gore to make it so they could release the film for more moviegoers, leading to the version that got filmed.

* DesignatedVillain: Rhodes, at least initially before his VillainousBreakdown which itself prompted by the scientist team's actions, specifically Logan's. While there's no denying that he's a {{Jerkass}}, one can't help sympathize with his situation. He's the leader what could be what little remains of the US military struggling to keep what remains of humanity alive, reluctantly doing the dangerous job of catching live zombies for a MadScientist and losing men in the process, all the while struggling not to crack under the sheer bleakness of their living conditions. Even his opinion that it's pointless to try and cure or domesticate zombies in an attempt to rebuild society is an opinion shared by the much more likable John, albeit with a lot more salt and shouting.

* TooBleakStoppedCaring: The characters from the previous two films had their flaws, but some of them were still nice. In this third movie, we have the military, who are horrible people who only know how to answer everything on the basis of violence. And then we have the scientists, who are debatably less then noble for making irrational decisions that don’t help anybody, and whose boss is a madman who is teaching zombies to be docile and smarter, and feeds them with bits and pieces of their dead friends. Not surprisingly, many viewers hope that the zombies will kill them all.

* VanillaProtagonist: While Sarah gets some respect for being an ActionGirl and the OnlySaneWoman, because she is the OnlySaneWoman, she can come across as less distinctive and memorable than her two fellow scientists, the neurotic soldiers, and the StepfordSmiler pilots.

** Miguel. He's under constant pressure from the army, the fact that he sees nothing but zombies all over, does not want to sleep, gets bit, has the infected arm cut off with no anesthetic and to top it off losing his mind from the beginning to the end of the movie.

* ContestedSequel: By far the most polarizing film in Romero’s original "Living Dead trilogy", though it isn’t helped that it’s a part 3 coming after [[ToughActToFollow two universally acclaimed films]]. It has its detractors who hate it for being too dark and cynical, as well as having both less interesting and detestable characters making it hard to root for anybody. However, it’s also got its fans who love it ''because'' it’s a [[TrueArtIsAngsty bleaker film]] [[DarkerAndEdgier than before]], and for having some of Romero’s best commentary and Savini’s best effects. All this, however, has lessened over the years after the more divisive nature of ''[[Film/LandOfTheDead Land]]'', ''[[Film/DiaryOfTheDead Diary]]'' and ''[[Film/SurvivalOfTheDead Survival]]''.

** Also, just what makes the scientists and helicopter pilots any more nobler then the army guys? They act out of selfishness and make irrational decisions as well, yet somehow they're portrayed as the good guys in the movie.

*** But the pilots at least stick up for Sarah when the soldiers threaten her.
*** The pilots are the only sensible ones because the film essentially depicts the zombie threat as having won already. The scientists are wasting time trying to understand them, the soldiers are basically embroiled in a dick-measuring contest, and the pilots just want to live out the rest of their lives peacefully. And in DOTD's world, that is arguably the most sensible option.
*** Except the scientists are the only ones trying to do something useful. We don't get to see much of what Sarah is doing, but Dr. Logan flat out states (a bit chidingly, of course) that she's trying to find a way to reverse/stop the process. Certainly a worthwhile goal. Copter pilot John's suggestion to take off and "Find us an island someplace and spend what time we got left soakin' up some sunshine!" is moronic at best. Okay John, you've found your island. Better hope no one else found it. Oh, and how about that tropical weather? Hurricanes and the like are a real possibility. Infections can run wild in a hot, humid setting, so you'd better hope you don't get injured because you've left your medical bay behind. Where's your food, John? Where is your clean, drinkable water? Where are all the supplies that your fortified base was stocked with? Dr. Logan's question remains: "Where will you go?" Because guess what? There is absolutely NOWHERE that you can go where the Zombies AREN'T.
*** Based on the increasing mental instability of Rhodes, the food and clean, drinkable water question becomes moot, especially after John and Billy side with Sarah over the Miguel situation. Also, John TALKS a big game, but makes no effort to really push to leave. Honestly, the decision really takes hold not from John, but from BILLY, when he listens to Logan's recording and realizes he's completely nuts and he's really nowhere near a solution to the problem. The need to leave then escalates to a HAVE to leave scenario once Rhodes completely snaps and threatens John at gunpoint.
*** Also to add to that, if you take ''[[Film/LandOfTheDead Land]]'' as canon, eventually the dead will work out they can walk under water, so an island isn't exactly safe either.
** The difference, as far as the movie depicts, is that the soldiers are quickly reverting to basic animal survival, while the scientists and the pilots are trying to retain as much of the civilized society as they can. Rhodes is an ineffectual bully who can only exert authority through threats but has no kind of plan or vision of his own. The scientists are at least trying to do something constructive and not succumb to infighting.
*** But then it doesn't help that the likes of Frankenstein resort to subterfuge in order to get what they need. If he'd been more open and told Rhodes what he was doing with the corpses - even ''asked'' to use the corpses of the soldiers, he likely wouldn't have been killed. Certainly Rhodes and his men are more irrational, depicted as being more aggressive, but the scientists don't cooperate either. The two pilots with their little spot of paradise tucked away in the facility are more neutral, since they aren't obsessed with asserting their authority, nor are they obsessed with trying to figure out an 'enemy' who by Frankenstein's calculations render any efforts to control or understand the zombies a moot point. What's the point of Frankenstein's research, after all? You could never implement that on a scale large enough to win.
*** The scientists generally come across as devoted to the mission to the point of insanity, with Rhodes having some valid points that are never given any serious rebuttal. Logan's solution would never be scalable. Sarah's attempt to reverse the process would never work; you are not bringing a decaying corpse back to life as the person was, the absolute best case scenario would be some means of immunity to whatever cause spreads the infection, and at this stage with near 100% infected and complete societal collapse it would be ''essentially useless''. To say nothing of how they have incredibly limited manpower and resources. Even if a cure was somehow miraculously developed with zero resources, with no infrastructure, logistics, and manufacturing capability, how would it ever be distributed? Or even just sharing any knowledge gained. It was a fool's errand to begin with. Rhodes is correct when he points out his men are having their lives risked on a SenselessSacrifice. It's hard to blame them for being at least somewhat antagonistic for being subjected to infection or being EatenAlive, and having watched multiple comrades lose their lives. And when he even asks what's being achieved with all this risk, a question he is fully entitled to ask considering his men are risking their lives, he gets vague statements and non answers, and treated as an idiot for questioning this when he's ''completely correct'' in doing so. And while all this doesn't excuse his actions, it should be noted that several of the scientists almost go out their way to antagonise him.

*** Assuming Cooper died of something other than being bitten. As commanding officer, he may have decided to wait until he turned before being executed. Sarah's lack of surprise over his death may have been because he was bitten and isolated and his turning was only a matter of time.

* DesignatedVillain: While there's no denying that Rhodes is a {{Jerkass}}, one can't help sympathize with his situation. He's the leader what could be what little remains of the US military struggling to keep what remains of humanity alive, reluctantly doing the dangerous job of catching live zombies for a MadScientist and losing men in the process, all the while struggling not to crack under the sheer bleakness of their living conditions. Even his opinion that it's pointless to try and cure or domesticate zombies in an attempt to rebuild society is an opinion shared by the much more likable John, albeit with a lot more salt and shouting.

*** The scientists generally come across as devoted to the mission to the point of insanity, with Rhodes having some valid points that are never given any serious rebuttal. Logan's solution would never be scalable. Sarah's attempt to reverse the process would never work; you are not bringing a decaying corpse back to life as the person was, the absolute best case scenario would be some means of immunity to whatever cause spreads the infection, and at this stage with near 100% infected and complete societal collapse it would be ''essentially useless''. To say nothing of how they have incredibly limited manpower and resources. Even if a cure was somehow miraculously developed with zero resources, with no infrastructure, logistics, and manufacturing capability, how would it ever be distributed? Or even just sharing any knowledge gained. It was a fool's errand to begin with. Rhodes is correct when he points out his men are having their lives risked on a SenselessSacrifice. It's hard to blame them for being at least somewhat antagonistic for being subjected to infection or being EatenAlive, and having watched multiple comrades lose their lives.

** The difference, as far as the movie depicts, is that the soldiers are quickly reverting to basic animal survival, while the scientists and the pilots are trying to retain as much of the civilized society as they can. Rhodes is an ineffectual bully who can only excert authority through threats but has no kind of plan or vision of his own. The scientists are at least trying to do something constructive and not succumb to infighting.

** People try to make a case for the original Rhodes. Just look at [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088993/board/thread/147583408?d=147583408&p=1#147583408 this discussion]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: Captain Rhodes is played by Joe Pilato, the future dub voice of [[Anime/DigimonAdventure MetalGreymon]].

* UncannyValley: Torrez's head when the zombies are ripping it off invokes this, but to its credit, it only helps in making the scene even ''more'' horrifying to watch.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: A weird example; the grainy footage on the original VHS copies had an unfortunate side effect of obscuring bullet holes in certain scenes, making it look like the characters were never shot at all. The "lighter and brighter" Blu-Rays now make it clear that there were entrance wounds (such as when Miller is shot).