History YMMV / DayOfTheDead1985

*** 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 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 chiding of course) that she's trying to find a way to reverse/stop the process. A worthwhile goal if you ask me. 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!" in 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 NO WHERE that you can go where the Zombies AREN'T.
*** Also to add to that, if you take Land as canon, eventually the dead will work out they can walk under water, so an island isn't exactly safe.

* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Miguel, we don't know how long him and Sarah were together, but from the moment you see him he is a wreck, and his first proper speaking line towards her is him deriding her having more mental strength than him, while you do feel sorry for him, he is almost constantly abusive towards the one person who actually wants to help him, then he gets the base overan in what is clearly a TakingYouWithMe suicide whatever way you look at it, it's not like he didn't have some form of access to guns.

* CrowningMusicOfAwesome:

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Nearly everything, from the makeup on the zombies to the scenes of [[spoiler:Rhodes and his men being torn apart by said zombies]]. Tom Savini considers this movie his masterpiece and it's not hard to see why.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Nearly everything, from the makeup on the zombies to the scenes of [[spoiler:Rhodes and his men being torn apart by said zombies]].

** Was Migel's suicide via luring zombies to the base a {{Heroic Sacrifice}} to save Sarah and the pilots, or just him [[TakingYouWithMe deciding to kill himself while also killing everyone else in the process]]?

** The electronic score by John Harrison is very cold and clinical and very good at conveying the isolation and paranoia the main characters feel, particularly with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaNzmdPEyrg main theme]].

** Day of the Dead's electronic theme is very cold and clinical and very good at conveying the isolation and paranoia the main characters feel.

* VindicatedByHistory: Reception for this film was somewhat mixed, but as time's gone on people have begun to view it in a more positive way.

* MoralEventHorizon: Rhodes crosses it near the end of the film when he [[spoiler:kills Dr. Logan and Dr. Fisher, locks up Sarah and William in the zombie-infested caverns, and leaves what's left of his group to die when the zombies begin invading the compound.]]

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Practically everything, from the makeup on the zombies to the scenes of [[spoiler:Rhodes and his men being torn apart by said zombies]].

* SpecialEffectsFailure: Sometimes, when a zombie would get shot, we would see the blood coming out the back of their heads but we would never see the bullet hole in their foreheads.

** In the original, Captain Rhodes: a complete 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?

* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** Captain Rhodes, as with the other soldiers, is initially introduced as your typical {{Jerkass}} military meathead who really couldn't care less about the scientists' problems. In the meeting scene soon afterwards, he orders Steele to shoot Sarah for disobeying his orders. Steele takes it as a joke, so Rhodes makes it quite clear that he's not joking when he threatens to kill Steele instead. The other soldiers are not too likable either, but even they're clearly shocked to find out their leader doesn't enjoy defiance too much.
* FakeNationality:
** (1985 version) Terry Alexander was born and raised in Detroit, but pulls off an excellent Caribbean accent. Funnily enough, Roger Ebert thought that Jarlath Conroy's Irish accent was fake and commented as such in his initial review, even though Conroy is actually a native Irishman.
** (2008 version) The DJ 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.
* HamToHamCombat: Any scene with both Rhodes and Logan in it is practically made of ham.

** Captain Rhodes, as with the other soldiers, is initially introduced as your typical JerkAss military meathead who really couldn't care less about the scientists' problems. In the meeting scene soon afterwards, he orders Steele to shoot Sarah for disobeying his orders. Steele takes it as a joke, so Rhodes makes it quite clear that he's not joking when he threatens to kill Steele instead. The other soldiers are not too likable either, but even they're clearly shocked to find out their leader doesn't enjoy defiance too much.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: In the original, Captain Rhodes: a complete 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?

* RootingForTheEmpire: A good proportion of viewers/fans find themselves rooting for Rhodes and co. towards the end.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: 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]].

* TheWoobie: Bub.

* {{Sequelitis}}: The original film, while perhaps not considered an all-time classic, is certainly regarded as one of the better zombie films out there. By contrast, ''Contagium'' is widely felt to be absolute crap, and the remake arguably even '''worse'''.

* ToughActToFollow: This film's reception was mixed, in contrast to the first two films, which are nearly universally acclaimed, genre-defining works. Interestingly, this would later apply to Romero's 2000s ''Dead'' trilogy, of which only the [[Film/LandOfTheDead first film]] is not critically reviled, and which is agreed to not hold up against the more solid trilogy of ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead Night]]'', ''[[Film/DawnOfTheDead Dawn]]'' and this film.