History Film / DayOfTheDead

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->''"We don't have enough ammunition to 'shoot them all in the head'. The time to have done that would have been at the beginning. No, we let them overrun us. They ''have'' overrun us, you know. We're in the minority now. Something like 400,000 to 1 by my calculations."''
-->-- '''Doctor Logan'''

''Day of the Dead'' (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 [[Film/DayOfTheDead2008 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.

An [[ZombieApocalypse undead apocalypse]] has ravaged the Earth whilst America's last surviving humans study them from within an underground military establishment. The survivors in the film are horrified at the prospect that they "are the only ones left", creating a crisis within human civilization over whether or not the idea of human society should be continued or abandoned. The living characters in the film are made up of three distinctive groups, each of whom have been given a task by the government - but since the government is no longer providing oversight (and may no longer exist) each group is becoming increasingly subject to temptations that go beyond their instructions. The scientists have been ordered to find a resolution to the epidemic but are tempted to violate nature's boundaries guarding life and death, soldiers who are assigned to protect the doctors appointed to study the zombies but are tempted to enforce fascistic martial law and destroy the specimens in an act of rebellion, and the civilians who are assigned to serve both groups with basic though necessary services like transportation and communication but are tempted to abandon the cause and, instead, live out their last days in reckless abandon.

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

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!! This movie contains examples of:

* ApocalypticLog: 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.
* AssholeVictim: Captain Rhodes, Steele and Rickles.
* ArmiesAreEvil: George Romero's less than flattering opinion on the US military is particularly obvious in this film; 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, or that all the ''decent'' soldiers have either died heroic deaths already, or deserted in hope of protecting their loved ones elsewhere.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Pretty much the reason why Bub didn't harm Dr. Logan.
* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with Sarah having nightmares about being attacked by zombies, and with her looking at calendars.
* BreakTheHaughty: Rhodes starts out big and bad when it comes to bullying the living, treating the Zombie situation like an active war zone. However upon facing Bub who is armed, he's reduced to running, screaming and getting wounded, before becoming a screaming mess when faced with an Overrun. He does get a cool line in the end though.
* ChekhovsGun: 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]].
* BigBad: Captain Rhodes
* ContinuityNod:
-->'''Bill''': The power's off on the mainland now, in case you haven't heard. And all the [[Film/DawnOfTheDead shopping malls]] are closed.
** Also, Rhodes contemptuously referring to John as "flyboy."
* ConvenientlyTimedDistraction: John takes advantage of this twice. After Rhodes and his soldiers locks Sarah and Bill in the zombie corral and forces John, the only helicopter pilot, to fly him and his men away, Sarah and Bill escapes through the corral. While the soldiers watch Sarah and Bill escape, John knocks out Torrez, who was holding him at gunpoint, but is subdued by Steele. When they hear Miguel using the elevator from above and Rhodes sends his men to investigate it, while Rhodes is trying to wake up Torrez, John uses this moment to tackle Rhodes, knocks him out, steals his guns, and then leaves to go rescue Sarah and Bill.
* DaylightHorror: The word day is even in the title.
* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner. One of the finest. "Choke on 'em!"
* FamousLastWords: See FacingTheBulletsOneLiner.
* 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.
* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: If one looks closely as Rhodes is torn in half, they'll see that a large section of his innards is a blood-covered rubber chicken.]]
* {{Gorn}}: Possibly the goriest in the whole series.
* AHouseDivided: Scientists vs. soldiers.
* HiddenDepths: Steele is just as racist and awful as Rhodes and Rickles. However, [[spoiler: while the zombies are tearing him apart, we get a look at his hand and see he was wearing a wedding ring.]]
* IncongruouslyDressedZombie: The zombies in the abandoned city include one in a bedraggled marching-band hat.
* ItCanThink: Rhodes is seriously freaked out when the MadScientist demonstrates that zombies can remember how to use objects from their previous lives as humans. Such as operating a [[ChekhovsGun Colt .45 pistol]].
* IronicEcho: Bub's salute after [[spoiler:he shoots Rhodes.]]
* ItHasBeenAnHonor: Of the deeply ironic sort, with Bud's salute.
* JumpScare: The infamous calendar on the wall in the beginning. [[spoiler:The protagonist goes to look at a calendar on a wall. Suddenly, hundreds of zombie hands burst through the wall.]]
* JustBeforeTheEnd: It's either this or AfterTheEnd, depending on circumstances.
* LargeHam: Captain Rhodes and Doctor Logan both fit this.
* MadeOfPlasticine: Captain Rhodes.
* MadScientist: Dr. Matthew Logan, nicknamed "Franchise/{{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.
* MadScientistLaboratory
* TheNeidermeyer: Rhodes. Holy shit, Rhodes.
* NightmareSequence: The opening scene [[spoiler: and possibly the entire movie, for that matter.]]
* OnlyAFleshWound: Averted when Captain Rhodes is shot in the shoulder and unable to do anything with that side of his torso. Then he gets shot in the leg and is essentially crippled.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Rhodes and his men. They are racist, sexist and all around bad guys when it comes to dealing with both Zombies and Civilians.
* PrecisionFStrike:
-->''"I'M RUNNIN' THIS MONKEY FARM NOW, FRANKENSTEIN, AND I WANT TO KNOW '''[[ChewingTheScenery WHAT THE FUCK]]''' YOU'RE DOIN' WITH MY TIME!"''
* RegretEatingMe: See FamousLastWords.
* ShoutOut: [[ComicBook/XMen "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. George Romero has allegedly denied this, attributing it to coincidence.
* SoleSurvivingScientist: Dr. Logan is a prime example of the archetype (even though there is another scientist, [[spoiler: and she outlives him]]). His obsessive pursuit of understanding the undead was a harsh critique on the pursuit of scientific knowledge without practical application.
* ThematicSeries: The entire ''Night of the Living Dead'' series is loosely connected by Romero, the zombie apocalypse, and times of day.
* ZombieApocalypse

* FacingTheBulletsOneLiner. One of the finest. "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8s7JAmLF4M Choke on 'em!]]"

* AssholeVictim: Captain Rhodes, Steele and Rickles .

* ArmiesAreEvil: George Romero's less than flattering opinion on the US military is particularly obvious in this film; 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, or that all the ''decent'' soldiers already died heroic deaths or deserted to try to defend their loved ones.

* ArmiesAreEvil: George Romero's less than flattering opinion on the US military is particularly obvious in this film; 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.

* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with Sarah having nightmares about being attacked by zombies.

** Well, all except Miguel, who's an outcast from the rest of the soldiers because of racism and the fact that he's sleeping with Sarah.
*** Plus two others, [[TheStoner Johnson]] and Miller, these two are pretty mellow most of the time. But they are the first two killed off.
*** Torrez wasn't so bad either. At least until [[spoiler: the army finds out that Logan was feeding Bub the remains of their fallen comrades, where he assists Rhodes in holding the others at gunpoint.]] It was really just Rhodes, Steele, and Rickles that were complete assholes.

** He seems reluctantly impressed by Dr. Logan's achievements up until the point where Bub mumbles into the toy telephone "Hello, Aunt Alicia". This is the point when he visibly freaks out. Not even the gun display gets such a reaction out of him.

-->-- '''Doctor Logan''', 1985 version

'''''Day of the Dead''''' (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.

'''1985 Version'''

''' 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]].
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!! This movie contains examples of:

* AfterTheEnd
* 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.
* ApocalypticLog: 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.
* BigBad: Dr Logan, who in this movie is a generic corrupt scientist villain.
* BullyingADragon: 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 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]].
* DaylightHorror: Both Averted. The remake takes place entirely at night. And is not at all horrific.
* DeusExMachina: Similar to the original, though in the remake Bud 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.]]
* GenreSavvy: Nick Cannon/Salazar. He is, in fact, extremely Genre Savvy, figuring out that bitten = zombie and BoomHeadshot rules within minutes of the outbreak.
* InNameOnly: Hoo boy... The creators basically took a supremely generic, Uwe Boll or 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.
* JumpScare: Used ad nauseum, 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.
* ZombieInfectee: A rare case in the remake where one is helpful. [[spoiler:The new guy is hot for Meni Suvari, his corporal. After he turns, he actually saves her from the lead zombie.]]
* ZombiePukeAttack: One remake cover depicts a zombie copiously vomiting on something off-camera.

* DeusExMachina: Bub the zombie remembering how to fire a gun, and using this knowledge to help the protagonists. This had already been hinted at, and he's not so much as helping them as [[spoiler:out for revenge]].

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

* 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.

* SoleSurvivingScientist: Dr. Logan is a prime example. His obsessive pursuit of understanding the undead was a harsh critique on the pursuit of scientific knowledge without practical application.

* FakeNationality: 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.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Romero's original script. Think of it as a mix between this film and ''Film/LandOfTheDead''. Budget restrictions forced Romero to rewrite.

* FakeNationality: 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.

* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: If one looks closely as Rhodes is torn in half, they'll see that a large section of his innards if a blood-covered rubber chicken.]]

-->'''--Doctor Logan''', 1985 version

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Romero's original script. Think of it as a mix between this film and LandOfTheDead. Budget restrictions forced Romero to rewrite.

* HiddenDepths: Rickles is just as racist and awful as Rhodes and Steele. However, [[spoiler: while the zombies are tearing him apart, we get a look at his hand and see he was wearing a wedding ring.]]