History Film / DayOfTheDead1985

** They did. Captain Rhodes isn't the commanding officer of this detachment; Major Cooper is. Rhodes is probably the executive officer, and (as noted above) he isn't actually an active-duty officer, but a Reserve Infantry Officer. Joseph Pilato ''did'' play a police officer at the dock in ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'', so maybe Rhodes is actually a shell-shocked police officer who absconded from Philadelphia only to be activated by the Army and thrust into a subordinate role he never wanted on a frankly stupid mission he doesn't believe in. The man already tried to escape, only to be forced into an even worse position.

** A bit of FreezeFrameBonus actually helps [[JustifiedTrope explain]] this: Captain Rhodes wears the subdued shoulder sleeve insignia of the 99th U.S. Army Reserve Command, which provided administrative and logistical support to Standard Federal Region III (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia). These men are ''not'' full-time professional soldiers. They're ''Reservists'', men with civilian lives and careers and families -- Rickles wears a wedding band -- and they've been plucked from their lives and sent a thousand miles south on a half-baked mission ''outside of their operational area'' that pretty much anyone can see has no serious scientific methodology, no military mission suited to their probable specialties, and real prospect of achieving anything.

* MildlyMilitary: To say the military was scraping the barrel for manpower here is putting it lightly. Most of the soldiers are overweight, and seem to be in their late 30's or early 40's, discipline is non-existant, one of them is clearly growing pot outside the bunker and the commanding officer is a shrieking psychopath who enforces his authority through violence.

* FailedASpotCheck: Steele, ducking into a room after the [[spoiler: zombies overrun the facility]], takes aim at Bub outside the door like he has all the time in the world. However, he failed to notice the other open door of the facility behind him, or [[spoiler: the zombie test subjects who had broken free, which leads to him being bitten and [[AteHisGun committing suicide.]]

* 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.

** 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. Although it looks to be his ''right hand'', therefore it might not be a wedding ring, after all. And in the ''Day of the Dead: Desertion'' comic, it's revealed that the ring originally belonged to ''Bub'', with Rickles stealing it from him when he was brought to Logan's lab.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: The film is definitely darker compared to the first [[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 two]] [[Film/DawnOfTheDead1978 films]] with the gore, violence, drama, and profanity being [[UpToEleven completely amped up]]. This even applies to the zombies which are much more grotesque than the zombies from the previous movies, with their flesh being badly rotted and mutilated.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Torrez, who has no dialogue and hardly any screen time, gets easily devoured by zombies as while Steel and to a lesser degree Rickles who both had more character development earned slightly more time and effort to resist the zombies.

* DwindlingParty: It's mentioned that the bunker was originally staffed by 18 people, which was a skeleton crew to begin with, the project having been thrown together in a matter of days just as the zombie apocalypse overwhelmed the government. By the time the movie takes place, it's down to 12. [[spoiler: The movie ends with three survivors.]] [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by John's "And then there were ''twelve''" line when they hear from Johnson that Maj. Cooper died while him, Bill, Sarah and Miguel were away.

* DwindlingParty: It's mentioned that the bunker was originally staffed by 18 people, which was a skeleton crew to begin with, the project having been thrown together in a matter of days just as the zombie apocalypse overwhelmed the government. By the time the movie takes place, it's down to 12. [[spoiler: The movie ends with three survivors.]]

** Steele is very clearly affected when [[spoiler:he mercy-kills one of his comrades.]] This can be read as a PetTheDog moment, but camaraderie also happens to be a *very* big deal in the military. This allows the audience to read it more ambiguously: genuine humanity or selective empathy?

** Steele is very clearly affected when [[spoilers:he mercy-kills one of his comrades.]] This can be read as a PetTheDog moment, but camaraderie also happens to be a *very* big deal in the military. This allows the audience to read it more ambiguously: genuine humanity or selective empathy?

** Private Johnson isn't that bad either, having a civil and somewhat polite conversation with Sarah and the others after they return at the beginning while helping re-fuel the chopper, and not laughing to Rhodes' threats as much as the others did. {{spoiler: Unfortunately, he's one of the first characters to die onscreen]].

** Private Johnson isn't that bad either, having a civil and somewhat conversation with Sarah and the others after they return at the beginning while helping re-fuel the chopper, and not laughing to Rhodes threats as much as the others did {{spoiler: unfortunately, he's one of the first to died]].

** [[spoiler:The most iconic scene is when Rhodes has his lower part of his body pulled apart by a crowd of zombies and his last words to them were [[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner "Choke on 'em!"]]]].

** [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide Feeling suicidal]], Miguel lures a large crowd of zombies to the underground base through the elevator and he bites on his dog tags as the zombies start devouring him as the elevator descends to the base.]]
** [[spoiler: When the zombies have overrun the base, Torrez is torn apart while a zombie sticks two of its fingers in his eye socket and pulls his head off as his screaming dies away and Rickles is shown [[DieLaughing laughing]] as the zombies tears him apart which later turns into screaming. Before he dies, Rickles comes across a group of zombies feasting on the recently dead body of Fisher after he was shot by Rhodes.]]
** [[spoiler: Steele is bitten by a zombie while attempting to kill Bub, and a big group of them starts swarming in on him. Though he kills himself to avoid this fate, his corpse is still eaten immediately afterwards]].

** [[spoiler: When the zombies have overrun the base, Torrez is torn apart while a zombie sticks two of its fingers in his eye socket and pulls his head off as his screaming dies away and Rickles is shown [[DieLaughing laughing]] as the zombies tears him apart which later turns into screaming.]]

* SmallSecludedWorld: The movie is limited to an army base set up in an old mining facility, with only a handful of survivors appearing in the whole story. It's ambiguous wether or not they really are the last surviving humans, as while they've been trying to find other survivors using radio with no success, the equipment they have access to is old (according to Bill, most of it dates back to ''World War 2!'') and the range is limited since all the radio relays on the mainland are offline, leaving them with only parts of southern Florida. And even then, there's no guarantee other survivors would have access to a radio themselves.

* TheNeidermeyer: Rhodes is this this trope to an almost ridiculous degree. Constantly screaming at everyone around, attempting to take control of every situation by force, ordering his men to kill people for minor offenses... they really should have found someone more mentally stable to be in his position.

* SmallSecludedWorld: The movie is limited to an army base set up in an old mining facility, with only a handful of survivors appearing in the whole story. It's ambiguous wether or not they really are the last surviving humans, as while they've been trying to find other survivors using radio with no success, the equipment they have access to is old (according to Bill, most of it dates back to ''World War 2!'' and the range is limited since all the radio relays on the mainland are offline, leaving them with only parts of southern Florida. And even then, there's no guarantee other survivors would have access to a radio themselves.

* HellIsThatNoise: The collective moan of the undead horde.

* SoleSurvivingScientist: Dr. Logan is a prime example of the archetype (even though there are two other scientists, [[spoiler: and one of them survives]]). His obsessive pursuit of understanding the undead was a harsh critique on the pursuit of scientific knowledge without practical application.