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As Day of the Dead begins, the world is overrun with the flesh-eating walking dead. A small group of scientists and military personnel have fortified an underground bunker in hopes of studying these creatures. Living in confined quarters and losing a pal or two every other day to decaying monsters starts to wear on everyone's patience and sanity. One accident leads to another and the race for survival begins again...

Day of the Dead isn't any less gory than it's predecessors and contains some great scares. It does stop to take some vulgar turns and a bit of racism sneaks in, not too mention the overacting. All of these pieces may have contributed to the reason many zombie fans consider this one to be the least effective of Romero's trilogy.

However, based on the commentary, featurettes and ROM extras included here we so learn that Day of the Dead was conceived on a much grander scale. It was to include many more above ground encounters, facilities, battles, etc. However, the budget Romero was given was quite limited mainly due to the fact that he wanted to make an unrated zombie movie. Naturally, this imposed a much greater risk of recouping the backer's investment and ultimately led to a mere $5 million budget. It would seem a great horror film can be made with this kind of money, as Stuart Gordon continues to show us even today, but whether Day of the Dead helps the cause remains up for debate.

While not as effective as the stark black & white of the original or the more satiric visuals of the second installment, Day of the Dead is a well-r-produced low- budget film. The cast and crew ventured to just outside of Pittsburgh, PA, where an underground storage facility would become their set. With many Romero regulars, cinematographer Michael Gornick and make-up master Tom Savini, they trudged off to make the third and final zombie movie. Whether it lived up to expectations continues to be much- discussed among zombie enthusiasts.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Anchor Bay presents Day of the Dead as part of its new Divimax Series, and it has been transferred here in anamorphic widescreen at its original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1. This is one of the first few we have seen from the Divimax Series, and again they impress. This print looks fantastic! Nicks, scratches, dirt and hair have almost all been removed. The fine and subtle detail is excellent lending a depth and resolution I did not expect . Shadow detail is slightly lacking but still first rate. Colors are about as vibrant as you could naturally expect from a living dead movie from 1985 and blacks are decent but solid. Fleshtones are accurately reproduced on the living characters, and wonderfully pale/decayed on those not so living. I did notice only a very few compression artifacts but edge enhancement is occasionally annoying.

However, there is one thing that I am a bit unsure of. Towards the end of the film there are faint horizontal white bars that seem to travel from the left of the screen to the right. These bars are visible only in lightly colored areas and for only fifteen seconds. I double checked on a couple of other players, but it is still there. Weird. Enough to condemn an otherwise spectacular remaster? No way.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

As is typical with an Anchor Bay release, they have included Dolby Digital Surround EX and a 6.1 DTS-ES mixes. Also typically, these mixes are much more than the film needs, although in this case they are quite appropriate and support the material well. There is some very surprisingly smooth pans and effect usage. Surrounds are also heavily utilized with the extension of the very 80's score. My only complaint would be that the music is often overly loud, where the dialogue is sometimes overly soft. However, dialogue is always centered and understandable.

The Dolby track was recorded at 448 kbps and the DTS at 754. I compared a few scenes but the one where the most difference is noticeable is the helicopter scene in the beginning. About seven minutes in, a helicopter is starting up, flying around, doing all things helicopter. The discrete channel separation is a bit more noticeable with the DTS track, but that is really about it. There isn't a great deal of LFE but both mixes handle the material well. Overall either mix is excellent and sure to please.

(Note, however, that there has been some controversy regarding some altered dialogue in the film. Many comparisons have already been made on the Internet involving two dialogue lines - some say minor, others not - that seem to have come from either an edited soundtrack of the film or a foreign dub ("Shit..." becomes "Right..." and "Oh, Jesus..." becomes "I can't believe..."). Debate already wages about these strange alterations, making it a tough decision to know whether it is a deal-breaker when it comes to a purchase. As of now, no official word has yet come from Anchor Bay about the issue. Stay tuned.)

There is also a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround mix included but no subtitle or Closed Caption options.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

When I said "collector's edition" I meant it. Anchor Bay has included just about everything they could find, whether you like it or not. There are the characteristic great featurettes and the typical pointless TV spots and a million still galleries. All of the extras, obviously except for the commentaries, are included on disc two.

On the first disc we have two feature length, screen- specific audio commentaries. The first was recently recorded with George A. Romero, make-up artist Tom Savini, production designer Cletus Anderson, and actress Lori Cardille. This is about as average as a commentary gets, which is too bad from this very interesting group. Romero leads the way with much of the same info shared in the featurette and the group seems to spend most of its time yaking away about too much that isn't related to the film. Cardille is particularly major offender when it comes to having nothing interesting to say about the film. Some tidbits are informative, but it is skipable.

Speaking of skipable, the next commentary is from filmmaker and zombie fan Roger Avary. This commentary is like watching a good film with a buddy who won't shut the hell up. He brings only his enthusiasm for the film. An admirable attempt at being different, but if you are going to watch this film again, be sure this commentary is off.

First up on disc two we have the brand-new 39-minute documentary The Many Days of Day of the Dead. As is the case with any good featurette this one delves deeply into story, character etc., so only watch it after you've seen the film. Here Romero, cast and crew discuss the making of the film and the pressure to top the first two. Romero chats on his original vision of the film and the rest is some very groovy behind the scenes stuff.

Next is Day of the Dead Behind the Scenes that runs about 32 minutes. Here, there isn't a structure as with your standard making-of but basically a new compilation of following around whoever is documenting different scenes/happenings during filming. Lots of cool make-up effects stuff for you gore fans. Then we have a rather strange inclusion entitled Gateway Commerce Center Promo that runs for 8 minutes. This is a promotional advertisement for the underground warehouse (Wampum Mine) where Day of the Dead was filmed. It looks like something Gateway Commerce sends to prospective clients seeking to have their storage needs met.

Next is an audio interview with Richard Liberty which was recorded over three years ago and runs for about 15 minutes. The interviewer is very annoying but the interview is mildly interesting. Then we have a trailer gallery with three versions of the theatrical trailer, all very similar and in anamorphic widescreen. Next are three 30-second TV spots and a George A. Romero text biography. Finally, we have a huge Still Galleries section. Here are pages and pages and pages of Production Stills, two Behind the Scenes, Posters and Advertising, Memorabilia, Zombie Make up and Continuity Stills (Polaroids). The packaging is also quite nice, with a full color tri-fold complete with a cute little booklet.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

In typical Anchor Bay fashion, they have included some ROM extras although they are really just PDF files encoded on the second disc. You can download the complete screenplay to your desktop (also printable), as well as a series of interesting production memos. No weblinks or other truly enhanced or interactive PC extras are included.

Parting Thoughts