Customer Reviews

Day of the Dead [Blu-ray]

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4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(56)

 

 

I honestly don't want to waste my time with this but I too have watched this film. I do enjoy George Romero zombie flicks and after watching this I thought this was a joke. More disappointed actually cause all I got was some rookie director coming up with a 'remake' of one of the master's well known title and jacking it all up. A rookie in the sense of trying to capture the dark, gritty, viciousness of the zombie epidemic as envisioned by Romero in his earlier films. Steve Miner has directed episodes of Dawson's Creek, (which explains some of this film's truly boring dialog and Ken and Barbie type characters) and Smallville (which has effectively turned Superman into a soap opera).What Miner has done here is show us that he can capture all of the plot lines, and zombie behavior previously shown in a dozen zombie flicks, put Mena Suvari (of American Beauty) in the lead and make a horrible horror movie.

While this film might appeal to young folks who don't understand the art as developed by Romero, those who do will undoubtedly turn away from this one after the first half hour. It only takes that long to get an idea of the poor characters. Suvari plays an army Corporal (who carries a gun with no bullets. Why even pull it out?) Ving Rhames has a small part, perhaps wise enough to not stick around. Suvari's character is remarkably calm in the face of danger despite her seemingly bad decision making. The rest of the cast are like refugees from a Dawson's Creek episode. Nick Cannon (Mariah Cary's husband) plays the part of the bad a.., machismo Army Private, and while not giving a particularly good performance, due in part to the horrible script, Cannon does manage to bring some charisma and toughness to the character.

The zombies seem to do extraordinary things one moment (like crawl on ceilings and run real fast-like the Dawn of the Dead remake), but when it comes to attacking the lead actors they seem inept. This picture doesn't do any justice to the zombie film genre. It ranks down there with the very low budget. The title was used to possibly draw attention to it's existence, nothing more.

First thing I wanna say is what the hell is up with the cover art? It just might rate as one of the very worst I have ever seen. There were others and all were bad, but the one they went with is easily the worst.

Don't go into Day of the Dead expecting a remake of the George Romero classic. This is a remake by name only; about the only thing the share in common are some zombies, the military and a couple of characters from the original. Most of the characters are created for this movie and the whole plot completely different. Day of the Dead 08 is only a remake by name only attempting to cash in on the success of the Dawn of the Dead remake and Romero's Dead flicks.

Day of the Dead is entertaining in how bad it was. Most of this will probably be lost on the audience since most of us won't be able to help, but compare to the two. As a remake Day of the Dead is a travesty of a film and complete insult to the original. But as a stand alone movie it's actually fun in how bad it is. I was able to put the original out of my head and take the movie for what it was; a silly zombie flick.

Day of the Dead features zombies that run, which is common these days, but they also are able to jump put windows, crawl across ceilings, climb over gates and also even use weapons. If anything Day of the Dead is more of a remake of Umberto Lenzi's Nightmare City. Those two have more in common than this does with the original Day of the Dead.

The screenplay was written by Jeffrey Reddick and it actually wasn't too bad, while most of his characters lack any depth, the script does have some fairly good moments. Again judging things on its own and not comparing to Romero's Day of the Dead, the script isn't too bad. It has elements that work and some that don't. So far I've liked Jeffrey Reddick and while this is easily his weakest script honestly it wasn't so bad. It does follow the typical Hollywood movie with the comedy aspect and some jokes were about 10-years too late, but overall it's an entertaining screenplay. Not great, but entertaining.

Director Steve Miner got his start in 1981 with Friday the 13th Part II and the following year did the 3rd installment. At the time Miner got his start there were many filmmakers just starting out in the horror genre and some others who may have been around for 10-years or more were at the peak of their career and making some of the best films of their career. So I suppose some filmmakers are bound to be left out in the cold and it seems Steve Miner was one of them. One thing that does surprise me is that isn't better known. He directed the first Friday the 13th with Jason as the killer and the first with Jason to get his Iconic mask.

Steve Miner seems to have gone back and forth between feature films and TV episodes. I do enjoy some of his work mainly his two Friday the 13th movies, but the problem with Steve Miner, which is good for Hollywood is he has no style of his own. Most of his films are just following the basic formula of another filmmaker; which also helps him land jobs when you need a quick cash in Steve Miner is the man to go to. If only he injected more of his own style in his work I think while he may not go down as one of the greatest horror filmmakers he would have had a much better career. He's shown flashes of originality, but he still does it by the books.

Steve Miner was the wrong choice for Day of the Dead; it lacks originality at every turn and he never manages to build any suspense or tension. There were a few scenes that could have worked better, but the zombies just roam around like a bunch of shuffling idiots. I assume Day of the Dead was meant to be a little campy, but it was just too much at times, thus killing any chance for a legit attempt at any suspense. The pacing of the movie is pretty good there is enough happening to keep the viewer from getting bored and while there were flaws with the script, with another director I do feel this could have been a lot better, not great, but better. But what we get is a movie that is rather bad, but entertainingly bad. Visually the movie is also weak, while it doesn't suffer from shaky cam syndrome the shot selections are kinda poor and sometimes it's tough to make out what's happening and the flashy editing doesn't really help matters.

Despite my comments I do enjoy some of Steve Miner's work in particular the two Friday the 13th movies he did. Most of my comments here were negative, but I do enjoy his work and I know he could do better. Not sure what went wrong on his part, but I do like some of his work, he just lacks originality.

The acting was fairly decent; none of the major cast members are bad. They put in good enough performances; the strongest coming from Mena Suvari as Sarah. Some say she didn't have the military persona down, but regardless I thought she did well and is the saving grace of the movie. Ving Rhames gives his usual tough guy performance and does well in a rather small role. Nick Cannon as Salazar while giving a fairly good performance is just damn annoying; his constant one-liners really aren't that funny with the exception of maybe one or two.

There is plenty of gore, but the problem is most of it is CGI, which is really annoying. Some of the CGI was fairly decent, but most were bad. Some of it looks like something you'd seen on Playstation 2. Even good CGI I'm not really into, but when it's poor it makes it even worse. Steve Miner is an old school guy I'm sure he could have been more creative and had some simple, but effective deaths instead of the poor fake looking CGI.

Day of the Dead was originally meant for a theatrical release, but ended up going direct to video, which isn't much of a surprise. Everything about Day of the Dead is DTV, but with that said I will admit to enjoying it. Again as a remake this is a travesty and an insult, but as its own movie it's sort of fun in how bad it is. Most reviews for Day of the Dead will be quite poor and honestly I understand why and I'm not even gonna attempt to defend the movie.

But with that said I did enjoy Day of the Dead as its own movie, because again outside of a couple of things this is a remake by name only. If you can view it as just another zombie movie you just might enjoy it a little bit. Sure Day of the Dead is rather bad, but it can also be fun.

I'm surprised I'm the first to review this... well I can't call it a film. I sat down to watch this movie and immediately walked away... well no words can express the anger at what I saw. And I have to keep it clean for Amazon's sake, with respect to the folks who read these.

This film, if you can call it that, belongs somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. It's just that bad. Ving Rhames' character as the infamous Capt. Rhodes was short-lived and he went down in a crowd of zombies without a fight or awesome last words. He was just dragged off into another room and that was the end.

The zombies are terrible, I mean absolutely horrendous in the makeup department. They looked like someone threw up acrylic paint and dumped it on 300 extras, then added some latex for effect. What really took the cake was how the zombies could do an acrobatic leap off a ten story building and not splatter, or crawl on a roof like some human-cheetah-spider-gecko hybrid make it totally lame.

The dialogue is trite and hackneyed, the typical teenagers making out in the woods and killed marks the beginning and the rest looks like a bad made for Sci-Fi movie. More than anything, the film insults the viewers at every corner. Sadly, it's just an excuse for Nick Cannon to shoot his mouth of every five minutes to the point you cheer when the zombies get him.

The sad excuse for a "trained zombie" here aptly named Bud (they can't use BUB because they'd get sued by Romero), doesn't eat people because he's a vegetarian zombie (?????).

The story makes no sense at all just the same. One of the most ridiculous scares in movie history occurs when the soldiers enter a trailer. The overused disheveled appearance and blood streaks indicate violence of some nature all the way to the bedroom and end at strategically placed comforter on the floor. They turn it over expecting, wait for it..., nothing to jump out. The other soldier still manages to freak and bump some curtains behind, through which two severely mangled bodies are mysteriously standing up straight to fall out on him (?).

Worse, police officers show up randomly and find three bodies(?) this time then, wait for it, the power suddenly goes out to the whole town. Then a zombie mircalously jumps out of the dark and manages to take out four very well armed men without taking a bullet.(?)

Confused yet? Well it gets worse. The moment the power goes out, the worker (who is for some unknown reason still working on the place after dark) see some "shadows" walk out of the dark. The worker begins talking to them and the zombies jump on her, sending her into a strategically placed electrode thingy on the floor. Her blood suddenly shorts it out and all the power to town goes out(?).

To make matters worse, the zombies go from normal to super rotten in just under five seconds. If a body decayed that fast, they would be stumbling not running an Olympic Marathon to kill someone.

Then for some reason the scientist who created the zombie virus is that tall guy from the early seasons of Mad TV, you know that guy that played Stan the Java Man with his eyes bugging out and permanently whipped up on caffeine. Yeah I started laughing when he changed into a zombie... wait I thought was trying to be serious.

Then it ends with that classic all is well endings, and zombie suddenly jumps at the camera to get in that "Oh S---" scare at the end. Yeah, I was ready to put more holes in my wall than the Dawn of the Dead Remake I busted by guitar getting excited over.

With this movie, all bets are off at owning or even viewing it. Next time block the channel it's playing on to keep from destroying your eyes, should you happen across it late in the wee hours of the morning when nothing else is good on. Better yet, when you see it, turn off the TV and go to bed. You're better off saving that hour or so of your time.

You knew it was coming. After the surprise success of Zack Snyder's surprisingly good Dawn of the Dead remake, a remake of Day of the Dead didn't seem all that far off from happening. Well, now it's here, and it is indeed an awful, needless remake of George Romero's flawed 1985 classic. The zombie outbreak is caused by a virus that gets passed around like a cold, which is a nice twist in itself, but really doesn't get used to its full potential. The zombies themselves do all kinds of crazy things, from crawling on walls and ceilings to leaping around like Spider-Man. It should be noted that Day of the Dead isn't scary one bit either, and a majority of the gore effects (mainly the CGI head shots) are pretty bad, and the acting (from Ving Rhames, who is not reprising his role from the Dawn of the Dead remake, as well as Mena Suvari and a barely watchable and annoying Nick Cannon) is atrocious. There was potential here, with veteran horror director Steve Miner (Friday the 13th 2 & 3, Halloween H20) and writer Jeffrey Reddick (the Final Destination films) at the helm, but alas, Day of the Dead is an awful zombie remake that is a waste of film more than anything else. Alll in all, if you're a fan of the original or in zombie fans in general, you'll probably check out the Day of the Dead remake regardless, but don't say you weren't warned.

When I watched this movie, I was already forewarned how bad others think this movie is from the trailer was released until the time I watched it.

The movie tries so much as to re-vision the original Day of The Dead and incorporate the added thrills of 28 Days Later and the Dawn of The Dead remake. It would've been an okay movie if not for the gimics they put in to try add the scariness factor of the movie, instead of being scary it ended up weird.

In my opinion, it's not as bad as many zombie movies out there. Though, I prefer not to categorize this movie as a zombie flick, since it's more like a viral frenzy thing like that of 28 days and 28 weeks later. I must say that this movie is far better than what Uwe Boll could come up with, and the likes of Day of The Dead 2 and Return of The Living Dead 4 & 5.

It would've been a decent film if not for the wall crawling bit. Probably these were unused shots from Spiderman and Aliens films (those scenes would be great if they made a marvel zombies film on spiderman). It still boggles me how a legless zombie could leap so high.

The CGI of the movie was poorly done and the movie could be better without it. With proper angles and suggestive measures the scenes will be a lot better without involving the CGI bit.

The last 5 seconds of the movie is so corny kind of 70s TV horror shows that the filmakers try very hard for one last scare. It's so obvious and really degrades the movie.

The DVD covers should be replaced by the first poster released early 2007 though it's very clearly seen that the design was a rip off from Land of the Dead, it's still better than what is now being sold to the public. Honestly, the cover depicts on how the critics would rate this film and how many customers might feel after watching it.

If they only stuck with George Romero's formula it would've been an okay film.

Few things irk me more than a movie with a ridiculously implausible military presence. If there were a massive quarantine effort or a cover-up of a zombie outbreak in Leadville, CO, surely there wouldn't be privates calling corporals "ma'am," and there is no way the entire effort would not be led by a Captain. This is all unacceptable considering a fresh out of Basic Training Private would know better.

Speaking of that, Captain Black Earlydeath (Ving Rhames) is put in charge of a massive quarantine effort when there is a mysterious outbreak with flu-like symptoms. His top assistant is Corporal Powertrip (Mena Suvari), who walks around with the power and sense of entitlement of someone who has not been in the service less than three years. It's up to them and two newbies - Private Irritating (Nick Cannon) and Private Zombie (Stark Sands) - to band together for survival.

The problem with their plan is that the zombies in this movie can think and reason, use tools, and walk on ceilings. Good thing the local gun store is completely empty, RIGHT AFTER a zombie outbreak. It's also fortunate that Private Zombie has not only switched sides (from Z to human), but he's also brainlessly reliable enough to walk trail when the group goes on patrol. Because he's in love with Suvari. Seriously. And that's just the beginning of the logical inconsistencies in this slap in the face to the zombie genre.

The major flaw (of which there are many) with this movie is that not a single character is likeable. I wanted them all to die. Suvari, who is rarely likeable, is inserted just for the clichéd "tough girl in charge"-routine, and Cannon signed up so he could do all the scenes he thinks are cool (e.g. two handguns pointed in different directions). Aside from the previously mentioned ceiling crawl, ala The Grudge, these zombies blow up like charcoal briquettes when they encounter flames. Zombie vampires? The major positive is the gore, blood spatter, etc. The content will satisfy most gorehounds.

Point blank, this movie sucks. It would have been better if Ving Rhames survived and Mena Suvari was torn apart until there was nothing but viscera and arm-kebabs for the hungry zombies. This is a disgrace and should have never been allowed to carry a Romero title.

Jason Elin

Are you kiding me???? why they even put the name day of the dead to this awful movie??? everything in this movie is bad very bad. it has nothing to do with the original Day of the dead no characters no plot no nothing, and even if you remove the name day of the dead is probably the worst zombie movie ever, stay away from this movie is really really bad and even disrespectful to the original that is in my opinion the best zombie movie ever.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS BUY OR RENT THE ORIGINAL, THAT IS A GREAT ZOMBIE MOVIE.

I will now join the small minority that thought "Day of the Dead" 2008 is not a total piece of garbage. The buzz for the movie was bad from the onset, so my expectations were low. That, perhaps, got me through the movie.

Steve Miner took a lot from his slasher movie roots, especially in the first forest run of fear from the killer. Many points in the movie, including bodies falling from hiding places and standard slasher suprises pepper the movie.

But I do put a premium on zombie feasts and zombie kills, and this movie is chock full of them. The outbreak takes place pretty early in the movie, and we are treated to an all out zombie assault on the small Colorado town like I don't think I've seen in movies before. It's a zombie free-for-all that the protagonists have to fight their way through, dropping zombies left and right. I really liked this segement of the movie, and in those moments, redeemed the bad reputation it had garnered before I watched it.

As a disciple of Romero, I naturally am not happy with more people cashing in on his works. But if this movie makes people want to explore the original, then bully for "Day..." 2008.

My other gripe was that the zombies were like ninjas in some parts. Fast moving. OK. Ninja attacks from walls and ceilings. Nnnnnnnnnnnnno!

In all seriousness, its a "Day..." for big pharmas Ritalin generation. Fast paced and wild, it was still fun, even for this Romero acolyte.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

'Day of the Dead' (2008)

In comparison to the original. . . there is none. No characters are the same. The setting is completely different. The plot is entirely different. The only similarities this film has to the original is a title and a couple character names. Even though Dr. Logan is now a 35 year old hospital physician.

Without comparison. . . the SFX were horrendous. . . decapitation and head explosions looked like something from '96. 1896. Even back then it would've probably been pretty bad. The zombies look like utter morons running around. Their arms flail all over the place (yeah, that makes sense for a dead guy, flailing arms like a chimp). And. . . they can climb on ceilings and walls like Spiderman. Yeah. I kid you not. It looked like something out of Resident Evil or House of the Dead or whatever that one wicked video game is.

The acting is pretty awful. Even from (and especially from) the adorable Mena Suvari. Ving Rhames, the only shining light I had for this movie, is gone within the first 40 or so minutes and ends up playing a mockery of a zombie. Nick Cannon, or *cough* Salazar (trust me, he's no Antone DiLeo), plays an over-the-top moron jerk for most of the film.

As you watch, look closely at the military personnel. And find me one that actually knows how hold a goddamn gun. I mean, yeah, these are National Guardsman, but still. . . they DO see combat, so they should probably learn how to operate their equipment. Also, someone should tell Mena. . . bangs are a big no-no in uniform. The military requires you to clip those back. Especially when they're covering your eyes, you blithering idiot.

As far as actual film-making goes, the writing is stiff and contains a pretty good amount of outward spoken monologues. You know how much I hate that. Remember The Wicker Man remake? That's what I'm talking about. (Girl walking alone in Woods: "It's so over! Huh? What's that?") Seriously. I believe it was Syd Field who said that, in addition to unintentional humour, outward-spoken inner monologue is the biggest mistake a writer can make. Guess what else this film had. The direction and cinematography, too, are fairly bad. Though it might be the fault of the editor, as the cuts are almost unwatchable at times.

I'm writing this review as I watch the last 15 or so minutes. So, correct me if I'm wrong (but, as a Romero fanboy, I don't think I am), but the bunker was a PRETTY important setting in the original right? Well, guess where they've just arrived. Yeah, the military bunker. With 15 minutes left.

- - -

So, the rest of this will be my old 'Credit 2 Credit' review, my thoughts as it happens.

Awesome line: 'Some people have a natural immunity to specific viruses.' Now, can someone please explain to me exactly how one's body would develop a 'natural immunity' to a man-made, unnatural virus? That is just a totally ridiculous statement.

Wow. So much for conservation of ammo. They just put about 200 rounds into this ghoul and it's still standing. That's preservation, folks! Preservation of the dead, that is! Dr. Logan's death was kinda cool. I'll give them that. You knew it was going to happen soon, but that was actually a good way to go. Me likey.

Does anyone else hate slow-motion death scenes? Seriously? They're so melodramatic and remind me of something from a freaking daytime soap. "Sarahhh, runnnn!" Doesn't get much more lame than that, to be honest.

So, this fire plan is okay, I guess. I mean, it does what it's meant to do, but does no one notice the one smallllll problem with it? The fact that they're well below the Earth's surface in a CLOSED nike site? So when large amounts of fire course through the tunnels, I'm pretty sure they'd have a bit of a problem. . . breathing. Suspension of disbelief doesn't extend to lack of oxygen, sorry.

But hey, at least they get to ride home in style. Who wouldn't want to drive away from a zombie invasion in a pimp G Wagon?

Wow. That ending shot. . . is like a less scary, much lamer version of those scary maze games online. Sad.

- - -

Well, it's over. Finally. The film, though terribly made, with almost no cinematic value, including very low quality writing, directing, editing, acting, and SFX artistry. . . was still watchable and held my attention long enough to get me through it. So, for that, 'Day of the Dead' (2008) receives:

4/10

-AP3-

Let me just say right up front I went into watching this movie expecting to hate it after reading all the other bad reviews around the net. I'm a loyal & avid fan of the original & love all of Romero's other "Dead" work (the original "Dawn" probably being my favorite). To my utter shock this movie actually wasn't that bad. Granted this movie was definately not without it's faults, but at least a rental is definately warranted. Much like the case of the "Dawn" remake, had they just called this something else I think this would've gone over alot better. The movie only loosely has anything at all to do with the original & even than you don't see it until the very end of the movie. I'm not gonna go into plot really as not to spoil anything for you,

Now for some of the things that bothered me about the movie:

A) The "outbreak" comes from a virus that people catch like a cold.
B) This movie unlike the original takes place at the beginning of the outbreak, seems to only last about a day, & seems to only effect this one small Colorado town.
C) Zombies crawling on ceilings is a little ridiculous
D) The cover of the film shows a zombie vomiting, no where in the film does this happen. It's a stupid cover for a film that people are already expecting to hate; why not dress it up a little & spark some interest
E) I hated the way the zombies change, one second they're perfectly normal & normal looking, the next they're blistery, open soared & rotten looking
F) I hated the amature hour CGI used for alot of the head shots, it reminded me alot of "Wild Zero". While that movie was great, their film was meant to be silly.
G) It was really stupid that zombies hide their victims, A) Why do zombies care who finds them? B)Why didn't these corpses zombify? Stupid, stupid!!

Now for some of the things I liked about the movie:

A) You get the same fast paced zombies like in the remade "Dawn", these ones seem alot more vicious & energetic though
B) For the most part I liked the cast (even Nick Cannon)
C) The story wasn't horrible, just watch it as a zombie movie & not as a "Day Of The Dead" remake (which isn't all that hard to do cause they're really not all that similar).
D) Other than the CGI work the film seemed to've had a decent budget, the practical effects were all great, pretty much the only thing you have to worry about being in CGI is blood spray, head shots, oh ya & fire. The fire scenes are worse than the head shot scenes (just an FYI)

In the end, just go into this expecting to hate it (the cover helps) & you might actually get a kick out of it. I actually don't regret watching it. Just watch the movie for what it is. It's no "Shaun", "Dawn", or "Land", but it's definately far better than "House Of The Dead 1&2", "Day 2-Contagion", or "Return 4&5". Really though after looking at what I just wrote that's still not saying much.