Day of the Dead (2008)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Steve Miner

Writers (WGA):

Jeffrey Reddick (screenplay)
George A. Romero (motion picture "Day of the Dead")

Release Date:

8 April 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

This spring, the dead will rise!

Plot:

When a small Colorado town is overrun by the flesh hungry dead a small group of survivors try to escape in a last ditch effort to stay alive.

Plot Keywords:

Colorado | Fall From Height | Bitten In The Neck | Gore | Barricade

Cast

Mena Suvari	...	Sarah Bowman
Nick Cannon	...	Salazar
Michael Welch	...	Trevor Bowman
AnnaLynne McCord	...	Nina
Stark Sands	...	Bud Crain
Matt Rippy	...	Doctor Logan
Pat Kilbane	...	Scientist
Taylor Hoover	...	Local Girl
Christa Campbell	...	Mrs. Leitner
Ian McNeice	...	Paul - DJ
Ving Rhames	...	Captain Rhodes
Robert Rais	...	Mr. Leitner
Michael McCoy	...	Mr. Noble
Laura Giosh	...	Mrs. Nobel (as Laura Goish Markov)
Vanessa Johansson	...	Receptionist

Also Known As:

Day of the Dead: The Need to Feed (USA) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong pervasive horror violence and gore, and language.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R | Germany:18 | Japan:R-15 | Australia:MA | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-18 (self applied)

Filming Locations:

New Boyana Film Studios, Sofia, Bulgaria

Company:

Millennium Films

Trivia:

The Radio Station is on the Elm Street. This is a reference to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

Goofs:

Factual errors: (Uniform Error) The Army personnel in the movie are wearing black t-shirts under their BDUs. Only the Air Force wears black, the Army wears brown t-shirts.

Movie Connections:

References Day of the Dead (1985)

Not a bad day, not a bad day at all.

Watch this movie as in any way being connected to the Romero series of movies or even the remake of Dawn Of The Dead and you are heading down a one-way alley towards a wall spray-painted with "disappointment". Watch this movie, however, for the sake of seeing a decent little zombie flick and you should enjoy yourself. Is it in the same league as any of those just mentioned? Of course not. Is it the worst horror movie of the year? Not by a bloody, and I do mean bloody, long shot.

The plot? The dead start problematically walking about with bad hunger pangs and a few survivors back up and back up until they find out the cause of the problem and also the fact that they must destroy as many zombies as possible before the film ends. Oh, and there's a zombie known as "Bud" and an army member known as "Captain Rhodes" in at least two nods to the original movie (a film much maligned over the years but one that's also growing in the hearts of zombie fans worldwide, from what I've seen).

The main points against this movie are the facts that we've seen much of it before, Mena Suvari is the least convincing soldier since my mother gave me a Barbie in a khaki skirt for Christmas and told me it was an Action Man (that's G.I. Joe for my American friends) and, at only 80 minutes long, it feels like little more than a taster for something that could/should have been even better. Also, there's a bit too much CG-blood for my taste.

On the plus side, and it's not a universal view, I loved the non-stop action once things went all pear-shaped, the zombies new super-skills added to the tension and gave a new spin to an old stalwart and the blood was flowing quicker than the Mississippi on a really, really rainy day.

Horror fans won't necessarily be scared by this but they WILL be entertained. Which, from a zombie movie, is sometimes all you need.

See this if you like: Mena Suvari, Resident Evil, Nightmare City.