It’s a law of all franchises that usually the third movie suffers a lot with quality and even at the box office. Look at Alien 3, Terminator 3, Scream 3, Mission: Impossible 3 (just admit it compared to everything since Ghost Proctocol), and even Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome suffered a little. But that one can be attributed to George Miller suffering from depression following the death of Byron Kennedy leading to George Ogilvie helping Miller. (Does anyone thing the Fast and Furious franchise would’ve survived past Tokyo Drift if Vin Diesel didn’t appear in a cameo at the end?)
Maybe John Wick 3: Parabellum is the standout. I’m not including The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King because it was planned, even though they are reports the script was re-written and they were reshoots following the success of The Fellowship of the Ring. So, by the time George A. Romero go around to making Day of the Dead after the success of Night of the Living Dead and its better sequel Dawn of the Dead, there was a question of how could he top them.
It didn’t help matters that The Return of the Living Dead opened the same summer Day was released even though Day beat it in theaters. John A. Russo who had worked with Romero on Night still retained rights to the use of Living Dead in the title and his movie was more of a zombie comedy with a different format and tone directed by Dan O’Bannon.
But Romero’s hands were tied when it came to the money because the reported $7-8 million he needed was cut in half because Romero refused to cut the violence to obtain an R-rating. And this led to Romero having to rewrite the script and cast actors who weren’t as expensive. Joseph Pilato who plays the chief antagonistic character Capt. Henry Rhodes, said he was hired without an audition and that Romero just “gave” the role to him. Exras were paid $1 a day for their work, and given a hat that read “I was a Zombie in Day of the Dead” along with a copy of a fake newspaper with the headline “THE DEAD WALK!”
With the exception of Pilato, who may or may not appeared briefly as a different character in Dawn, and a few dead extras from the first two movies, there’s a whole new cast of characters this time around. Where as Night was mostly set in a farmhouse in Pennsylvania and Dawn in a shopping mall outside of Pittsburgh, much of Day is set in an underground bunker in the Florida Everglades. What we know about the few remaining people who haven’t been re-animated as the living dead isn’t known.
The bunker contains a collection of military soldiers, most of which are coming unhinged as they are having to remain underground with some civilian scientists who are working to discover how the dead became re-animated and if there is a cure. There’s also some technical civilians, John “Flyboy” (Terry Alexander), who is a helicopter pilot, and Bill McDermott (Jarlath Conroy), an alcoholic radio operator, who mainly stay away from the soldiers and scientists if they don’t have to be around them.
The main protagonist is a scientist Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Cardille) who is slowly losing hope that all humanity can be saved. She’s developed a relationship with a fellow soldier, Pvt. Miquel Salazar (Anthony Dileo Jr.), who has become almost suicidial and frustrated as the realization they can’t find anyone in the area of Florida they’re in. The lead scientist is Dr. Matthew Logan (Richard Liberty), an elderly man who is called “Dr. Frankenstein” for how he cuts up the dead corpses to study them. He has a captured dead person he calls “Bub” (Sherman Howard) who still observes instincts he may have had such as how to handle a firearm and he salutes Rhodes when he sees him suggesting he may have been in the military.
However, since Rhodes has assumed command with the death of a superior officer prior to the events of the movie, Rhodes is becoming more unhinged like the soldiers, even at one time ordering a soldier to shoot Bowman when she tries to leave a meeting. The soldiers, who are mostly privates, have let themselves go as they wear uniforms that aren’t properly worn by active military. They’ve all let their facial hair grow out while Rhodes still has a clean-shaven face even though his hair has grown out more than military regulations.
Even though it’s been 17 years between the release of Night and Day, I would argue a short time has elapsed for the country, if not the world devolve into chaos. Dawn opens with the dead getting so out of hand all systems are breaking down. Pilato is seen briefly at a Pittsburgh river police station loading a boat with other people who may or may not be officers. It’s possible Rhodes was a cop or reserve officer who abandoned his duties when he saw things falling apart.
It’s also possible he may have forged some documents to make it appear he is a Army officer. The privates, especially Pvt. Walter Steel (Gary Howard Klar), are mostly out of shape especially by military standards. My guess would be as a last ditch effort what little of the government in America accepted whoever they could into the military. There’s a reference that the President is missing and presumed dead. In Dawn, there’s a reference that martial law has been inacted in many U.S. cities.
Also, judging by the decomposition on the dead, which is more advanced, I’d say it may have been a year, but no more than two. Bowman says the operation they’re in was put together so hastily, it could have been a last ditch effort to send scientists and soldiers to a remote area in the Everglades. But there is a horde of dead gathering at the fences in the above ground section. And they keep a cache of dead down in the mines to experiment on but it’s getting more dangerous as they corral them. Soldiers are dying and their numbers are dwindling.
Romero said the movie is what happens in a society when there is a communication breakdown. Rhodes’ way of doing things is bucking heads with how Bowman and Logan feel things need to be done. And Rhodes is wanting to close down the scientific experiments because he doesn’t feel they are a benefit. And if there is no longer a modern form of government that what everyone is used to, then Rhodes has mostly total authority and free of any consequences.
This is why he is becoming unhinged. He sees himself as the only one in power and he’s going to wield it. While Logan and especially his assistant, Dr. Ted Fisher (John Amplas), are trying to be more passive with him, Bowman seems to be a thorn because she won’t bow to to him. I think her name is someone telling because the men seem to bow to Rhodes but she won’t as easily. It could also be she’s the only woman and Rhodes sees her as a threat and doesn’t like that she’s in a position as a scientist. I think there’s also some issues in her relationship with Salazar that makes the others jealous.
But “Flyboy” and McDermott have more or less spent their times retreated to their living quarters where they have used items taken from above the world to make it look more habitable unlike the claustrophobic concrete blocks rooms in the rest of the facility. I think a few years after Covid and lockdown, the movie plays differently as people remain in underground windowless rooms and their time outside is limited on where they can go and what they can do. I mean, look at how people treated Dr. Anthony Fauci and others in the scientific community during during 2020 and 2021.
Because the conflicts this time are between the scientists and the military, there is less time involving the dead. This may have also been because of budgetary reasons kept their time limited. And the movie’s ending has been heavily criticized possibly for the budget issues, even though it’s the gruesomeness of the climax that led to the movie being released without a rating. Still, the movie managed to gross $34 million worldwide despite less than favorable reviews. Roger Ebert praised Dawn as one of the greatest horror movies ever but hated this one, criticizing Pilato’s performance and Alexander’s Carribean accent. Dawn also had nearly twice the box office as Day and it was also released unrated.
Reviews in recent years, especially following Romero’s death in 2017, have been more favorable. The movie had a huge influence on other zombie movies, most notably Resident Evil and the entire Walking Dead franchise. One of my criticism of 28 Days Later is how the plot seemed to follow a lot of Day‘s plot including the characters walking through the empty city and especially a military operation that becomes antagonistic toward the civilians. You can also see a lot of characters like Rhodes in zombie movies that have come since then. Just look at every antagonistic character (Negan, The Governor, etc.) on TWD and they owe something to the late Pilato’s performance.
I also thought it was a nice touch about our humanity that Bub seems to show more respect toward Rhodes than Rhodes or the other military show toward him. This is similar to a scene in the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead where the humans are shown to be more savage to the dead. This was also something Romero touched on in Dawn where the rural country folks turn out with the National Guard and SWAT teams to help shoot and kill the dead, even turning it into a community event with food, coffee and drinks. This would be entirely silly if not the fact that people used to have picnics planned around public hangings.
If Night was a commentary on the Civil Rights era and Dawn was a commentary on the rise of consumerism and commercialism in the 1970s, I’d say Day is about how we chose to divide ourselves more in the 1980s with the collapse of the middle class. The Regan Administration helped create this divide with its policies. There’s obviously racism as Salazar and “Flyboy” who is black are seen as threats to the white soldiers.
At one point, it seemed Day would be the last Dead movie until the success of the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead led Universal to allow Romero to make Land of the Dead incorporating elements he wanted to use. It was a critical hit and a minor success at the box office. There has become a feudal system in place in Pittsburgh. Then he kinda went back to the beginning using the found footage format in Diary of the Dead, which is uneven at times. The last movie in the franchise was the disappointing Survival of the Dead which was like a retelling of the Hatfield and McCoys myth with zombies. It was also Romero’s last movie.
Now that zombie movies have ran their course, Day of the Dead seems a far better movie in comparison. Its finally got it’s day.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 