Day of the Dead | 2008
Day of the Dead
"Day of the Dead" is a 2008 American horror film directed by Steve Miner and written by Jeffrey Reddick. This film is a remake of George A. Romero's 1985 film of the same name and is the third installment in Romero's 'Dead' series. The movie deals with an outbreak of a virus that turns people into violent, zombie-like creatures, featuring Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon, Michael Welch, AnnaLynne McCord, Stark Sands, Matt Rippy, Pat Kilbane, Taylor Hoover, Krista Campbell, and Ving Rhames.
The project was primarily filmed in Bulgaria, with limited shooting in Los Angeles, California.
"Day of the Dead" was released directly to video by First Look Studios on April 8, 2008, and received negative reviews from critics.
Miner Trevor Bowman and Nina meet in an abandoned warehouse in Colorado. At the same time, the military blocks the city for a 24-hour quarantine drill. Private Sarah Bowman leaves her checkpoint to drive with Private Bud Crane to visit her sick mother. There, Trevor and Nina reveal that local residents have been infected with a flu-like virus, and their friend Kyle bled from his nose that morning. Sarah and Bud go to Kyle's house and discover the brutally mutilated bodies of his parents. She radios Captain Rhodes about the situation and decides to take her family and Nina to a medical center.
While Dr. Logan from the CDC questions Sarah in a crowded hospital, the infected become numb and rise as zombies. Amid the chaos, Nina and Trevor take refuge in a local radio station, while Captain Rhodes is brutally attacked. Dr. Logan, Sarah, and Bud run to the storage room, but Bud accidentally drops the car keys. Sarah and Bud decide to go through the air ducts to find Captain Rhodes' Hummer keys. As they fall to the floor, Private Salazar appears. On their way back to the storage room, Captain Rhodes rises and chases them, and Bud gets bitten on the hand while replacing a ceiling grill. The group jumps out of a window into a parking lot filled with zombies. Dr. Logan intentionally pushes a woman toward the zombies and leaves in a vehicle.
The remaining members depart in the Hummer. They stop at a gun shop, where Bud is tied up with plastic wristbands inside the vehicle. Upon re-entering, Bud transforms. Sarah argues that he is not harmful and should not be shot. Meanwhile, they hear Trevor's voice on the radio and rush to his location. They try to collect couples and escape the city but crash near the abandoned warehouse. They access an underground bunker and meet Dr. Logan, who reveals he was involved in a government project under Dr. Engel. Engel aimed to produce a biochemical weapon that temporarily affects the nervous system to incapacitate enemy combatants, but the virus mutated, turning scientists into zombies. As the group crosses the bunker, Dr. Engel secretly kills Logan. Zombies surround Salazar, who sacrifices himself so that Sarah can escape and reunite with Trevor and Nina. They discover a bundle of gas cylinders and modify them into a flamethrower. While Sarah lures the zombies toward the cylinders, Engel descends from the ceiling and grabs her. When Bud shoots him, Engel beheads him. Sarah leads the undead toward the cylinders, and they ignite. The group departs in Dr. Logan's car, driving away as a zombie screams at the camera.
Reddick, who adapted the script from Romero's original concept, stated that this film has no connection to Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead" (Korean title: "Dawn of the Curse"), even though Ving Rhames appeared in that film as a different character. He said to ComingSoon.net: "This film will be a separate movie... We wanted to pay homage to the original with elements involving the military and scientists, as well as the socially relevant themes that George Romero always dealt with, but we wanted to add a new perspective." Variety announced the project in July 2006, and filming took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, for six weeks, concluding on September 7, 2006. Reshoots occurred in June 2007.
