7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.6 |
A small group of scientists and military personal are dwelling in an underground bunker in Florida, while flesh-eating horror walks the earth above.
Starring: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy, Anthony Dileo Jr.Horror | 100% |
Thriller | 25% |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 2.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
They're learning...they're actually learning.
Day of the Dead is the third
film in George
Romero's Dead tetralogy. The Pittsburgh, PA-based filmmaker's zombie movies have set
the standard for the zombie genre over the last 40 years. Does this movie live up to the reputation
of the first two, or will viewers be hoping for a horde of zombies to burst into their living rooms to
eat
them, saving them from having to watch the rest of the movie?
Bub salutes his own effort for being the lone bright spot in this movie.
Starz presents Day of the Dead in 1080p with its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Overall I was pleased with the transfer. There are some speckles (some stationary for several seconds) over the opening credits and the overall image is a little soft. After the first few minutes of the movie, the image cleaned up quite a bit. I noted crushed blacks, especially near the end of the film when the zombies infiltrate the bunker, and I noticed what appeared to be some edge enhancement throughout. This is a very two-dimensional image. Overall, however, this is a decent transfer. What color there is is vibrant and natural, but it won't pop of the screen. Gore fans will salivate over the detail visible in the rotting flesh and the blood and organs that spill out all over the place in several scenes. It's an upgrade from previous generation DVDs to be sure, but don't expect to be wowed by this transfer.
The audio here is pretty bland. Again, like Dawn of the Dead, there is a DTS logo on the disc's artwork but there is no actual DTS track to be found once you pop in the disc. What we do get is the standard from Starz: Dolby Digital 5.1, PCM uncompressed 5.1, and the original Monaural track. The multichannel tracks feature little directionality. There is a decent amount of bass present in the soundtrack, and it sounds good, but the music is loud and sometimes drowns out sound effects and dialogue. When not being covered by music, dialogue is crisp and natural. Sound effects fare well here, and the groans of zombies in the distance come into your room with great effect. However, even with advanced equipment that can decode the PCM track, for this movie I feel the original mono track is the way to go. Honestly, there isn't much lost by playing it over the multichannel options, so why not opt for the filmmaker's original intent?
Starz furnishes this disc with a slew of special features. There are two audio commentary tracks here. The first features writer/director George Romero, make-up wizard Tom Savini, production designer Cletus Anderson, and actress Lori Cardille. The track gets pretty slow near the end with some dead air and a lot of small talk to fill in the blanks, but it's lively and interesting through most of the movie's runtime, certainly much, much better than the movie itself. Next is a track with filmmaker Roger Avary. He is a self-proclaimed fan of George Romero and the writer of Pulp Fiction. This too is a good track especially for a solo job, but again with some dead air. This man obviously knows film. As with the other Starz horror releases, we get a "film fast facts" text-based track that covers some ground that the commentary tracks didn't (unlike the one from Evil Dead II). It's worth a watch played over one of the commentary tracks. Next are two documentaries, the first of which is The Many Days of 'Day of the Dead' (480p, 38:41). It focuses on the original script and watering it down for the budget, and shooting in the Gateway Commerce Center. Also discussed is quite a bit of the casting details, especially people wanting to be zombies. The story of the character "Bub," played by Howard Sherman, is featured. The other documentary is entitled Day of the Dead: Behind-the- Scenes (480p, 30:51). The focus here is mostly on make-up effects. It's very interesting to see how some of the gruesome effects were created. Next is an audio interview with Richard Liberty (Dr. Logan) (15:45) and a promo piece for the Gateway Commerce Center (480p, 8:12). We also get three theatrical trailers (480p) (one of the trailers shows an audience watching the movie with a zombie in attendance--interesting), and three TV spots (480p).
This film just didn't work for me. If you happen to like this movie, however, you'll be pleased with this Blu-ray release. The video quality is solid, the audio does its job, and there is a fairly good list of supplements. Be aware this is an extremely gory movie, by far the goriest I have reviewed yet. If you can't handle massive amounts of gore, skip this one. Completists and fans of the movie will want to pick this up as it is an upgrade over the DVD, but I'd suggest renting this Blu-ray before buying if you haven't seen the film before to make sure it's for you.
2007
1978
2007
2002
2016
2016
1971
2010
2005
Collector's Edition | + Theatrical Cut on BD
2004
50th Anniversary Edition
1968
2016
2008
2007
[•REC]⁴: Apocalypse / [•REC]⁴: Apocalipsis
2014
Ultimate Undead Edition
2009
1964
2010
2015
1985