You wont find George A Romero’s name on this alleged “remake” of his same-titled 1985 modern masterpiece though, given the great man’s association-by-proxy to recent tripe like CREEPSHOW 3 and DAY OF THE DEAD II : CONTAGIUM, he’s probably grateful for this fact. In fact, despite the pilfering of random ideas and character names (Rhodes, Dr Logan, etc.) from Romero’s film, this new DAY could have emerged as yet another straight to DVD zombie flick under an alternate title without making much difference to its fate.
It’s not a sequel to the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake either, despite also featuring Ving Rhames (in a different role!) and using that film’s composer, Tyler Bates. So in a sense what we have here is another “remake” content to use a brand-name title for its own gain rather than any reverence for the film it rides in on. Written by FINAL DESTINATION’s Jeffrey Reddick (shame on this black screenwriter for crafting such a prominent, abrasive central black stereotype!), this Colorado-set flick is still sufficiently fun if you catch it in a forgiving frame of mind, and at least it doesn’t stint on the splatter.
At the outset of DAY OF THE DEAD 2008, an epidemic is already underway, though full-fledged zombies are not yet on the rampage. Ving Rhames leads the military operation to keep the film’s “shit-hole” town quarantined and the only other name actor in the cast is Mena Suvari as a young corporal with a bratty little brother and a sickly mom. For a while, this unfolds as a virus movie, jazzed up with fake scares, timely references to Avian Flu, CSI-style CG shots of human body interiors and anonymous horny teens in peril. When the sick folks in town turn into frenetic, fast-moving zombies (they move like the Rage victims in 28 DAYS LATER or the living dead in the DAWN remake), the teens and a fat man hole up in the latter’s radio station while Suvari tries to save as many locals as she can.
Director Steve Miner has experience with assorted horror sub-genres, from franchise slasher flicks (two FRIDAY THE 13THs, one HALLOWEEN) to horror comedies (HOUSE) to monster movies (LAKE PLACID). His addition to the vastly over-crowded zombie movie marketplace lists more producers than there are in Hell, boasts an almost-entirely foreign crew (yup, it’s a Boaz Davidson production, folks!) and has the kind of ho-hum script-by-numbers you’d expect from a no-frills DVD zombie flick.
There’s a wholly routine and derivative climactic explanation of the virus (“It was intended to save lives!”) as the result of a misguided government plot to disable enemy soldiers , and the throwaway scare masquerading as an ending suggests an exhaustion of ideas, old or new. Occasionally, elements are yanked wholesale from classic modern horror flicks : notably a weak attempt at a THING-style “who’s the monster?” sequence with the teens and their plus-sized new chum. The unforgettable “Bub” sub-plot in Romero’s DAY gets an under-developed variant in the form of a sympathetic zombie who retains key character facets of when he was alive and doesn’t hurt Suvari because he still loves her.
For those with low expectations (and, after DAY OF THE DEAD II, you should have VERY low expectations), Miner’s DAY is enjoyable for all its faults. It deserves commendation for featuring one of horror cinema’s precious-few vegetarian zombies (!) and also for the cheer-worthy line “Bleach kills almost everything”, a TV commercial-style equivalent of Romero’s more resonant “Shoot ‘em in the head”. Certain individual sequences highlight Miner’s directorial efficiency, particularly the initial panicky outbreak in a hospital, as the virus victims abruptly mutate into bonafide zombies and chew the faces off concerned loved ones. And the film is worth a rental alone for the unique moment in which a gnashing, leg-less Ving Rhames rips off his own dangling eyeball and eats it.
It’s rarely dull and showcases a lot of action and gore, but its major failing, more so than any other zombie movie to date, is a heavy over-reliance on digital FX. Several otherwise exciting scenes are hampered by hokey, cartoonish CG blood, CG exploding heads, CG fire, even CG zombies that fly through the air and scamper at high speed on ceilings. These kind of FX rarely hold up in modestly budgeted genre flicks. Moreover, the loose Romero connection just highlights the fact that anyone of the old-school Savini gore gags in the 1985 DAY OF THE DEAD looks vastly more impressive 23 years on than these jarring CG equivalents.
– Steven West
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
