Day of the Dead (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]

Pls Note, this review is for the DIVIMAX edition... The BLU-RAY x-fer was a joke not even close to the dts DIVIMAX.........I've gone back and viewed some of my favorite old horror flicks on some of the newer dvd formats and in most cases came away with just so so impressions, very good, but didnt really add anything to my initial thoughts or final impressions. Be advised this not a cut on early dvd releases as they all look about same. Using Romero's work as an example, the dvd release of "Night" really didn't add much except maybe clearer audio(I realize it was a low budget film)in fact it didn't seem as scary as the film or tv versions. Scary is a bad word for Romero, his flicks are more "tense" than scary, when he's not in humour or zombie-party mode that is. It seemed to miss the sort grainy at times dark(outside at night) and home-movie-like light scenes(opening graveyard)scenes present in the film. Same thing with "Dawn" added some better coloring but thats about it. Both are good to own in case u don't have a 35 or 16mm copy handy in that order. "Day" on the other hand, explodes on a whole new level and on every front! First of all it's the best Romero film made... the acting ,screenplay, no-name cast etc. impart totally believable apocalyptic and zombie realism. The stylized swearing and 800 lb gorilla line delivery are simply spectacular in this release! I could write a book on the subtleties of this flick but ill stick to the dvd. The coloring in both light and dark is just about as good as u can get. Even on a junk tv u'll think its hi-def. The audio was simply stunning.... since this movie is heavy on acting and less on zombie visuals the DTS decoding is PRECISE! None of the soft, hard to hear lines, then an explosion of sound thats totally out of whack with the flow of the scene! No No ,not with this; the audio is perfectly evened out as the director would want u to hear it. I swear my whole living room was shaking and echoing with no masking , distortion or improper overlays of the sounds in particular scenes, as the newly in command and extremely annoyed ,incredulous and pissed off Capt Rhodes issues his Shakesperian like verbal tirade to the pathetically liberal, ineffective ,insane and impaired scientific team under his new-command ....."any questions on how things are gonna run around here from now on?". It contained perfectly bright vivid color and happily was missing all the annoying over saturation u get on remade films. Facial detail is on the mark, not the too vivid and fake looking nor the mushy mess you usually see on dvds. The closeups and special effects,by the undisputed master Tom Savini, work very well and are,thankfully devoid of the new CGA horror style. I wonder why more flicks arent remade ,transferred is probably more correct, with this level of studio expertise. It even comes with the actual files of Dr Logan! No doubt detailing how "close" he is to discovering the cause and subsequent mastery LOL...of the zombies. The special feature are just that. Totally full length informative documentaries. An awesome DVD! Maybe the best all around for sound and visual stimulation. I wonder what a blu ray will look like it may not be as good, as it could inadvertantly and potentially remove some of the film like color... we shall see; But for now this is must have for Romero Trolls out there! Immediately throw away every other copy of this movie u own as soon as u get this one and due to the inclusion of Dr Logan's files it's sure to a collectors item, " is that food enough for ya!!!!"

This is my favorite zombie flick of all time. This movie differs from the other Dead films in that it isn't about a group of people trying to survive. Instead it's a movie about a team of scientists trying to find a cure to the epidemic, but the military group assigned to assist them is wondering what exactly is going on since they're slowly dying off trying to protect the scientific team and themselves. There's no outside communication and any effort to find civilization ends in failure. With no outside communication and being left to fend for themselves, we slowly watch as two sides succumb to insanity and eventually destroying each other. The one character I absolutely loved in this film is Captain Rhodes. I don't think I ever seen another film that can capture the spirit of the character. Captain Rhodes is the only character in this entire film who made actual sense. The head scientists, Dr Logan, also known as Frankenstein for slicing up the zombie specimens wanted to train zombies in a manner similar to how one might train kids. We slowly learn that Dr Logan has a serious mental problem and his experiment is delusional but by that time it was too late for everyone to realize. Captain Rhodes allowed Dr Logan a benefit of a doubt in his experiment. Throughout the film we see Captain Rhodes becoming increasing agitated but the Captain wanted the experiment to proceed since the scientists are so sure of a solution. Right from the get go Captain Rhodes appears arrogant, cocky, and hard headed in terms of trying to get him to see the scientist's side of the problem. However, after watching the film a few times over the years what I accepted is that Captain Rhodes is always asking the right question which is: exactly what are the scientists doing? Throughout the movie Captain Rhodes gave the science team enough shadow of a doubt to allow them to progress and come out with a possible solution even though his men are increasingly frustrated. We see various meetings between the military and the scientists and in each interaction the scientists don’t really explain any sort of progress or offer any type of solution. Each interaction with each other turns up more questions and doubts until eventually their anger and frustration turns them against each other. I too always questioned exactly what the scientists intentions were. Not once did any side actually came up with anything remotely possible and even Dr Logan's trained zombie concept seem flawed in many ways. We also see the military men putting themselves in great danger as they capture specimens for the scientists and then days later having to do it all over without any indication of success from the last one they got. I would totally understand the frustration. I also think Captain Rhodes was the last senior officer in the rank. His closest NCO is Private Steel who doesn’t seem to take his job seriously. We see Captain trying to invoke discipline in the ranks in the first big interaction with between Sarah and the military men. So I think Captain Rhodes is at a major disadvantage because he’s in charge of men who might die for something he doesn’t get yet no one seems to be taking their duties seriously including the scientists and the low ranking military men. He doesn’t have any sort of discipline structure since he lost 5 men that probably included the senior most enlisted sergeant NCO ranks and the senior officers rank that included Major Cooper that we know for sure. Meanwhile on the science team side we see them losing ranks between Logan and Sarah who seem to have conflicting ideas on where to take the research. Sarah is trying to be traditional while Logan is trying to be practical since he knows even with a cure they can’t defeat the millions of zombies out there since they’re out numbered 400,000 to 1. So every group is broke but no one wants to cooperate or work towards a common goal. The thing I most dislike about this film is that at the end Captain Rhodes not only turned into a murderous buffoon but also a traitor and coward to his own men. He died in the most horrendous manner possible in the entire film. Not only that, he died from the very experiment that he allowed to continue with a smart zombie known as Bub. Throughout the entire film, Captain Rhodes did not kill a single zombie. He only killed unarmed scientists and killed his own men by abandoning them. Whenever I watch this movie, I secretly wish that Captain Rhodes turned out to be the hero. I honestly wish the could remake this film but instead change the point of the movie where Captain Rhodes turned into a complete idiot and got everyone killed. Overall a great movie to see Captain Rhodes interaction. I bought the collectors Blu Ray edition and wow, it is a major upgrade from my old dvd copy of the film. Absolutely love it. Now I only wish they released the Ultimate Edition of Dawn of the Dead on Blu Ray.

My favorite Zombie film!

This is one of the best movies of all time, but I will never understand how the scientists never overtook the military men. It would have been so easy to shoot them all early on or at least back talk them every time they thought themselves above everyone else.

Being a massive Romero fan I double dipped x3 on Day of the Dead Two versions actually have "there own" exclusives are they all worth owning (That all depends) I personally would say no the Original first blu ray put out by Anchor Bay is a cheap BR in terms of PQ I love Day as much as the previous two films so i have all three (Need to sell the Anchor Bay version though) Try watch the entire horrible first season of Fear the Walking dead Greg Nicotero dug out the original Day of the dead script and hand it into AMC and they copied alot of Day of the dead to make there "New" #1 So-called hit Gonna try and give the run down to each disc and all the extras they come with Anchor Bay/Starz home video blu ray (Released Oct 02, 2007) Bonus Features: ***Audio Commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero, Tom Savini, Production Designer Cletus Anderson and actress Lori Cardille **** Audio Commentary with Filmmaker Roger Avary **The many Days of Day of the Dead, ***Fast Film Facts, **Behind the Scenes, ***Audio Interview with Richard Liberty * Gateway Commerce Center Promos **Trailers, **tv spots Anchor Bay put out maybe 6-8 classic horror films on Blu Ray before just giving up and being lazy this is one of them! The Original first blu ray of Day by Anchor Bay is the weakest of the 3 the PQ isn't at HD standards Arrow Home Video (Released Aug 27, 2012) UK Import --Note it's Region Free w/ Double-sided sleeve art choose from 4 optional covers! This Amazing Edition Contains 2 disc , 4 sleeve art options, double sided fold out poster, 'For Every Dawn There is a Day' Collector's Booklet Disc 1 Blu Ray Contains: *Theatrical Feature Audio 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono ****Commentary with the F/X Team including Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Everett Burrell, and Mike Daek (Arrow Exclusive Commentary track!) ****Joe of the Dead (1080p) a cool featurette on Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato) ***Travelogue (1080p) Disc 2 DVD Contains: ***The many Days of Day of the Dead, ***Behind the Zombies Footage, **Romero Zombography, *Photo Album of the Dead, **Souvenirs of the dead, ***Night & Dawn Trailers, ***The Audio Recollections of Richard Liberty ***tv Ads of the dead, ***Wampum Mine Promo (Arrow took all the previous extras from the first blu ray and threw them on a second disc (dvd) The PQ on this version is 5x's better everything looks crisp and clean you also get a proper DTS Audio track DOTD Collector's Edition Shout Factory (Released Sep 17, 2013) region (a) one major problem with this version is lack of any HQ Audio DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (Mono) it's not the worst mono audio track but, not a fan of mono! Special Features and Extras *****World's End: The Legacy of Day of the Dead (1080p; 1:25:26) exclusive documentary (This alone makes this BR a Must have) ***Behind the Scenes Footage, **Wampum Mine Promotional Video, ***Underground: A Look Into the Day of the Dead Mines (1080p; 7:37) features Ed Demko, along with Skip Docchio, who was Facility Tech on the film. ***Theatrical Trailers & TV Spots, *** Still Galleries include Behind the Scenes, Locations, Posters and Lobby Cards, and Miscellaneous, *****Commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero, Special Make-Up Effects Artist Tom Savini, Production Designer Cletus Anderson and Actress Lori Cardille. **** Commentary with Filmmaker Roger Avary. (This is the Anchor Bay commentary, ported over from the deluxe edition dvd then the anchor bay blu ray) Scream Factory does a bang-up job just with there exclusive documentary alone makes the Scream Factory version to be a must have Over all go out of your way to own the Arrow Home Video BR and the Scream Factory BR they are both must haves the arrow home video version is still pretty cheap you can get it direct from arrow or amazon.uk for less then $20.00 us 9.5/10

Ok, first let me say right from the get-go, that I am a HUGE fan of this film and basically, all of Mr. Romero's "Dead" films. Each has its own 'tone' and style. My favorite (not that you asked) is and always will be "Night of the Living Dead," of which I contend is the single best horror film ever made. film. Now, I am a little biased, I was in "Day of the Dead" and created the first authorized documentary to commemorate "Night of the Living Dead." Having said that, I am still a fan and going into Shout Factory's Collector's Edition, I was an eager fan begging for more. I thought Anchor Bay's Blu of "Day of the Dead" was pretty nice all around, but of course the 2-Disc DVD was the ultimate package for this movie. Shout Factory's release has some cool stuff going for it, so first as to what I appreciated. The newly designed cover art, and the reversible sleeve was pretty cool. I loved the brief piece about the mine location, (It was called the Wampum Industrial Storage Facility when I first saw it) but it was too short. A whole lot more could have been done with that location; for instance pointing out even more specific rooms and interiors that were used for various sets. Still, It was enjoyable and even a bit nostalgic to see it again. (Apparently it is not easy to gain access to that place these days) As for the new documentary; a mixed bag for me, but mostly enthusiasm. I absolutely loved seeing the crew, cast and even supporting players as they are 'now', reminiscing about being in the film. Just about everyone 'that was anyone in the film' and still alive, is there with a few exceptions; namely "Rickles" Did I miss him in this documentary? If I remember correctly, he is not even referred to in the documentary. If I'm wrong I apologize. I really loved the material with Gary Klar and Terry Alexander. Terry is the guy I chose to interview for our city newspaper, and he was a most gracious and appreciative interviewee and actor. Gary was on the set when I was there and was cordial to everyone. I thought his performance was a stand-out in the film. He's a terriffic character actor. The other interviews were good and informative, but I have already seen them saying pretty much the same thing in other documentaries associated with the film, but being a fan, the more material the better! On the whole, the documentary was decent, but I think it went on about a half-hour too long and some of it seemed redundant. Still, its a new "Day" documentary, and that is cool in itself! The rest of the package is ok I guess. I've seen most of the stills in other releases,and the newer stuff felt like images that were available to the other "Day" packages, but were turned down. If you're a 'completist' (which I am), you'll want the never-before-seen stills regardless. Talk about wishy-washy! See, this is what happens when you're a fan of Mr. Romero and his "Dead" saga; it's TOUGH to be critical! I'm glad I bought it and I'm just going to shut up about anything negative. The Arrow U.K. Blu-Ray for "Day of the Dead" is extremely cool, with packaging and bonuses that will knock your socks off. As for the supplements, they are different from the Shout Factory edition, and there are a few exclusives. If you're a completist, you'll want both.

After slowly going through the ranks of zombie movies available here on Amazon and receiving disappointment after disappointment, I was beginning to think there wouldn't be any zombie movies that could satisfy me (other than good ol' Night of the Living Dead, which I love). I guess I should have looked to Romero again sooner. This man truly deserves the title of King of the Zombie Movie. Although some of the performances of certain characters here such as the military head honcho, his men and the doctor are too over-the-top and caricaturish for my tastes and would otherwise have earned the movie just a 4-star rating from me, this movie has other worthwhile qualities which really bump it up to a full 5 stars in my evaluation. First and foremost is the absolutely OUTSTANDING job Tom Savini did on the make-up and special effects, which still hold up just fine today. He manages to outfit HUNDREDS of zombie extras, and make each one absolutely unique, perfectly believable and genuinely horrific. What an amazing job! (A word of warning to the squeamish: be prepared for gore!) And second, there is a superb performance from Sherman Howard as the doctor's zombie test subject "Bub". He takes what was just a small non-speaking part and runs with it, turning him into an unforgettable icon of the zombie genre. I was amazed to learn from the interviews in the bonus materials that in fact one of the most memorable scenes with Bub --where he is exposed to music on a Walkman-- was actually Howard's own idea. This kind of openness and willingness to let his actors contribute on Romero's part takes this movie from being just your average horror flick and imbues it with moments bordering on the profound. This movie even helped me to understand my own inexplicable fascination with the zombie genre lately, as the doctor astutely observes: "Zombies are us!" So in the end it is the contributions of many people that have combined to set this film apart from the pack. Even though Romero was forced to scale back on his first grandiose vision for the film due to budget constraints, he was able to compensate and find substitute solutions that worked just as well if not better. Be sure to watch the excellent bonus materials to get a better appreciation of what they managed to achieve here in spite of many obstacles. So yes this movie is not perfect, but I still feel that what was achieved deserves 5 big stars from me. Well done!

Look -- Zombies come in 4 shades: Italian Oatmeal-Gruel, Drippy-Pattie-Melt, Pancake Palor (usually 60's and earlier) and Romero's hip and trendy bright blue. Yes, even the black people that are dead are blue! Can you dig it? Of course you can. 'Dawn of the Dead' was superb, of course, but 'Day of the Dead' reaches into the grab-bag of all 4 essential Zombie types, and for that alone, you gotta give Romero and Savini a lot of credit. I enjoyed the clostrophobic atmosphere of DAY, very much the opposite of the wild spree run-about from countryside to interior mall of DAWN. With DAY you're going to get a good story, some very intense acting, some kick-[tail] character absurdities and personality disorders (ya gotta love that, especially when same are armed and losing their grip on reality, eh?) and loads and loads of Zombies -- they're everywhere, they're all over the place and keeping them at bay becomes a real downward spiral into the abyss of hopeless flesh eating despair. Some of the gore in DAY is so exceptionally well done that you just have to run it back and watch it again to look for clues or mistakes. Well, there aren't any. And as always, despite the horror of being torn limb from limb and gnawed on by dozens of hungry Zombies, Romero somehow manages to make the grizzly deaths totally hilarious at the same time. One character in this movie is so psycho he ENJOYS it when the horde of living dead clutch his head, digging their fingering into his eye sockets and ripping his head from his body, laughing the whole way until his windpipe disconnects! CAN YOU BEAT THAT? HECK NO! That's entertainment! DAY will NOT disappoint any horror fan, and certainly no Zombie enthusiast. For once, a living dead movie comes up with all the goods, and really delivers. Zombie movies can often be dreadfully disappointing, though always fun. Well, this one is perfect, in my opinion. Better than DAWN for effects and pace, though DAWN is, of itself, a piece of Zombie history worthy of all kudos. And last but not least, this film delivers the scariest thing of all. A Zombie with a GUN. Oh yeah. Romero finally gives people the UBER-ZOMBIE... "BUB"... the product of one of the research scientists' work in trying to "tame" the living dead into obedience.