Day of the Dead

FIRST LOOK
Street: April 8
Prebook: March 8
> Reworking of George Romero’s 1985 horror fest is primarily geared to zombie completists.

In this latest addition to the zombie canon, a virus strain infects the denizens of a small Colorado town, forcing the locals to be put into quarantine at a military base. A local in the military (Mena Suvari) attempts to help friends and family members as the infected get horribly sick and eventually begin to seek flesh. Meanwhile, her commander (Ving Rhames) tries to make sure things don’t get out of control. Day of the Dead has no association with Zach Snyder’s successful 2004 remake of George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, despite the presence of Rhames in both films. In fact, when comparing production values, concept and quality to Snyder’s surprise hit (as well as Romero’s recent Land of the Dead), Day of the Dead is a step down. Fans will recognize the film as a re-imagining of sorts of Romero’s 1985 movie of the same name.

Shelf Talk: Unlike Romero’s current, well-reviewed Diary of the Dead, his fifth foray into the world of zombies, Day of the Dead has bypassed theaters and gone straight to DVD. Though genre specialist director Steve Miner (Halloween H2O, Friday the 13th Part II, Lake Placid) is unable to bring his film beyond the generic level of living dead films, there are gobs of gore, a recognizable cast, the Romero pedigree and cool lenticular packaging to set this one apart from other zombie cinema entries currently creeping about the horror and new release shelves.