Day of the Dead (2007, Review)

NOTE: imdb and other sites list this movie as 2008. The correct date, as I listed it, is 2007.

Director: Steve Miner

Cast: Mena Suvari, Ving Rhames, Nick Cannon

First Look Pictures / Rated R / NTSC R1 / Widescreen 1.66:1 / Language: English / Subtitles: English, Spanish / 87 minutes / Purchase from DiabolikDVD.com

Don’t shit your pants because you are about to explode about your righteous indignation towards another remake. First off, it’s lame to be closed off to a movie because you think the retelling is going to somehow taint the original. Second, this movie is no more a remake than The Burning is a remake of Friday the 13th. They are the retelling of a basic premise and that’s what this is…except they plugged in the name of a Romero classic.

A small town in Colorado is quarantined by the U.S. military after an outbreak of flu-like symptoms. The symptoms mutate until the carrier turns full-on zombie-like flesh eater. Corporal Bowman (Suvari) grew up in the town and she plans on getting her family and friends out after all hell breaks loose and the town is overrun with infected monsters. Of course you find out that the outbreak was caused by the same government that has cut off the community from the rest of the world. They were testing a bio-weapon that would incapacitate the enemy so they could capture them and not kill them. Uh, yeah, they fucked it up and the strain mutated.

Noticed I haven’t called them “zombies” or “dead” one time. That’s because there is no rising from the graves. No slow moving, gut-munching retards. In fact, they aren’t dead at all; they’re sick, like with a bad cold. Except of course they turn really ugly and want to bite you…a lot. These fuckers are fast. Superhuman fast and they can climb the friggin’ walls like spiders! Did I mention they can drive? Shoot military issue assault rifles? Badly, but still…

I’m not a huge zombie movie fanatic and if I do indulge my undead side, I tend to lean in the Euro-zombie direction (think Fulci and de Ossorio). But I really enjoyed this movie. It was fast paced from the opening credits and it didn’t let up until the end credits. These creatures were fucking scary and frantic. They attacked in packs of frenzied, gnashing teeth. The make-up effects were top-notch but I have to say, I’m not big on the mixing of make-up and CGI. The CGI tends to look very fake in comparison.

This is a great addition to the “zombie” genre the same way 21 Days Later was. It’s a little different but a lot of fun. I even liked it a little better. Mena Suvari is smoking hot running around in her little camouflage soldier uniform. Ving Rhames was, well, Ving Rhames. A hard-nosed, no-nonsense military guy. The only character I hated was Nick Cannon’s character. He’s a stereotypical wise-cracking thug that quickly grated on my nerves. I couldn’t wait until one of the spider-zombie-thingies munched on him. So, for all of you die-hard Romero fans; try not to swallow your tongues and go out and pick this up. DO IT, SOLDIER!

Greg Baty

Greg is a lifelong genre film fan who digs boobs, blood and beer. He also enjoys old school punk rock, comic books and spending time with his beautiful wife Ellen and his cats Sydney and Alabama. Greg is the webmaster, Editor in Chief and Head Writer for Cinesploitation.

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