Day Of The Dead Is Romero's Underrated Masterpiece 

For me, Day of the Dead gets better the more times you view it.

I completely agree with all of this. Day is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. I love it’s bleak take on the apocalypse, it feels so visceral and real. I love it!

"Hello, Aunt Alicia. It's your old pal Bub." What a dark and depressing finale to an epic horror trilogy.

Absolutely Terrifying as a kid. Still love it. So dark,so bleak. Humanity is on the brink as the Dead have their Day.

Day of the Dead is one of the greatest horror movies ever made. Its soundtrack is an absolute masterpiece and the combination of horror, claustrophobia and existential fear that the movie brings is brought up, even more so, by the melancholic, and eerily childlike soundtrack. The whole thing is just a masterpiece.

Day of the dead was the first of the trilogy I had seen and it will always be the most terrifying. It has a sense of isolation that I haven't really felt in any other zombie movie.

I've always liked Day the most out of the original Dead Trilogy. I know it's the unpopular opinion but Day Of the Dead just gets everything right to me such as entertaining performances, wonderful effects coupled with disturbingly beautiful gore set pieces, interesting zombie intellect innovations and better but different layers of subtext that everyone praises Dawn for doing so well. I love the idea that in this story human beings are literally no longer the top of the food chain and they live underground while the zombies live dead above ground. It's got an intriguing almost meta approach that I just really enjoy so much more than Dawn. Joe Pilato was the man! He definitely steals the show in the movie. Lance, I'm actually going to be at Flashback Weekend this August and I can't wait! Thanks for the awesome video on this zombie 🧟‍♂️ classic!

A nihilistic masterpiece.. with Romero's "lesser": films later .. is this the PERFECT trilogy? In my opinion yes.. also John Harrison and John Sutton's pseudo Tangerine "fever" Dream score needs to be equally as celebrated

My favorite film of ALL TIME. No exaggeration when I say this. RIP Romero

At 15 I snuck in the theatre to see this. My mind was blown. This movie made such an impact on me. It set me up for life.

Day of the Dead was panned by the critics at the time. It was celebrated by the fans because it was the long-awaited and most anticipated horror film of the 1980's. Romero's original Day of the Dead was called 'Raiders of the Lost Ark with Zombies' according to Tom Savini. The original budget was $6.5 million. United Film Distribution agreed to make the film if Romero would keep it Rated R. If Romero agreed, it would have most likely been picked up for major distribution from Warner Bros. like they did for his successful Creepshow. Romero would not compromise on the gore and was given an ultimatum: Deliver an unrated Day for $3 million or an R rating for $6.5 million. Romero chose the gore over content. So after writing 2 more drafts, the third one brought Day's budget to $3 million. I've read the 2nd draft of Day which would have cost $4.7 million but was still big in scope. I love Romero's finished product, but in my honest opinion his original Day concept was far superior and much more ambitious. This is horror film history's big 'What If's'. If Romero was granted his original vision, it would have been on the same level of Alejandro Jodorowsky bringing his vision of Dune to the big screen.

This is one, if not the most favorite zombie flicks I'd loved to watch as a kid out of the whole Dead series. I've watched it again this past year. George Romero did a great job directing it, all of the actors nailed it and Bubba... Who can forget sweet and gentle ole' Bubba. This was one of Tom Savini's more gorier entrances as well out of the complete trilogy. 10/10 for me.

George Romero was such a brilliant writer/director that when I saw Day of the Dead, I was more scared of Rhodes (The great Joe pilato -RIP) than the zombies!

Day of the dead was always my favorite of all Romero dead flicks.

When I was younger I used to love Dawn of the Dead and really didn't care for Day, much like I loved Back to the Future and really didn't care for Back to the Future part 3, but Day and Part 3 really grew on me and I find myself enjoying them the most.

My first experience of zombies as a kid. I just had to see it after the trailer, which gave anyway nothing except the arms coming out of the wall and that pulsating eerie synth soundtrack. The fact that it gave away so little made me want to hire it out on VHS and so I did. Wow.

Hands down my all time favorite zombie flick and my favorite Romero film, been watching it since I was a little kid,my brothers rented both dawn and day when I was five and it was a double feature I'll never forget

One thing Day of the Dead doesn't get enough accolades for is the opening. The hopeless calls of "HELLO!!!" as the zombies slowly start approaching was masterfully executed and absolutely chilling. And the title over the zombie standing in all of its disgusting glory was chef's kiss. And Land of the Dead was a solid movie, imo. Nowhere near as great as the original trilogy, but also nowhere near as terrible as people make it sound.

My all-time favorite movie. Watch it at least once a month still to this day. Drove down to Ft. Myers a few years ago and did the Day of the Dead scene tour and took pictures at all the iconic shoots, like the library, the law office, the Edison Theater, etc...I lived in Westmoreland County when I was young and if you know anything about SW Pennsylvania, then you know Romero and Savini are ingrained in our DNA lol.

Absolutely agree. Day is totally my favourite one. Outshines the lot.

Rhodes is very much a human character, he's only a villain because of the situation he's been put in. Incharge of a little camp at the edge of the abyss, every bit of him is screaming being 'here' is the worst idea possible, but because he is a soldier he is essentially chained to that 14mile tombstone outpost. At least until he is given relief from a higher in command, or everyone dies.

As much as I love Dawn of the Dead, I prefer Day of the Dead over it. Bub is awesome.

Day of the Dead grew on me. I am starting to like it on the same level as Dawn but for different reasons. I recommend the Criterion Edition for Night of the Living Dead it is so clear.

Day has by far the most cinematic writing, the fourteen mile tombstone monolog still sends shivers down my spine when I hear it.

Interestingly, having read the original script for Day, many scenes that were cut due to budgetary restrictions ended up in Land. I can't help but wonder what Day would have been like if Romero had been given double the budget.

Absolutely a masterpiece ✨️ 👏 👌 🙌

I was 7 when this came out and to this day I always have a memory of shopping with my mum at the nearest main town. There was a small cinema there (long gone now) and we walked past it. Outside was the poster for Day of the Dead, the one with all the zombie faces. Not understanding that films had ratings I pointed and said to my mum 'Can we go and watch that?'. She said 'No son, you're not old enough to watch that'. I never thought nothing of it but as an adult i look back and I realise, for many reasons, that from an early age I had a taste for horror. This memory is so vivid. First watched this with my cousin as his mum worked at the vid shop and she got it as a free rental along with Sakura Killers (loved my ninja films as well). I was probably 15 and it was soooo gory and everything I wanted in a horror film. Agree with you Lance, this is the best in the trilogy. Over time it has taken the place of Dawn for me. The performances are fantastic, not as hammy as I once thought and I love the sheer doom and gloom throughout. The score, character development and effects....spot on. Whilst I think the original script would have been interesting I think Romero made the correct choice in taking the lower budget to make the film without interference.

Me and some buddies watched this late at night on a really old VHS back in the 90's. At the end we were silent for about a minute and then we all said at once "that was awesome!!!!" and couldn't stop talking about for weeks. Especially how great the bad guy is!

Day of the Dead is most definitely the best in the series. My other personal favorite zombie movie is Return of the Dead.

I don’t ever care about being the first to a video. However, I see something about Romero and his legendary series, in the paraphrase of Butthead “I’m there dude!”

Best of the series hands down for me, really creeped me out as a kid back in the day and it's aged amazingly well with the FX still jaw dropping nearly 40 years later. I had the distinct pleasure of meeting the late great Joe Pilato at a horror festival and he was great fun to be around. Day of the Dead is in my top three horror films of all time and it's an absolute masterpiece.

I love this movie and there’s very little I’d change if I could. Really shows the last wisp of civilization breaking down in a world covered in roaming dead

I've always put Day over everything else. I remember when my grandma bought it on vhs, back when grocery stores used to offer rentals. She outright bought it. I was sitting in tha back seat just taken in by the box art. The original green skin Bub with that blazing red font had me from the beginning. Then I fell asleep on the couch as she and my mom was watching it. I woke up on the part when the zombies were exiting the elevator. Scared the shit out of me....but I just had to keep watching. The best 👌

Day of the dead is not just a great zombie movie its a great movie. Romero was definatley at the peak of his powers when he made it. The abandoned florida streets were truly scary. It had a realism that land of the dead didnt have. RIP george you were a true pioneer

Love this movie so much. Someone should make it into a play, those long, dialogue-heavy scenes would be awesome on the stage.

Is great to know that Greg Nicotero went from assisting Tom savini on Day of the Dead to being the lead effects makeup guy on Land of the Dead. A great transition

YESSSS!!!!!! This movie scared the living crap out of me when I was a kid!

My favorite Zombie movie of all time! 🤘🏻

Excellent, well written, on point, thank you for your art.

Frankensteins speech, "Where would we go, Captain?" Sums up the vibe of the film perfectly

The opening scene was creepy. That empty city slowly filling with the dead. They shoulda explored that more. One day hopefully someone will make something that does a deep dive focus on the first 72 hrs. after society really starts falling. That would be amazing.

The first time I watched this - I hated it. Seems like viewers felt that way. However, it really has come into its own and yes, dare I say that now...NOW! I think that it's the best of the 3. It's a fantastically depraved, horrifying film! And that zombie who that doctor was trying to "train" Bub"? I actually thought that he would've succeeded. I was sad that he didn't. Brilliant! It would take a truly fantastic zombie film to surpass "Dawn of the Dead" - but this film is it! Again, my favourite of the best trilogy of "...of the Dead" films...

I have fallen in love with this channel, big shout out.!!! About every movie from my childhood is the one here and the master pieces are considered masterpieces, underrated are underrated, and even The ones I nostalgic finally find out why they suck when I go back to watch them nowadays. Keep it up

KUDOS on using 1979's "ZOMBIE" shot of the horde walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Great film, and I imagine considering what the late 1970s NYC north of Wall Street and South of 14th street looked like, I dont envy those zombies. Such a brilliant shot to end a movie

Critics slammed this film upon release in 1985! You have said the most positive things I've ever heard about this entry in Romero's universe! I too appreciated the darker tone with higher steaks for each character within this particular world! Glad to hear after years of everyone basically shitting on it for the past 35 + years!

Still my favorite zombie movie ever.

A classic case of a film being too depressing and nihilistic for general audiences, but it grows on you the more you watch it and it is a fantastic piece of cinema. Every entry of the trilogy is amazing in my opinion, and so fascinating to watch as time capsules.

Not just my favourite zombie move, or G.A.R. movie but my favourite movie of all time. I have a pretty good collection of memorabilia too. Total fanboy since 1985.

This movie has a special place for me just because the very beginning was shot in my hometown of Fort Myers FL. In fact the scene with the alligator crawling out of the Edison Park theater is where I first seen it . Of course it's been long gone for years but alot of the downtown area still looks much the same .

I had a buddy that hated zombie films. He cited the Romero films as the absolute worst, especially “that really stupid one with zombies in a mall”. I asked him, what about Day of the Dead? He said he’d never heard of it (unfortunately most people haven’t). I had him sit down and watch it with me. He was being a smartass at first, picking apart everything on the screen. Eventually he gave in and started actually watching the film. When the credits hit, I shut the movie off and asked him “Well, what did you think of that one?”. He thought for a second, turned to me and said “That’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen”.

Day of the Dead is the best horror movie ever made the special effects for 1985 are second to none.

This movie holds a special place in my heart, as it was released, the day I was born.

In my top 5 films all time. The single best piece of ghoul/zombie media ever made.

I’ve always loved this film, it may not have the over the top comic violence of Dawn but it kinda brings it back to NOTLD in the sense that there’s more focus on the internal fighting between the living: instead of fighting they should’ve gotten along so forth and so on . The special effects were the pinnacle of those films with great care to depict rotten corpses and gore. It had fantastic performances but the one stand out for me is when John gives this great philosophical and metaphysical monologue on the way of modern society and it’s decline and theories for why the dead have risen. The music, the sounds of the dead howling in the background the atmosphere and the acting as well as the dialogue make it such a chilling scene. Still a great movie I like to revisit quite a bit

Damn straight. I had a review on one of my previous channels. 10/10 movie.

As a movie in general, this one is criminally underrated because of the plot, concepts, and (some of) the acting; as a horror movie, Day is a BIT underrated. ok maybe it’s a lot underrated..... somewhere between a bit and a lot.? The make up effects, gore, unapologetically cheesy 80’s vibe...gotta love it

i LOVE this movie! have the special anniversary dvd set and everything (beautiful case!) my take on dr Frankenstein is he's in his lab kind of isolated from social interactions. literally cutting up zombies and cadavers day in and day out for hours and hours... mix work-a-holic with an environment like that just about anyone would go a little nuts after a while. its just when we see him in the movie finally he's barely grasping onto reality anymore. sad because i think he honestly meant well but in the end the despair and pressure did him in (which i get was one of the main themes of the movie) great video! 🤘

Greatest zombie flick of all time. It can’t be topped!!!

This one holds a special place in my heart. The Anchor Bay DVD released within a few weeks of my shipping off to the military in '03, so I've got this association between this film, and some of my last memories of the first civilian phase of my life.

Still one of my all time favorites. Great video!

One of my favorite films ever!!

My absolute favorite Zombie movie of all time by at least 14 miles😏😏😏

I love the Zombies in Dawn as one looks like my Aunt. I showed my Dad and he agreed it could be his sister 😂🤣😂🤣🐾💜

One of my all time favorite Dead films. Love them all but I consider this on top...

I love the behind the scenes documentary of Day of the Dead. Seem them create the zombies and the gorefects was awesome. Even if those guts were smelly after the refrigerator broke down.

Love this movie, still haven’t seen the original Dawn of the Dead though.

No doubt about it. I saw it at the Norridge theatre when it opened in Illinois and it was only at theatre one week. Then I owned the DVD along with Dawn of the Dead (1978). The bunker underground rivals the indoor shopping mall in Dawn. I would like to be holed up in either. So cozy!

Just watched this for Halloween this year. You give a superb analysis of the film! If you overlook some trademark 80s hokeyness, the story is indeed very bleak, underscored by the strained character dynamics and excellent performances by the cast. It takes some time for the blood to start flowing but once all hell breaks loose those kills are quite the sight to behold. Impressive practical effects!

I don't necessarily think it's the best entry but it's definitely a great film. I remember reading the original screenplay to this film and being like how the hell did he think he was going to pull this off. But it's really neat that he took that script and essentially just broke it down to one location rather than a few and then just made all the characters in one place as well. If I remember correctly the original script had people living in trees on one Island and then there was like this other Island that had zombies soldiers that had like spray painting on them to tell what part of training that they were in and the idea of Dr Frankenstein was him doing the soldiers, kind of like a Dr butcher MD minus the tribe people. I think what this film's Real Testament is the work that Tom savini and Greg Nicotero and Howard Bergerdid did with the special effects. They took it to a whole other level in this movie and made it look so God damn realistic. I remember when my parents were divorcing my dad was staying at this apartment like a town over and I would go there when he was in town to spend weekends sometimes with him and he would let me rent anything. I was about 11 or 12 and really excited to be able to watch horror films because I wasn't allowed to watch R-rated films when I was a kid and now obviously my dad didn't give a shit. My dad who used to love full metal jacket and the opening scene with the gunnery sergeant literally came out of his bedroom when I was watching the film for the first time and said that guy has a filthy mouth turn it down(Rhodes) lol. But I remember when I saw the effects of this film and I was like Jesus Christ because I had only seen Dawn of the Dead And while Dawn of the Dead is Gory it definitely has more of a comic book feel to the gore and the blood is very bright. The gore in this movie was brutal and effective. And really looked like people getting killed and Bitten on the neck and then the finale with Rhodes getting ripped in half ... Dawn of the Dead cemented my love for the zombie. But Day of the Dead made me realize how dangerous they really were when they start overtaking by sheer numbers. Also something that not many people talk about but I think it's a very subtle nod by George A Romero is John and McDermott. They live away from everybody else in a one bedroom trailer. It's obviously a nod to gay couples. It's very slight but how else do you explain two dudes living by themselves away from everybody else in the complex.... I've gotten into arguments about this before but I totally think they're a gay couple. A badass zombie killing pilot and engineer

Awesome episode Lance and solid defense of Romero's often underestimated flick! Well done bro!

I also think that Day of the Dead is the best movie of Romero, but I also think that the poor colors of the zombies in Dawn of the Dead (which of course are because of the low budget) can be explained as soon dying because in the movie the apocalypsis was coming, but there was still a society and government and most of the zombies were newly dead.

Thisone makes me feel nostalgic...i believe it was the end of an era for the genre

I'm so happy that this movie has come around to people as being the best. I only saw it for the first time when it first came out on DVD and I could see why it wasn't received well at the time, but I also saw that it was simultaneously ahead of it's time (even for the early '00s when I saw it). The critique that all the characters are too irascible and unlikable to be believable was unfounded. George knew that people need community and connection; they don't thrive in isolation. I mean I don't think we have to look too far in our past to see how that played out. It's an oddly prescient commentary of a time yet to come (from when it was made)!

You are one of my favorite channels. Thanks for all the great content 👍

I would have absolutely loved to have been a part of this film as a zombie extra back in the day. I envy and live vicariously through the actual zombie extras in this film's behind the scenes footage. Good for them... Lucky bastards. lol R.I.P., George.

Haven’t seen it in years, but it was my favorite entry as a teen.

I was 14 at the time it came out,wasn t in theaters in my region back then,we rented this as soon as it was available on vhs

Great review, mate.

every time Rhodes was screaming, he sounded just like Jack in The Departed

Great review mate.

When I first saw 'Dad of the Dead', I didn't think much of it. However, the more I see it, the more it is appreciated and the better it gets. Dawn is still my favorite, but Day is not far behind.

I'm running this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!!!

Well done man..my favorite Will always be the 2nd movie

The whole thing about the military guys being suspicious of science is actually so prophetic considering how things have turned out.

Joe Pilato was AWESOME. RIP. And George A. Romero, Richard Liberty and Ralph Marrero and gary klar.

I remember the vhs cover in my local video shop and my dad used to say If you ever see that film make sure you not eating sausages.

AWESOME VIDEO! love this movie!!!!!!!!!!

This film actually had me feeling nauseated just from the hopeless atmosphere and soundtrack when I first watched it as a teen.

Well said!

No question in my mind that this is the best zombie/splatter movie of all time. Well, at least if we're not counting comedies like Dead Alive. But how they depict the growing desperation and isolation of the survivors is fucking perfect. And I'm still yet to see a horror movie with better looking kills.

Great take

A masterpiece. Savini’s best makeup effects in my opinion.

The greatest zombie movie of all time period.

My 2 favorite zombie movies of all time are this one and return of the living dead 1985. This one has a genuinely creepy feel and a eerie feeling throughout. I love the conversation charachters and villians. This is my favorite of the Romero films. After watching day of the dead my girlfriend would do that perverted look and two fingers sliding over the mouth that rhoades did to that lady when he mentioned giving the rest of them a chance for some loving.

Nice to see a little Greg Nicotero with long flowing hair lol!

This movie *chefs kiss*

For me Day of the dead is the Best

This was such a great video!

The Bub makeup is perfect. I understand John Vulich had a lot to do with it, and applying it each day.

Hello from Newfoundland