When I first heard of George Romero I saw Night of the Living Dead and wasn’t even horrified. In fact there were a few scenes that I found quite amusing but this all changed when I found out about Dawn of the Dead. That movie scared me quite a bit and then when I finally found out and got Day of the Dead I was hooked. I had bought a VHS of the movie and pretty much ran it into the ground. Now the folks over at Umbrella Entertainment have given us the Day of the Dead ultimate edition but will it hold up to the original?
First I wanted to say a bit about the packaging as this is a two disc set…yes you heard right! This set has two discs and has a reversible slip cover with the original movie poster or sketch art of the famous Dr. Tongue zombie that appears in the beginning of the film. I chose the later because this was done exclusively for the release of this film and will not be seen anywhere else. This alone makes it a worthy edition to display on your shelves as your friends will wonder where you got this release. 
For those that have never seen the film this follows in sequence from the previous two films as Night was the beginning of the outbreak and it was becoming increasingly worse in Dawn. In Day of the Dead the zombies outnumber humans by at least 40,000 to 1. The movie takes place in a small research facility where a group is trying to figure out what caused the outbreak and how to reverse it. However, when the previous leader of the group dies and his successor takes his place it starts a series of events that will test everyone in the group. This is definitely one of the classic zombie movies and if you haven’t seen it yet go ahead and do so. The amount of gore that is in the movie is simply breathtaking and one of the folks that worked on this movie went on to use his expertise to create zombies for the hit TV show The Walking Dead.
Special features? There are TONS on these two discs (one being blu-ray and the other a DVD) the first disc includes the movie with two audio tracks. The first track has George A Romero, Tom Savini, Cletus Anderson and Lori Cardille and the second has Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Everett Burrell and Mike Deak. There are two features that go behind the scenes and one of them is hosted by Tom Savini who did the special effects for the film! There’s also a featurette called Worlds End: The Legacy of Day of the Dead and this massive 85 minute feature has interviews with cast and crew on how this classic was brought to life. There is also an interview with George Romero at MIFF 2008 about his works including this film. Theatrical trailers, TV Spots and a promo for the Gateway Commerce Centre (which was the underground facilities used in the film!). The second disc has Joe of the Dead (which is an interview with Joe Pilato who played Rhodes in the film), Travelogue of the Dead follows Ken Foree and Joe Pilato as they go through an organized tour through Scotland and Ireland meeting fans along the way. If you wanted to know how Day of the Dead came to be then check out the Many Days of the Dead which shows the evolution on how Day of the Dead came to be. And last but not least there is Reflections on the Living Dead which is kind of the odd man out as it deals with how Night of the Living Dead was made. However, you should check this out as they talk to not only George A Romero but John Russo as well!
If you are a fan of Day of the Dead there is only one edition you need to pick up and it is this one and you can pick it up right here. This has more features than any of the previous releases and it is a worthy addition to anyones collection. For information on this and other great releases head over to https://www.umbrellaent.com.au/ and get ready to experience the world ruled by the dead.
