Day of the Dead (1985 film)

Day of the Dead
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George A. Romero
Produced by	Richard P. Rubinstein
Written by	George A. Romero
Starring	Lori Cardille Terry Alexander Joe Pilato Richard Liberty
Music by	John Harrison
Cinematography	Michael Gornick
Edited by	Pasquale Buba
Production company	Dead Films Inc. Laurel Entertainment Inc. Laurel-Day Inc.
Distributed by	United Film Distribution Company
Release date	July 19, 1985 (1985-07-19)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3.5 million
Box office	$34 million

Day of the Dead is a 1985 American horror film written and directed by George A. Romero and the third film in Romero's Dead series, being preceded by Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978).

Romero describes the film as a "tragedy about how a lack of human communication causes chaos and collapse even in this small little pie slice of society".

This film features Sherman Howard in an early appearance as Bub, and make-up artist Gregory Nicotero playing Private Johnson and assisting Tom Savini with the make-up effects.

Cannibalistic zombies have overrun the entire world. The remaining fragments of the U.S. government and military hide out in fortified military bases and colonies, attempting to find a solution to the zombie pandemic. Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Cardille), Private Miguel Salazar (Anthony Dileo Jr.), radio operator Bill McDermott (Jarlath Conroy), and helicopter pilot John (Terry Alexander) fly from their underground base to Fort Myers, Florida, in an attempt to locate additional survivors. They encounter a large horde of the undead, and return to their army base in the Everglades, where a small group of scientists, supported by a skeleton crew of soldiers, is searching for a way to stop or reverse the re-animation process.

Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty), the lead scientist – also known as "Frankenstein" due to his grisly surgical dissections of zombies  – believes that the zombies can be trained to become docile, and accordingly has amassed a collection of test subjects, which are kept in a large underground corral in the compound, in spite of the objections of Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato). The tension between soldiers and scientists worsens in the face of dwindling supplies, loss of communication with other survivors, and slow progress in research. During a meeting between the scientists and the soldiers, Rhodes announces that, following the death of the previous base commander Major Cooper, he is taking command of the base, that the scientists henceforth will work under his orders, and that anyone who objects will be instantly killed. Dr. Logan hopes to secure Rhodes' cooperation by showing him the results of his research. He is especially proud of "Bub", a docile zombie who remembers some parts of his past life and engages in rudimentary human behavior: listening to music, aiming a pistol, and saluting Captain Rhodes. "Civility must be rewarded," Logan says. "If it's not rewarded, there's no use for it. There's just no use for it at all!" Rhodes is not impressed.