Talk:Day of the Dead (film)

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Replaced some opinion elements with factual material (Nov. 5, 2004).

Added cast and crew listing (Nov. 5, 2004).

So, 68.32.157.188, you deleted the cast and crew information why? Oh, I see: for no good reason. It's been reverted to its pre-68.32.157.188 state.

[edit] Re-animation by biting only?

The article states that in Romero's world, a corpse will reanimate regardless if it is bitten, as long as it doesn't have any severe head trauma. While I agree this is implied, I don't recall ever seeing someone reanimated without first being bitten. This goes for the 4 films. I can only recall this happening in the remakes; in the Night of the Living Dead remake at the very end when Ben is reanimated after a gunshot wound, in NIGHT when we see the graveyard zombie who clearly has just crawled out of a grave, and in the Dawn remake with the baby zombie. I don't think the remakes (especially Snyder's Dawn) can be considered canon.

As far as I am concerned, there is circumstancial evidence of the "any corpse will rise" idea, but it's not conclusive:

1. If corpses reanimated only after a bite, there wouldn't be many zombies walking around. Usually if a zombie or two gets a hold of you, you will be consumed to the point where there won't be much left of you to be able to walk. In order to have fully or mostly intact zombies walking around, some of them must have died "normally" and then reanimated.

2. The newscaster in NIGHT states that the bodies of the recently deceased are returning to life. He doesn't say "recently bitten", but that doesn't rule it out. Also, at that stage of the game the media didn't seem to know what was going on anyway.

3. In NIGHT you see a naked woman zombie with a toe tag, clearly reanimated out of the morgue. I didn't see any bite marks. This goes for lots of other zombies who don't appear to have any bite marks or gaping holes (especially in the earlier movies).

4. In NIGHT, you have an awful lot of zombies walking around, considering it's such a rural area. Where did they come from? It's highly unlikely that they've all been bitten that early on. Is it implied that they are reanimated corpses from the cemetary?

Some admittedly weak evidence of the "bite only" idea:

1. In NIGHT, Tom and Judy's corpses don't get back up after getting burned in the fire.

2. I don't recall Blades getting bitten, but after being shot by Peter, you never see him later on as a zombie. Then again, maybe that's him in Land of the Dead.

3. In DAY, Logan doesn't appear to have been shot in the head. Nevertheless, he never reanimates.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jasonlebaron (talk • contribs) .

In the DVD for Dawn, in one of the documentaries (Document of the Dead or The Dead Walk, I forget which), Savini says that he is creating zombies who died a variety of different ways. He mentions a cancer patient at some point. Obviously, this is saying that a zombie could be someone who died of cancer, so not necessarily bitten. Then again, this is Savini talking and I agree after watching the movies again to try to see, I didn't notice any mention of any zombie coming to life unless bitten (unless you could Savini's remake of Night of the Living Dead)—The preceding unsigned comment was added by IP 142.192.200.200 (talk) .

It is specifically stated in Night, Dawn, and Land that all corpses are affected. LAND even goes out of its way, during the opening credits, to state definitively that you NEED NOT BE BITTEN to become a zombie, presumably because George was sick of this "debate".24.33.28.52 23:20, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

It's quite obvious that biting is not required because if this was the sole cause, there would be no zombies in the first place. --Bacteria 23:54, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Good question. There seems to be a lack of continuity or clarity about this in the movies. In Night, the reanimation seems to coincide with radiation from the returning space probe, and is spread by biting. In the Director's Cut of Land, a man hangs himself and reanimates (this scene was not in the theatrical version). In the remake of Dawn, the characters debate this very issue. The woman who dies of a gunshot does not in fact reanimate. It's quite obvious why the baby is born as a zombie - it shares bodily fluids with its mother, who turned before it was born. It's also unclear whether zombies derive nourishment of any kind from eating their victims. In Day, Dr. Logan points out that zombies without a stomach will continue to attempt to eat flesh, and that center of the brain is the part of the body that decays last, and whatever phenomenon is causing the zombies resides there. Hmmm. I've also wondered why some of the zombies in Land, particularly the lead zombie, look like they died yesterday, while others are in clearly advanced stages of decay, as one would expect after several years.

How about the effect of the epidemic on animals? Again, this is unclear. No animals are ever shown turning into zombies. In the remake of Dawn, a dog is able to slip by the zombies unharmed. Wouldn't zombies have the instinct to try and eat animals? In Night, a zombie woman eats a bug on a tree, and in Land, there is mention of giving a dog or cat to the zombies fighting in the ring. (What do you call a zombie dog? A ma-stiff.)Twalls

I never saw that part where the guy hangs himself and comes back as a zombie... if I had I wouldn't have even brought it up. That is noteworthy because, (again correct me if I am wrong) that would make it the only time this would happen on camera in the series. I need to get that DVD.

In any case, the animal question is interesting. They don't notice the gator at the beginning of Day.

Final question... if you dig up a coffin and crack it open, is the corpse reanimated? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.131.215.20 (talk) .

[edit] Rating

What was this movie rated originally? The article states that it was released "unrated by the MPAA," but earlier (due to recent edits), it states that Romero accepted a smaller budget for the film because of his goal of an X-rating. What's the real story behind this? --Myles Long 28 June 2005 19:52 (UTC)

It was released unrated in 1985. Romero was offered 5 million to deliver an R rated film, but he insisted on a gory version and accepted a 2.5 million budget.

The story goes that an X-rated movie would be refused advertising by local newspapers, radio, TV in the United States, so this is where we get the unrated horror movies tradition. Instead the ads carried disclaimers about violent but non-sexual content. Possibly exaggerated or apocryphal, but this is what some directors and producers say on their audio commentaries (including Romero and Rubinstein). 24.33.28.52 07:18, 17 May 2006 (UTC)