Day of the Dead (2018) Horror Movie Review
Written By: DMG
Edited By: Grave Reviews Staff
Film Information
Director: Hector Hernandez Vicens
Producer: Christa Campbell, Robert Franklin Dudelson
Writer: Mark Toderai, Lars Jacobson
Story based on: George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead
Date Released: January 5, 2018
Cast
Sophie Skelton as Zoe Parker
Johnathon Schaech as Max
Marcus Vanco as Baca Salazar
Jeff Gum as Miguel Salazar
Cristina Serafini as Elle
Mark Rhino Smith as Alphonse
Lillian Blankenship as Lily
Rating = 1/5 Graves
***May contain some spoilers***
Synopsis
The story follows Zoe Parker (Sophie Skelton), a medical student from Whittendale University. One day, an infectious outbreak ensues making everyone into flesh-eating zombies and killing all of her colleagues. Although Zoe’s colleagues were killed, she managed to escape the attack and retreat to a military based not far from the University. As the medical aid for the base, she advises the people on the base that a supply run needs to be made in order to provide the appropriate medical care to the people who may be infected. However, upon returning from the supply run, one of the zombies make it into the base. Soon thereafter, Zoe begins to realize that this zombie may be the cure to stopping the infection from spreading.
Gore Factor
Blood and guts are really a staple in any modern zombie film. Day of the Dead (2018) is no exception. As far as gore was concerned, there was nothing in this film that stood out from older zombie films. This is the third remake of George Romero’s work, so by the third time, extraordinary special effects work should have been implemented. Nevertheless, you will experience blood splatter, gut removal and the typical functions of zombies in general. The gore was entertaining, but not particularly disturbing in any way. With an overall budget of $10 million, Day of the Dead had tremendous flexibility and could have been more creative in this way.
The Grave Review
The story line of surviving in a military base was an interesting concept. Finding a different perspective on a zombie apocalypse is sometimes difficult to identify. In this way, Day of the Dead had great potential in expanding on this concept. Unfortunately, the film did not deliver in terms of developing the characters and life-style of the people who live on the base. It would have been an interesting concept to focus more on the lives of the people, but the film only scratched the surface in this way.
Up to this point, zombies were portrayed as having little to no motor-function skills. Day of the Dead (2018) shows the zombies with the ability to run and even open doors. But the problem with this is that, if we believe in the science-fiction concept of a mindless flesh-eating corpse, then these functions should be unavailable to them and as such are unrealistic. This element made the threats of zombies seemed forced, as if there would be no threat if these enhanced motor skills were not introduced. For a traditional zombie-film lover, the aspect may be off-putting.
The acting was mediocre. It was better than an adult soft-core film, but not by much. There never felt like there was a true threat. Zoe Parker’s demeanor (Sophie Skelton) always seemed very calm and indifferent by the fact that there was a hoard of zombies outside the military complex. In this way, the acting was not very believable especially in the circumstances that she is placed in during the film.
For the foregoing reasons, Grave Reviews gives Day of the Dead (2018) one out of five graves.
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