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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Day of the Dead: Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray) (1985)

Day of the Dead: Ultimate Edition (Blu-ray) (1985)

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Released 7-Nov-2018
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Horror / Thriller	Audio Commentary-George A Romero, Tom Savini, Cletus Anderson & Lori Cardille Audio Commentary-Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Everett Burrell & Mike Deak Featurette-Making Of-World's End: The Legacy of Day of the Dead Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Behind the Scenes: On Set Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Behind the Scenes: Tom Savini Interviews-Crew-George A. Romero Theatrical Trailer-x3 TV Spots-x4 Additional Footage-Gateway Commerce Centre Promo Video Featurette-Making Of-The Many Days of the Dead Featurette-Joe of the Dead Featurette-Reflections on the Living Dead Featurette-Travelogue of the Dead Gallery
Rating
Year Of Production	1985
Running Time	100:58
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	George A. Romero
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Lori Cardille Terry Alexander Joseph Pilato Jarlath Conroy Anthony Dileo Jr. Richard Liberty Sherman Howard Gary Howard Klar Ralph Marrero John Amplas
Case	Standard Blu-ray	Starring
RPI	$29.95	Music	John Harrison

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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Plot Synopsis

    The third instalment in director George A. Romero's undead franchise, 1985's Day of the Dead was intended to be the Gone with the Wind of zombie movies, with an ambitious story and epic scope. However, the budget was slashed from $7 million to $3.5 million by nervous financiers concerned about the film's gory content, with Romero hesitant to conform to the limitations of an R rating (how quaint, looking back), and with executive producer Salah M. Hassanein unwilling to fund an unrated film. The screenplay was therefore rewritten in line with the budget cuts, in the process compromising Romero's initial vision. Even though Day of the Dead is not a genuinely epic zombie extravaganza, the finished film is nevertheless hard to dislike. Although the scope is restricted, ample funds were available for the special effects - and consequently, this is a vehemently old-school, insanely violent horror film with the most impressive zombie make-up of its era, while the script is beset with thoughtful thematic content.

    Picking up an unspecified time after 1978's Dawn of the Dead, the zombie infestation has only intensified and grown - for every living human on the planet, there are four hundred thousand zombies. Day of the Dead finds a number of survivors in an underground Floridian bunker, where scientists cohabitate with armed military personnel. The science team, led by Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty) and including Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Cardille), is conducting experiments on undead bodies in the hope of finding a cure, or at least another way to deal with the growing zombie numbers. However, the soldiers, led by the antagonistic Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato), are becoming impatient, and sanity levels are rapidly declining due to the confined space and ostensible lack of hope for the future.

    Although zombie movies are usually brainless endeavours, Romero creates cautionary fables about societal malaises, buttressing the material with satire. Night of the Living Dead concentrated on the unrest emerging from the civil rights movement, and reflected the era’s growing fear of invasion by foreign forces. Dawn satirised materialism, viewing crass commercialism as a mindless escape from reality and a new drug of choice. Day of the Dead, meanwhile, is a product of the Reagan era, with Romero setting his sights on the military and creating a doomsday prediction of life in the not-too-distant future. The tone here is darker and more dour than its predecessors, disposing of the almost slapstick feel that permeated Dawn of the Dead. Due to the budget cuts, Day mostly takes place within the labyrinthine underground facility, similar to Dawn's shopping mall setting. However, the mood here is more hopeless and the zombies are not the only threat, as the human characters begin to turn on one another. Romero posits that although some humans may still be alive during a zombie apocalypse, the undead still win if they destroy the soul of humanity.

    Day of the Dead is backed by conceptual intelligence, but it is still an entertaining movie driven by visceral bloodshed and gore, with Romero never skimping on the nasty details. Without a doubt, this is make-up and special effects artist Tom Savini's artistic masterpiece. Savini is a long-time special effects champion, and he lets his war-scarred imagination run wild here (he was a combat photographer in Vietnam). As a result, Day of the Dead is viciously gory, with an unsettling attention to anatomical detail - we get a person's face being torn off by the eyelid, a head being cut in half with a shovel, and zombie fingers prying open living humans to pull out the gooey viscera inside. The zombies themselves look outstanding too, exhibiting convincing deterioration and decay. Additionally, some of the zombies are missing limbs, while another is entirely cut open on an operation table. Other elements of the special effects still impress to this day, including the terrific practical blood squibs. Furthermore, Romero's direction is expectedly competent, driving the mayhem and staging the action set-pieces with a sure hand. If there is a shortcoming, it's the synth score by John Harrison, which noticeably dates the film. Romero's vision needed a stronger musical accompaniment.

    Admittedly, the characters inhabiting Day of the Dead are not exactly likeable or sympathetic; virtually everybody here is an over-the-top cartoon, from the mad doctor to the insane, trigger-happy soldiers. But aside from the sheer entertainment value of these caricatures, it is a credible portrayal of this type of situation - with the world in a post-apocalyptic state, the only people left alive are either rational or crazy. Pilato is the standout in terms of acting; his character of Captain Rhodes is memorably unhinged and rich in personality, yet he is also arguably the film's real hero. After all, he is right about the futility of surgery to "domesticate" the zombies, and the facility's security is ultimately threatened because of the scientists. Rhodes is mad and unsentimental, but that is precisely why he survived for so long. Meanwhile, Cardille is a strong and charismatic female lead, while solid support is provided by Terry Alexander as the rational helicopter pilot. Gary Howard Klar also warrants a mention; he's over-the-top and fun as one of the crazed soldiers. But perhaps the strongest performer here is Sherman Howard as Bub, a zombie in the process of becoming domesticated through scientific experiments. Howard looks like a brainless zombie at first glance, yet he also nails the role's more complex nuances. It's a quality performance, making Bub the most sympathetic character in the film.

    Due to the screenplay changes necessitated by budget cuts, Day of the Dead is a polarising film that is seen as either a fan favourite or a missed opportunity. The movie certainly struggled to find its audience when released in 1985, with disappointing box office to boot, but it found second life on home video. Although it's lamentable that Romero could not accomplish his original vision, Day of the Dead is great for what it is: another bold portrayal of the zombie apocalypse that's creepy, frightening and gory. Romero's view of humanity here is detached and cynical, the film is full of scenery-chewing lunatics, and Savini's special make-up effects remain simply astonishing to this day. It adds up to another masterpiece in this reviewer's mind, though Day of the Dead is not for all tastes.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    Umbrella previously issued Day of the Dead on Blu-ray back in 2010, but this new Ultimate Edition arrives touting a new 1080p high definition transfer previously unseen in Australia. It's clear from the outset that this is the same HD master prepared for Shout! Factory's 2013 Collector's Edition, which is the best presentation currently available. The resulting AVC-encoded presentation carries a superb average video bitrate approaching 33 Mbps, and is framed at 1.77:1 according to the back cover (it appears to just be 1.78:1), which is slightly altered from the movie's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. I cannot say for certain if the image is cropped or open matte, but it hardly matters. A bit more bothersome is that while the new transfer is a noticeable improvement over the previous Blu-ray, it is not perfect. While serviceable and eminently watchable, fine detail and sharpness is still merely good rather than great, with the master appearing to have been transferred from a third or fourth generation print as opposed to the original camera negative or even an interpositive. Details about the transfer are hard to come by, so we can only speculate about the source.

    The older master on Umbrella's previous Blu-ray (which was also used for Anchor Bay's 2007 U.S Blu-ray, and Arrow's 2010 U.K. Blu) was slathered in digital noise reduction while the colour palette is simply dull, resulting in a flat, smeary mess that's hard to revisit. Thankfully, this new transfer restores more texture to the movie, with grain giving it a filmic feel, while colours and contrast are more agreeable. It actually looks like film. Nevertheless, detail is simply good, not great. Even during close-ups, the presentation lacks the type of precise fine detail that one would expect from a 35mm scan, especially in an era when movies of a similar vintage are being released on 4K Blu-ray. The grain structure looks consistent with a third or fourth generation print, as it lacks the defined coarseness of an original camera negative scan - and while some might believe that DNR was applied, the image doesn't carry the tell-tale smeariness of a noise reduced transfer; the grain and lack of precise textures appears simply inherent to the print that was used. (One of the people who supervised the transfer has said there was no DNR applied.) There's a degree of softness to the presentation, particularly during optical shots such as the entire opening sequence, but at least the transfer wasn't subjected to heavy edge enhancement. To my eyes, there are no traces of edge enhancement; the transfer therefore looks organic, for the most part akin to watching a film print being projected in a cinema. No doubt additional improvements to sharpness and textures could have been afforded by oversampling with a 4K scan of this particular print, but that's neither here nor there.

    Colours are a big improvement compared to the previous disc, looking warmer and more natural while never indulging in unnecessary "teal and orange" revisionism. The presentation holds up in darker scenes, with adequate object delineation towards the end of the movie when characters encounter zombies in dark areas of the underground facility. One shot at the 91-minute mark does look overly dark, but it's still easy to discern what's happening. The remaster itself is stable, with little in the way of print damage or telecine wobble. A few flecks, spots and hairs crop up throughout, while titles slightly wobble, but I personally wasn't too bothered - these minor shortcomings make it feel like you're watching a film print. (Your mileage will vary, of course.) It's worth noting that the optical shots understandably look the roughest, with some flickering to boot. Umbrella's encode is quite good for the most part, with no traces of aliasing, ringing or banding. However, the grain occasionally looks a tad blocky, taking on the appearance of macroblocking. I'm not sure if this is due to the original master or the encode, but it is noticeable.

    As long as you can temper your expectations, and not come to this edition of Day of the Dead expecting a state-of-the-art 4K remaster, you should find Umbrella's presentation to be mostly satisfying. It's still an agreeable improvement on the previous Blu-ray, and the best HD presentation we've ever had. Hell, if this master was released during the format's early days, it would have been more highly praised, but at this point we can only sit back and fantasise about what a proper 4K remaster from the OCN would look like. Night of the Living Dead got a 4K remaster recently, which debuted on the movie's Criterion Blu-ray release, and Dawn of the Dead is currently undergoing a 4K remaster from the OCN, which will debut on 4K Blu-ray sometime in 2019. So, how long until Day of the Dead gets the executive 4K treatment? Until then, this is about the best we can hope for.

    English (for the hearing impaired) subtitles are available. I had no issues reading them throughout.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two audio options on this disc: the original theatrical mono encoded in DTS-HD MA 2.0, as well as a remixed DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, both of which are lossless and 24-bit. Upon selecting to play the movie from the main menu, you are given the choice between the 2.0 and 5.1 tracks. The 2.0 track is the same that was included on Shout! Factory's Blu-ray edition, right down to noticeable sibilance issues throughout every line of dialogue. There are a few pops and clicks as well. These problems have always been present on the movie's home video presentations - it appears that the original mono is simply beyond rescue, unless another company can find and thoroughly restore the original elements. Maybe for the inevitable 4K remaster?

    The 5.1 track is the primary subject of this review, and is the track I score below. The news is much better in regards to the 5.1 remix, which is clearer and fuller. The sibilance problem from the 2.0 track is eliminated here, and there are no pops or clicks - the audio is pristine from top to bottom. Dialogue is clear and easy to comprehend, while John Harrison's original score, in addition to sound effects and environmental atmospherics, come through with sufficient clarity. Of course, the quality of the audio presentation is still limited by the recording equipment at the time, but this is the best we can realistically hope for. The subwoofer is used sparingly, giving a bit more oomph to the gunshots and other loud sounds, though this isn't exactly a deep track. Even though this is a remix, the audio is mostly front-centric, with very little activity from the surround channels outside of perfunctory accentuation. I didn't notice much in the way of separation, either. It's worth pointing out that this is the corrected, uncensored 5.1 audio, which fans will appreciate. Without any sync issues or drop-outs, Day of the Dead's 5.1 track is very good.

    To date, this is the only disc to contain both the remastered video presentation and the correct 5.1 audio track, in lossless no less. That is an enormous get for Day of the Dead fans. Umbrella's A/V presentation is therefore the best of any Blu-ray edition worldwide to date.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Umbrella have pulled out all the stops to compile an extensive collection of supplemental material, sourcing special features from Shout! Factory, Arrow, and their previous Blu-ray edition in an attempt to create the "definitive" set. And it's very close to definitive in terms of extras. It certainly took me about a week to chew through everything. Collectors might be disappointed about the lack of a slipcover, but I'm personally not too bothered. There is a reversible cover featuring new artwork designed by Simon Sherry (and no irritating ratings logos on said reversible cover).

I did note in my review of Razorback that Umbrella should start releasing double-disc sets to accommodate all the extras plus a respectable bitrate for the movie, and to Umbrella's credit, they've done it here. However, the second disc is a DVD which is kind of disappointing, especially considering that some of the extras on said DVD were produced in high definition.

Disc 1 - Blu-ray

Audio Commentary with George A. Romero, Tom Savini, Cletus Anderson & Lori Cardille

Director Romero, special make-up effects wizard Tom Savini, production designer Cletus Anderson, and actress Cardille settle in for an informative audio commentary track, which was recorded some time ago. They cover the infamous budget cuts, as well as many scene-specific topic - the locations, the special effects, the logistics, memories from shooting, and more. There's even a discussion about Brandon Lee's accidental death on the set of The Crow. Romero speaks about how things changed during the shoot, with one sequence initially intended to be a creepy "haunted house" set-piece, but they didn't have the time to do it properly. Romero also points out that since film cameras only shoot at 24 frames per second, they do not often capture the muzzle flashes of the blank-firing weapons, which necessitated muzzle flash animations to be added in post-production. There are pauses, and not every anecdote is a winner, but this is still a fun listen for fans of the movie.

Audio Commentary with Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Everett Burell & Mike Deak

The make-up/special effects team sit down for a feature-length commentary track, which is naturally focused more on their work than the production as a whole. They discuss the conditions of working in the underground mine, with the crew never seeing daylight for days at a time due to the long hours, and with everybody getting sick. The budget cuts are touched upon yet again, while other assorted scene-specific memories from shooting are shared. The film's legacy is also covered, with the guys revealing that people are always thrilled to learn that they worked on it. The discussion is lively, with little in the way of dead spots, but it's not always entirely interesting. Nevertheless, this is a fine addition that fans should definitely listen to.

World's End: The Legacy of Day of the Dead (720p; 85:26)

This particular extra was created by Red Shirt Pictures for Shout! Factory's 2013 Blu-ray, though it's worth noting that the documentary is listed incorrectly here - it's actually entitled "The World's End: The Making of Day of the Dead". Anyway, here we have a monstrous, informative documentary featuring interviews with a wide variety of participants, including Romero (before his passing in 2017), Sherman Howard, Gary Howard Klar, Joseph Pilato, Lori Cardille, and many more cast and crew, emerging as the definitive "making of" for this cult motion picture. There is some overlap with Disc 2's "The Many Days of Days of the Dead", but it barely matters. The documentary starts from the beginning, recounting the familiar story about budget cuts while also revealing other interesting facets behind the genesis of the project. Casting is also covered, in addition to characters, themes, make-up, location shooting, and more. Additionally, the release and reception of the film is covered, with the poor box office and audience confusion with Return of the Living Dead. The documentary is well-produced to boot, with B-roll footage and behind-the-scenes stills intercut throughout, while tracks from the movie's soundtrack accompany the visuals. If anything, I wish this was longer. It's certainly nice to see a slick, modern, HD documentary about Day of the Dead, and it's fortunate that this was made while the majority of the cast and crew were still alive.

Behind the Scenes: On Set (720p; 21:12)

This vintage featurette, taken from a rough standard definition source (but encoded in 720p), amounts to over twenty minutes of raw behind-the-scenes footage (in full-frame 1.33:1) from the Day of the Dead shoot, intercut with vintage interviews taken on the set. This is pure fly-on-the-wall stuff covering make-up application, gore (we even get to see the fridge storing all the guts and entrails), the extras, and more, while we also get to see some shots being filmed. This is very worthwhile.

Behind the Scenes: Tom Savini (720p; 30:42)

Much like the previous extra, here we have rough but nevertheless watchable SD behind-the-scenes footage (encoded in 720p/29.970 fps), played without any music or voiceover. Given that this is Savini's footage, this extra is solely concerned with the special effects and make-up. Much of this material was actually seen in the "The World's End" documentary, which is understandable, but the option to watch the footage raw is appreciable nevertheless. Another terrific addition.

Interview with George A. Romero at the 2008 Melbourne International Film Festival (720p; 49:26)

Here, the late great genre maestro sits down with American film writer Giulia D'Agnolo Vallan at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2008 for a nearly hour-long interview about his life, works and career. This begins with a discussion about 2007's Diary of the Dead which had premiered the year before, and he talks about getting started with films back in the day when film school did not exist. He speaks about his influences (particularly Orson Welles), as well as the intricacies of his works. Romero even touches upon his fondness for 3D and wonders about the viability of releasing 3D movies, which looks quaint now - this is from 2008 after all, before Avatar brought the format back. During the audience Q&A, Romero speaks about Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, and about the current state of zombie films. It's a good interview and a worthwhile inclusion, and there are tidbits I hadn't heard before. I initially intended to simply sample this, but watched the whole thing happily. This interview was luckily taken from a few angles with professional cameras and professional sound equipment. Though it's still SD, this isn't just something that was recorded on a VHS camcorder or a mobile phone by an audience member. (On that note, the source is SD, but it's encoded in 720p/29.970 fps.)

Theatrical Trailers (720p; 5:23)

Three trailers are included, taken from unremastered standard definition sources but encoded in 720p/24 fps. These play as one big block, though there are chapter breaks between each trailer.

TV Spots (720p; 2:31)

Four TV spots, all of which are taken from old SD sources (including an extremely rough VHS source for the final TV spot) and encoded in 720p/29.970 fps. As with the trailers, these play as one big block, with the previews separated by chapter stops.

Gateway Commerce Centre Promo Video (720p; 8:12)

A fun novelty, this is an authentic promotional video for the Gateway Commerce Centre, which is where Day of the Dead was filmed. Not exactly an essential watch. Like several of the other extras, this is an SD master encoded in 720p/29.970 fps.

Disc 2 - Bonus DVD:

The Many Days of the Dead (SD; 40:14)

This is an archival documentary produced by Anchor Bay back in 2003 for the movie's special edition DVD release, but this is the first time it has featured on an Australian disc. Featuring an impressively extensive collection of interviewees - including Romero, Tom Savini, Greg Nicotero, Cletus Anderson, Lori Cardille, and more - as well as behind-the-scenes stills, this extra amounts to a satisfying "making of" documentary, covering the budget cuts, rewriting, casting, make-up, special effects, and more. There is some make-up application footage which shows the creation of the zombies (including Sherman Howard's transformation into Bub), while small snippets of on-set footage is scattered throughout. There are breakdowns into the creations of certain scenes, including Rhodes' death and the opening sequence on Floridian streets. The legacy of the movie is also discussed, with Romero teasing the possibility of another zombie flick (which presumably became the underrated Land of the Dead).

NB: This documentary is actually entitled "The Many Days of Days of the Dead." Umbrella's disc menu title (and back cover title) is therefore incorrect. In addition, there is a frame rate issue. At various times, the video stutters tremendously. This is presumably an encoding error.

Joe of the Dead (SD; 50:53)

Produced for the Arrow Blu-ray release of Day of the Dead several years ago, this amounts to an extended interview with actor Joseph Pilato, who played Rhodes. This is broken up into chapters, covering many different aspects of his life, career, getting involved with the production (after auditioning for Dawn of the Dead), shooting Day of the Dead, the movie's legacy, and his career post-Day. There is inevitable overlap with other extras (including the exact same story about Rhodes' death scene that was covered in basically all the previous extras), but there is still ample worthwhile information here to justify the extra. Unfortunately, though, while the title cards are nicely produced and animated, the quality of the interview itself is slipshod at best. The interview was recorded with a single static camera and is not visually inviting - it looks like it was taken with a low-grade camcorder. Plus, there is no musical accompaniment and there should be more film clips, stills and behind-the-scenes footage to break up the static shot, to make the extra more interesting. As it is, this feels amateur. It's worth pointing out that this documentary is available in 1080p on Arrow's Blu-ray.

Reflections on the Living Dead (SD; 78:38)

This particular extra, produced all the way back in 1993, has no relevance to Day of the Dead: It's a tribute to Night of the Living Dead, amounting to an extended roundtable discussion about the making of the original classic, featuring director George A. Romero, co-writer John A. Russo, as well as producers Russell W. Streiner and Karl Hardman. The foursome cover several aspects behind the making of the movie, from the decision to shoot on 35mm black & white film stock, to casting, filming, violence & gore, and more. The roundtable is intercut with interviews from a variety of additional participants, including Wes Craven, Tobe Hooper, Sam Raimi, John Landis, Scott Spiegel, and more. There are additional segments covering make-up/SFX and sound, while there is also an interview with Judith O'Dea. This documentary featured on Umbrella's DVD and Blu-ray releases of Night of the Living Dead, as well as their original 2010 Blu-ray release of Day of the Dead. Even though this is not related to Day of the Dead, it's still a fine inclusion, particularly for fans of this series.

Travelogue of the Dead (SD; 17:44)

This final featurette documents a short tour of Ireland and Scotland by actors Joe Pilato and Ken Foree for the film's 25th anniversary in 2009. We see the actors meeting fans and talking to audiences on panels, while fans and enthusiasts are also interviewed here. I suppose this is a nice inclusion, but it's not essential viewing. Like "Joe of the Dead," this is available in 1080p on Arrow's Blu-ray.

Image Gallery (SD)

Here we have around 1,000 images to unearth, from behind-the-scenes photos to images of make-up and prosthetic effects, publicity materials, lobby cards, posters, VHS & DVD covers, CDs, t-shirts, other merchandise, on-set polaroids, and more. This is exactly the same selection of galleries that was included on Umbrella's previous Blu-ray release - but this time, it lacks sections you can navigate to. It's an exhaustive collection that will take a long time to get through, and since you have to manually navigate using your remote control, you'll probably have a sore thumb afterwards. For whatever reason, the galleries are split up into six different sections haphazardly, with no discernible reason for the split. Respectively, the six segments run 8:54, 9:30, 9:18, 9:18, 7:48, and 5:18. I preferred the way the gallery was set out on the previous release.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

Compared to Shout! Factory's Region A-locked Collector's Edition, Umbrella's set misses out on:

Underground: A Look Into the Day of the Dead Mines (7:37)
Commentary with Filmmaker Roger Avary

But the Shout! edition lacks:

DTS-HD MA 5.1 track
Audio Commentary with Greg Nicotero, Howard Berger, Everett Burell & Mike Deak
Behind the Scenes: On Set
George A. Romero Interview
The Many Days of Days of the Dead
Joe of the Dead
Reflections on the Living Dead
Travelogue of the Dead

I think we can safely say that Umbrella wins this round. Meanwhile, the Arrow edition contains the following that Umbrella's set lacks:

Romero Zombography
The Audio Collections of Richard Liberty

But the Arrow disc misses:

Remastered video transfer
Corrected 5.1 audio
The World's End: The Making of Day of the Dead
Audio Commentary with George A. Romero, Tom Savini, Cletus Anderson & Lori Cardille
George A. Romero Interview
Reflections on the Living Dead
Behind the Scenes: Tom Savini

Umbrella has collected the most extensive selection of extras on a single release to date, only missing a few bits and bobs. Without examining both release in-hand and doing comparisons, I cannot state which release has the most complete gallery - but with Umbrella's gallery featuring so d*** many images, I wouldn't be losing sleep over the Shout! or Arrow edition having anymore. Until a better release comes along, Umbrella's set is the winner.

Summary

Day of the Dead holds up. It's a violent, competent zombie flick permeated with George A. Romero's recognisable touches, and its cynical view on humanity renders it more memorable than any number of other zombie movies. It's Romero's favourite of his "Dead" trilogy.

Umbrella's Blu-ray is well worth the purchase, though it falls short of definitive. While a proper remaster of the movie is sorely needed, this 1080p presentation is the best we have right now, and Umbrella have included both 2.0 and 5.1 audio, making it the best video/audio presentation currently on the market. Throw in the most complete collection of extras currently available on any single release, and this one comes recommended. It's worth the double dip, particularly for all of the delectable extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player, using HDMI output
Display	LG OLED65E6T. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 2160p.
Audio Decoder	Built in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
Amplification	Samsung Series 7 HT-J7750W
Speakers	Samsung Tall Boy speakers, 7.1 set-up

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