Day of the Zombie/Song of the Dead (2005)

So I went from ‘Land of the Dead’ to the ‘Diary’, then to ‘Survival’, and then to a ‘Dance’, so what would be next? A musical of course!

Originally I wanted to do a video review of this, because this film really does need to be seen to be believed. But, whilst I have filmed my scenes, I’m just not bothering with the actual editing. Plus I actually prefer doing the written format. So here we are.

First of all, in England anyway, the DVD case says ‘Day of the Zombie’, but when you load it up, it’s called ‘Song of the Dead’. Why? Because the people behind it couldn’t be bothered to change it to the alternate title. And who can blame them? ‘Song of the Dead’ is a much better title than ‘Day of the Zombie’.

Secondly, I don’t even have to take the piss out of the opening scene, the back of the DVD case does that for me. When I saw it in HMV I couldn’t help but laugh (yes, I did get awkward looks). Well how can I keep a straight face when the back of the box includes “the zombie quickly overpowers the hiker, who frozen with fear, cannot escape and just stands there”, “the mindless zombie then disappears,”, “his attacker, now mysteriously reappeared”, “sing themselves towards an unsuspecting woman camper who manages to take off her top before the two grab her,” and “a quitarist breaks a string ripping through a discordant guitar solo,”. Yes, they misspelt ‘guitarist’. I don’t even have to explain the opening scene as the back of the box says what happens.

The plot, okay it’s just a homage to ‘Night of the Living Dead’. Or a copy/rip off, whichever term you want to use. People take refuge in a house (or cabin, whatever) while zombies attempt to get in. It sort of works. In ‘Night’, you get the sense of entrapment, you feel the rising tension, in ‘Day of the Zombie’ that feeling is gone since the characters leave the cabin on more than one occasion, one of the characters even goes for a drive. Granted, since the survivors use the same type of table the WWE uses, the zombies easily break through them.

The acting is mixed. Whilst only one person delivers a great performance, some give mediocre performances and others are just terrible. The same goes for their characters, some are likeable, some are meh, some you just want to see die.

Let’s start with Sandy, played by Kate Gorman. She is God damn awful! She acts bad, she sings bad and she is completely and utterly useless. We’re also suppose to feel sorry for her as her mother had recently died (the mother who took her sweet time coming back to life), a scene which is also derived from ‘Night’, but any sympathy is gone when she literally starts singing and dancing on her mother’s grave! And when she and the others were at the cabin; 1. Why was she outside? 2. Why was she outside alone? 3. Who the Hell gave her the shotgun? 4. WHY DOES SHE START WALKING BACKWARDS?! She actually wants to die, doesn’t she?

Then there’s Brad, played by Travis Hierholzer, who was one of the ones who could sort of act. He wasn’t awful, that’s what I’m saying. BUT, he does have some really stupid dialogue. When the gravedigger who saved him and Sandy is bleeding from his zombie bite and Sandy says her phone is in the car, Brad responds with “I’m not going back to the nuthouse!”. I seriously thought a page of the script was thrown out here; his response had nothing to do with the rest of the scene! Then there’s taking his jacket off because he didn’t want to get blood on it, AFTER carrying the heavily bleeding man to the car. Then there’s biting Tom’s head off when he asks how he is, but calmly talks to Harold after he scared him to death. Not that it matters though, as, despite being lead female’s fiancé, he’s forgotten about five minutes after he died.

Speaking of which, Tom is Sandy’s brother, played by Steve Williams. He’s pretty bland to be honest and not much of an actor, but he can sing. Well, he was better than expected. He did get annoyed when he found his dad locked the garage door though. People locking their doors? What madness is this?

It is later revealed that Tom was one of the military personnel who did a Spraying mission in the atmosphere to combat the 1000 Year Mosquito Awakening, which brought the dead back to life. Well, the media and the President say that terrorists implanted a Jihad Resurrection Virus in the operation which caused the dead to come back to life. Yeah, I don’t get it either. It would help if we were told what the Awakening thing was, but no. We have no idea. If you’re going to make up a reason why the US Government authorised this, explain what’s so dangerous about it! Tom also shows how effective his military training was, by missing every single shot with his rifle while on the roof. And don’t get me started on his bizarre dance scenario with his zombie mother.

 

Harold, meanwhile, is Tom and Sandy’s father and is played by Conrad Gubera. I wonder if he’s related to the director/writer Chip Gubera? Anyway. Conrad cannot act, he really can’t. Nor can he sing, he speak sings. But he was one of the effective characters in the film; he can shoot, he can plan ahead, he was even willing to shoot his dead wife in order to protect the others. Which was odd at the same time as Sandy told him she needed to see...to see what? Your dad shooting your mom?

Then there’s Arthur, who is just awesome. He can act pretty good and he sings great, and is probably one of the best person to have in a zombie apocalypse; he’s a killer! He kills so many zombies, his yellow shirt turns red from all the blood! Bizarrely he’s the character no-one trusts, can’t figure out why. But he saves Sandy from zombie Brad and another zombie by chainsawing them, yet Harold and Tom STILL distrust him, saying he cut Brad to pieces...despite the very next shot showing him in one piece...with the back of his head missing. He even tries to kill Sandy at one point! He’s brilliant!

The supporting cast are okay, I suppose. There’s the annoying news reporter who repeats what another character just told us two minutes before, there’s General Rummish who says it’s ironic that the cities are the safest...I’m not sure how, the gravedigger who was great, with the exception of throwing away his spade and fighting a zombie barehanded, and a random reporter who says it’s just like a Romero movie...and yet they still don’t know what a zombie is!

But special mention has to be Reggie Bannister as the President. He was brilliant and had some of the best scenes, in fact he probably had the only best scenes, including the line “I am with you,”.....in an undisclosed location.

The stupid thing though? Sandy is the only one to survive. Yeah! They kill off the awesome Arthur, the effective Harold, the second best (behind Arthur) singer Tom and the adequate Brad, and leave us with the useless, awful singer, terrible acting Sandy. SCREW YOU MOVIE!

But overall? The acting is mediocre, the zombie make-up is the sort you get from a joke shop for a £1, the singing is meh and the plot is almost a copy of ‘Night of the Living Dead’.

But I love this film. The above points may be downsides, but the film makes up for it with entertainment value, it’s catchy tunes and, of course, Reggie Bannister. Seriously, check it out, you will enjoy it.

So, is there an end of the 'of the Dead' films? Oh God no, because next time, the dead are catching a flight.