Day Of The Dead/Fun Facts

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

< Day Of The Dead
Revision as of 14:44, 1 August 2008 by PopeyePete (talk | contribs)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
  • Tom Savini originally requested to play the part of Captain Rhodes. Romero refused and said, "You can't do everything at the same time". Years later Romero requested Tom to direct the Night Of The Living Dead remake.
  • Tom Savini won the Saturn Award for best SPFX in a movie.
  • The underground silo was filmed in the Wampum Mine in Pittsburgh.
  • The book Dr. Logan gives to Bub is Stephen King's "Salem's Lot."
  • George A. Romero had originally planned for all the zombies to perish in a massive explosion when they stumbled across explosive chemicals in the laboratory. Meanwhile, one of the crew members who had died during the attack was to have stayed dead and not come back as a zombie, thereby giving hope to the survivors.
  • The original script, for which George A. Romero couldn't get budget for, involved the scientists living over-ground in a fortress protected by electrified fences and the military living safely underground. It also involved a small army of trained zombies, and the conclusion to the trilogy more brutal than the current version.This later became the basis of Land of the Dead (2005)
  • All the extras who portrayed zombies in the climax received for their services: a cap that said "I Played A Zombie In 'Day of the Dead'", a copy of the newspaper from the beginning of the film (the one that says THE DEAD WALK!), and one dollar.
  • Most of the zombie extras in this film were Pittsburgh residents who volunteered to help in the film.
  • The first scene (abandoned city) of the movie was filmed in Fort Myers and Sanibel Island, Florida.
  • The budget for George A. Romero's original script was estimated at $7 million, but he would only be given the money if he could film an R-rated film. He was told that if he went ahead and shot an unrated film with no limits on gore, the budget would be split in half to $3.5 million.
  • The lowest grossing film in George A. Romero's "Dead" trilogy. Nonetheless, it's gained a cult following over the last two decades, and the director himself has stated that he considers it his best film.
  • The underground facility was not on a soundstage. It was shot in the Wampum mine, a former limestone mine near Pittsburgh, that was being used for a underground storage facility. The 2,500,000 square foot mine is now operated as the Gateway Commerce Center who now called it a "subsurface storage facility".
  • The only movie in George A. Romero's "Dead" series where a zombie has a line of dialog (Bub says, "Hello Aunt Alicia.").
  • In the scene change right after Logan tells the zombie that it needs to sit in the dark and think about what it did, and punishes it by turning off the light, a little bit of the "Zombie March" music from Dawn of the Dead (1978) can be heard in the scene change.
  • In the cafeteria scene, William McDermott (Jarlath Conroy) says that "All of the shopping malls are closed." This is a clear reference to the film's predecessor Dawn of the Dead (1978), which is set in a shopping mall.
  • There is a debatable scene in the film where Bub the zombie may or may not have another line of dialogue. When Sarah enters Logan's lab, she is startled when Bub emerges from the shadows behind her. After this, he moans something that some fans believe is, "I'm sorry."
  • During the scene of Miguel's sedation, Lori Cardille told Anthony Dileo Jr. to actually slap her to make it look more authentic.
  • Director Cameo: [George A. Romero] As a zombie pushing a cart in the foreground during the final zombie feast, seen from the waist down and identified by his trademark plaid scarf wrapped around his waist.
  • During a holiday break in filming, makeup artist Gregory Nicotero used the realistic and gruesome model of his own head (as seen in a laboratory scene in the film) to play a practical joke on his mother.
  • Joseph Pilato (Rhodes) line "Choke on them" as he's being ripped apart by zombies was ad-libbed by the actor.
  • The blood and entrails used in the disemboweling of Capt. Rhodes were real. Pig intestines and blood were procured form a nearby slaughterhouse and used to make the scene. During filming the refrigerator housing intestines and blood was unplugged by custodial staff, and the entrails started to spoil causing most of those involved to become physically sick.
  • Gaylen Ross ("Francine", Dawn of the Dead-1978) is credited as "NYC Casting" in the end credits.
  • A sample of the movie containing bits of the music and the sentence "Hello? Is there anyone there?" is included in the Gorillaz song "M1 A1" on their 2001 debut album.
  • The band NRBQ was cast and appeared as Zombies in the mine.
Newsletter
  • Grindhouse Database Newsletter
  • Exploitation books
  • Kung fu movies
  • Giallo BluRay