Day of the Dead (2021– ) User Reviews

Yawn of the Dead

[Rob_Taylor · 4/10 · 1 November 2021]

Well, this is some grade-A bullcrap! A comedy show about the zombie apocalypse from the same channel that gave us Z-Nation. I guess once wasn't enough for them.

Day of the Dead (which I'll abbreviate to DuD, because it is one) is beyond bad. The acting is so poor, I began to wonder if the people were just random folks from off the street. But then I saw the forced emotion and the over-acting and realised "No, these are just very, very bad actors."

Not that even a good actor could do much with the terrible dialogue on display here, or the awful cringe-inducing scenes they would have to be a part of. Then again, a good actor wouldn't get involved with this in the first place.

The comedy is just horribly forced and yet terribly formulaic all at the same time. There is no clever humour here. Just trite, predictable nonsense. I'm surprised they didn't put a laugh track in, honestly, so that we would know when we were supposed to laugh. It is THAT bad!

I'll admit, the zombie effects are decent, but that can't save this mess. Two episodes was all I managed and I skipped ahead on the second one because it was so painful to watch.

SUMMARY: Nothing to do with Romero. Not funny. Very badly acted. Full of cringe. Avoid it like you would actual zombies. Just atrocious.

Not really worth bearing that title...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 9 December 2021]

Gosh, and I didn't even know that they were turning George A. Romero's masterpiece into a spin-off series. I happened to stumble upon this 2021 SyFy Channel series "Day of the Dead" by random luck. And being a huge zombie fan, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it.

But everything is not swell and dandy here, and it certainly is not up to par with the 1985 classic masterpiece from Romero himself. Sure, this 2021 series "Day of the Dead" is watchable, but don't go expecting too much from creators Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas.

Now, the problem with the "Day of the Dead" series is the construction of the episodes. The creators try to weave together multiple storylines into one combined narrative, but it is not always with great success. Most of the time, the narrative and the flow of the series feels irratic and chaotic, with not much coherency to it. One moment you are here and when something interesting is about to happen you are moved to another story arch. So there is a lot of build up situations that leads to frustration rather than excitement and fulfillment.

The series also suffers from being 'just another generic zombie series'. We have had the likes of "The Walking Dead", "Fear the Walking Dead", "The Walking Dead: World Beyond", "Z Nation", "S. O. Z. Soldados o Zombies" and "The Bite", and probably others that I can't remember as well. So as "Day of the Dead" fails to make itself stand out from any of these series, it just becomes another one in the heap.

Visually then "Day of the Dead" is a mixed bag of nuts. Some of the special effects and zombie make-up is good, while others is just obviously rubber and latex masks. And those makes makes it cringeworthy to watch.

Now, they have an interesting and diverse ensemble of casted actors and actresses in the series, which definitely helps lift up the series with its other shortcomings.

Sure, I will keep watching it, as I am a huge zombie fan, but this just wasn't as great as I had hoped it would be.

"Day of the Dead" is not something I would recommend you rush out to get a chance to watch, because it certainly is nowhere near the levels of entertainment as seen in the original 1985 movie, nor does it really match or rival most of the other zombie series out there.

My rating of "Day of the Dead", sadly, lands on a bland five out of ten stars. I will keep watching this of course, and hope the series will lift itself up and become better with time.

High hopes, Low expectations...

[omendata · 4/10 · 20 October 2021]

The latter won out!

Bad acting, higgledy-piggledy direction and the same old same old with not a lot new to bring to the table is a bit underwhelming.

I will say however that some of the zombie effects and gore are not too shabby for a Scifi Channel production so maybe there is hope?

Such a shame, as a big zombo fan this is rather disappointing!

Maybe it will get better as it goes along but I doubt it so can only give it 4 hatchets on the horror scale at present after the first episode but it is early days, however a pilot should grab the viewer and showcase its best values which this has done weakly -We shall see!

Just bad...

[martyrdnb-88019 · 2/10 · 13 November 2021]

Took a classic GAR movie and turned it into into horrible show. The characters are morons. The zombies move so slow and they still just stand there even with only a few zombies around. You can literally walk briskly around them. I can see if there's hundreds surrounding your area, but this isn't on that scale yet. The kid on the bridge with a few zombies approaching him annoyed me to hell. His friend runs and he just stands there waiting for them to get close before his Dad saves him. Really? Also, the zombies not dying with a blow to the head goes against the original movie Romero did and pretty much every decent zombie movie ever. The acting and script has me confused if it is supposed to be funny or scary. I'm struggling to find anything decent about this show. I don't see how this should be called DOTD at all when the only real similarity is that there are zombies and a few character names. Should have named it something else and left GAR's name off of it. I find it hard to believe he'd be impressed with this.

Has zero do to do with Romero's Day of the Dead

[On_The_Mark · 3/10 · 17 October 2021]

Outside some of the character names, this bares no resemblance to Romero's classic other than it has zombies.

It does have a lot of cliched, unlikeable characters who act like idiots. It's got bad acting and the lame "zombies breaking out of the cemetery" who somehow were able to break through their sealed caskets and six feet of earth. Some of the cemetery zombies are breaking out of the ground with blood in their mouth. Why? Some have been buried yet have tons of blood gushing out of them.

They're chasing one of the dummies and instead of running from these slow moving zombies, he gets on his lawn mower, which goes as fast as the zombies do. Huh?

That scene explains everything stupid about this awful show. One episode, that was enough for me.

I gave it three rather than one stars because unlike what some of the people here are saying, the zombie make up is good. That's the only positive thing to say about this mess.

Meh

[bregund · 3/10 · 16 October 2021]

See, Z Nation was good because it poked fun at itself and the genre, this is why it worked. This show, not so much. I gave it a chance and if the pilot doesn't hook me, then there's no reason to keep watching hoping it will get better, I've been down that road before. The characters are flat and uninteresting, so it's hard to care about them. A high quality Syfy show is rarer than hen's teeth.

EDIT: If anyone of the hundreds of people who worked on this show is reading this, just because you worked hard on the show doesn't mean it's any good. Hire better writers instead of making the same boring mediocre yawn-inducing fare that you've been making for the last twenty years. Give your audience something new and exciting, new ideas, bold directions. Your policy of satisfying the lowest common denominator aint working.

Extraordinarily empty and void of Romero.

[amesmonde · 16 October 2021]

As a small town begins to be overrun with zombies a group of people must face the horror head-on.

One of the directors of the excellent The Void (2016) Steven Kostanski, delivers a reimagining of modern horror classic Day of the Dead (1985) with lacklustre results. Based on the opening episode, as a fresh-faced cast come face to face with the dead in a flashback, it glaringly is on a budget, which wouldn't be a problem, or fall short of expectations if it wasn't being sold as Day of the Dead.

The make-up effects and music are surprisingly effective. The cast do a fine job and appear to be having fun, Keenan Tracey, Daniel Doheny, and Natalie Malaika are notable.

It appears to utilise George A. Romero's character names, akin to Day of the Dead (2008) but the tone is reminiscent of Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006) and Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation (2012), particularly the mortuary setups, with a touch of Return of the Living Dead Part II and Zombie Night (2013).

Greddy town officials and workers are straight out of Forest Of The Dead (2007). Shoehorning in every trope in the genre, writers Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas offer a new slant with the dead body chained in a cavern but the production appears to be SYFY cynical attempt to cash in on a classic. Plodding, familiar and falling short as both a homage and a gimmick. There are debatably better or certainly enough TV zombie series of varying degrees of quality already out there. Kostanski can and has delivered imaginative and resourceful work; but this sadly and surprisingly isn't one of them.

As a low budget zombie TV series, it is adequate, but as a series connected to Romero's work, it's extraordinarily empty.

It has potential but...

[beejoelay · 6/10 · 11 December 2021]

Its Zombies. I love them. This show had potential to be something. From the creepy music, bloody effects and the zombies, it was good. But the acting? It was really bad and cheesy at times. Your typical SYFY show from 10 years ago acting. Maybe, just maybe if there is a season 2, someone can get the acting to a better spot.

Not even worth the digital bit they were filmed on

[pkilala · 1/10 · 14 November 2021]

One of the most idiotic zombie movies I have seen. Terrible acting. Terrible makeup. In fact, everything in this series is terrible. I watched it to support a Canadian film (Disclaimer: I am Canadian) but boy this is unwatchable. In the opening, someone chose to risk his life by trying to escape via a riding lawnmower when he can easily outrun the limping zombies. The zombies are amateurish thanks to badly-done prosthetics.

Four episodes in... and growing on me

[ceappe · 7/10 · 6 November 2021]

It is what it is... it's a romp with zombies and several goofy characters. There was some annoying cringe character development (?) early on.... but with that out of the way it's gotten better and the fun is there. From what I could tell... Romero isn't associated or mentioned anywhere in the actual aired credits... only in the early marketing or ads in places, which I found interesting. The "inspired by" is mostly a homage but legally I guess they can't attach his name to it. Surprised they got the rights to name it as they did. Maybe they changed their minds and they were able to keep the name but they had to remove the "inspired by" in the opening credits. Anyway... not to be taken seriously... some reviews are unrealistically harsh for the core purpose of this show. Just go with it.

Day of the Bad

[Tweetienator · 3/10 · 24 October 2021]

The producers of the show did not know if they want to make a zombie comedy or something with a "serious" tone - in the end we get a bad mix of both that does not work at all, on both levels. The dialogues are also all cliche in and too many times cringe worthy, same goes for the "humor". The only, a little redeeming feature of Day of the Dead are the masks and some little gore here and there. But that's simply not enough to spend my time on this show. Also, "Day of the Dead" has nothing to do with the story of Romero's Day of the Dead.

Not all that bad turn your brain off so zombies don't get it..

[aaronsweeney-80389 · 8/10 · 30 October 2021]

It's not an award winning tv but it's stupidly entertaining you need to turn your brain of to enjoy, I'm a person who over thinks but not when it comes to zombie movies or tv..... it's not the walking dead but it's still better than the spin offs plus how many worse programmes are on tv these day's that get renewed it's dumb but so what not everything can be winners....

but give it a chance you might actually enjoy it..

Not that bad

[star_bug · 7/10 · 25 August 2022]

I really don't get why this is getting hate. It doesn't take itself to serious and I have chuckled at a few parts. Ok it's not exactly Romeros DOTD which I'm a huge fan of but it is ok.

I really tried

[bl-63974 · 1/10 · 23 October 2021]

I really wanted, and tried to like this But it's just plain stupid . You've got a lame election going on, A loser about to get married, A nutty funeral home, And several other things at the same time. Oh yeah, plus there's some zombies walking around Eating people . If you can find a central story somewhere in there you're a better Person than I am.

Are you serious???????

[mentatjj · 2/10 · 23 October 2021]

1) How do the zombies get out of their coffins?

2) How can the bodies be bleeding in the cemetery when their bodies are drained of bodily fluids at the funeral home?

3) Girl walks right by light switches in basement with her cellphone flashlight!!

4) Need to bring back Z Nation!!!!! At least it made more sense with humor!!!!

Thought it was a SNL sketch

[asterblasterth · 1/10 · 16 October 2021]

I literally saw a SNL sketch just before I started watching this show it took me a second to realize I wasn't watching a SNL sketch anymore. The acting is that bad. And if it is supposed to be funny then they should actually get comedic writers or writers for that matter.

This show is bad. I would give it a hard pass if I was you.

Bad acting or maybe bad script?

[rocktoxinnn · 3/10 · 16 October 2021]

Painful to watch.

It's super slow, the actors are not convincing enough. Their reactions to things happening are not what you'd expect... Almost all men are dicks.

Terrible.....a big disappointment

[garyemma · 20 October 2021]

.. We waited 10+ yrs for a decent DOD remake and surprise got another flop..The zombies are terrible, bodies that have been dead and buried for 50 yrs don't have all that blood when the mower ran it over..What happend to kill the brain kill the zombie like most of Romeros films..We have a decapitated zombie with just a jaw still walking and another one that's got flattened with a fire extinguisher still coming at them.... Almost as bad as the dawn remake where the zombies run faster than live people..Obviously someone attaching Romero's name to make a buck...

I hope to see this series around for a while

[douglasphillips-61040 · 7/10 · 17 October 2021]

I really enjoyed this first episode and it had my attention at every moment. I liked the characters and I especially liked seeing how they were connected to each other and learning the back stories and conflicts. It was a little slow after the show flashed back to "earlier that day" but this was very expected as it is the pilot and the show is bringing everything together for the series and showing a background of how it started and the characters. I definitely think this is going to be a great show and I can't wait to Watch it on Friday nights!!

Everyones young again...

[john-lancia-1 · 3/10 · 16 October 2021]

A bunch of young beautiful guys get saved by a some young beautiful women. From some zombies who look like the make up came from a dollar store. All the old people get killed by the zombies, so it just young peole for days. Yada yada yada.

When I started watching the opening scene, I thought to myself, 'this is so badly put together it must have been made in Toronto!' I was wrong though, it was made in Vancouver. Same difference.

Bad acting, bad direction, bad script writing, bad editing. Bad production values. This ones got it all folks. So if this follows the usual pattern it will run for four or five seasons of what at best can be called mediocrity.

Meanwhile, good shows which are engaging and well crafted get cancelled after a season or two.

It improves?

[neil_schaler · 6/10 · 24 October 2021]

Their is a reason for the question mark. While the first episode was so bad the 2nd and first are better?

Maybe I just like zombie movies and programs and got tired of the Walking and I'm giving this show more of a chance than it deserves but at least their are characters I like and really really don't and look forward to seeing them become zombie chow.

Brainless, crass garbage. They weren't even trying.

[sogoodlooking · 1/10 · 18 October 2021]

Within the first several minutes stupid teens babble about 'boning' the mother of one of them. In another scene, a young woman's unattractive boss hits on her as mindlessly as it's possible to do. Nothing is done with makeup, dialogue, mise-en-scene, or anything, really.

Skip this junk.

Funny! Doesn't take itself seriously

[jarch-99944 · 8/10 · 31 October 2021]

Campy, light-hearted, enjoyable, good special effects, scares at just the right times. If you want to take a load off your mind, watch this series. You'll laugh and jump (but not too high).

Day of the dead (Return of the living dead)

[raywinterborne · 7/10 · 26 October 2021]

Episode 1 was ok, a bit busy trying to set everything up but episode 2 was very much like the classic Return of the living dead with the dry humor and the practical effects. If they keep that up it could turn into a fun show and a classic.

A dated combination of woke and vancouver

[timetraveller-43153 · 1/10 · 27 November 2021]

When it isn't pushing netflix style wokeness it stumbles along like a badly directed Outer Limits episode, interspersed with the usual garbage dialogue that is actually uncomfortable to listen to.

Way too much time is wasted on characters who are not only moronic but unsympathetic, unlikable and in many cases vile.