The film was principally shot in Bulgaria, with limited shooting in Los Angeles, California. Tyler Bates provided the soundtrack, and screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick has a cameo appearance as an ill-fated police officer.

Comparisons to the original

This film actually bears little resemblance to the original Day of the Dead from 1985. Similarities include the names of several characters, including Dr. Logan, Salazar, Cpt. Rhodes, and Sarah. None of these characters bears any similarity to those of Romero’s original characters other than their names. One character, Bud Crain, is potentially meant to identify with Bub, the trained zombie in Romero’s film. In this new version, Bud is a soldier who becomes a zombie who remains with survivors and aids them in surviving, including a scene where he shoots a gun at one of the main antagonists, just as the zombie Bub does at the conclusion of Romero’s Day.

Another similarity can be found in the new film’s conclusion as the survivors retreat into an underground bunker and missile silo, which is the setting for the original film. The contents of the underground bunker are, however, entirely different from the original.

The film does not follow Romero’s guidelines of what a zombie is at all; instead of a mysterious and unknown force bringing people back from the dead, the ‘zombies’ of this film are humans infected with a virus that makes them attack uninfected humans. When the infection takes control, the individual freezes completely, as the virus fully overwhelms their body. Once changed, the infected inexplicably gain numerous open sores on their faces. Once they are infected, the zombies gain super-human abilities, such as climbing walls, running along the ceiling, and jumping very high. This is very different than Romero’s “slow-moving” zombies and Zack Snyder’s 2004 Dawn of the Dead’s “fast” zombies which can run but at a normal speed for humans. For some reason, contact with fire causes the zombies to disintegrate instantly.

The original Day of the Dead picked up well after the first zombie outbreak; a group of scientists and army personnel believe they might be the only living people left as they have not made contact with any other survivors in weeks. This film begins as the outbreak begins, making it more similar to Night of the Living Dead.

Cast

• Mena Suvari as Sarah Bowman
• Nick Cannon as Salazar
• Michael Welch as Trevor Bowman
• AnnaLynne McCord as Nina
• Stark Sands as Bud Crain
• Matt Rippy as Dr. Logan
• Ian McNeice as D.J. Paul
• Christa Campbell as Mrs. Leitner
• Ving Rhames as Capt. Rhodes