The warden apparently had a moment of compassion before becoming a zombie and opened the gates telling the prisoners to escape and allowing Emon and Timoy to try to make their way back to Sheryl and Jane.

Even the warden had remarked on Emon's intimidating physicality admitting that it's unsurprising the other inmates largely leave him alone while his attempt to impress Sheryl by telling her how some guys hassling Timoy had walked away when they saw him coming backfires as she sees it as evidence that he really hasn't changed and is still wedded to a destructive code of masculinity founded on dominance and violence.

The implications of the fact he learned these skills as a member of the US military otherwise goes largely uncritiqued as does the presence of heavy weaponry including an assault rifle in the home of a local police officer.

In any case, Emon must learn to channel his violence in a more positive direction by killing as many of the zombified locals as possible to clear a path for Sheryl and Jane to escape the apartment building where the family have become trapped.

Peter Martin of Screen Anarchy gave the film a positive feedback and wrote; De Guzman balances the movie on a seesaw, whipping through action sequences and then pausing for dramatic scenes, allowing father and daughter to connect through sign language as they dodge zombies left and right.

[5] Don Anelli of Asian Movie Pulse gave the film a mixed review and said: Wholly enjoyable as an action/horror hybrid, “Day Zero” is a serviceable genre effort that doesn't have too many issues and is a perfect vehicle for its main star to emerge as the action hero he's presented to be.