Day of the Dead is a 1985 American post-apocalyptic zombie horror film written and directed by George A. Romero, and produced by Richard P. Rubinstein.

The third film in Romero's Night of the Living Dead series, it stars Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy and Richard Liberty as members of a group of survivors of a zombie apocalypse sheltering in an underground bunker in Florida, where they must determine the outcome of humanity's conflict with the undead horde.

Although the filmmaker was given final cut privilege, the screenplay was rewritten multiple times due to UFDC's concerns that Romero's ambitious original vision ― which he described as "the Gone with the Wind of zombie films" ― would need to be shot with the intention of receiving an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America to ensure its commercial viability; Romero elected to make the film on a lower budget and release it without a rating.

Tom Savini returned to provide the film's special make-up effects; he was assisted by a team of artists that included Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger, who later became known for their work on the television series The Walking Dead.

Although the make-up effects were praised, the film initially did not match the critical and commercial success of its predecessors; the series did not see another installment until the 2005 release of Land of the Dead.

A television series named after the film began airing on Syfy in 2021, while a stand-alone sequel, Night of the Living Dead II, was reported to be in active development.

The societal structures that used to safeguard civilization have mostly vanished, leaving the scattered remnants of human survivors vastly outnumbered by the zombie populations.

Dr. Sarah Bowman, her lover and soldier Private Miguel Salazar, radio operator Bill McDermott, and helicopter pilot John fly from their underground base to Fort Myers in an attempt to locate additional survivors.

Dr. Logan, the lead scientist (nicknamed "Frankenstein" by the soldiers because of his grisly surgical dissections of the zombies), believes that the undead plague victims can be made docile and domesticated through training and conditioning.

Rhodes vehemently objects to the dangers involved in capturing and maintaining zombie specimens, and tension between soldiers and scientists worsens in the face of dwindling supplies, the loss of communication with other survivors, and slow, uncertain progress in the research.

He also threatens to abandon the scientists and leave the compound, cutting off their protection from the undead hordes, though he cannot rebut Logan's sarcastic asides that the soldiers have nowhere to run to and no way to stop the zombies on their own.

Disturbed by Rhodes' threats, Sarah discusses the situation with John and Bill, who reside in an RV at the far end of the tunnels and bluntly tell her they don't believe in anything she and the scientists are trying to accomplish.

John professes his conviction that the zombie plague is a form of divine retribution against mankind, and suggests that the three of them should take the helicopter, abandon the soldiers, and fly to a desert island somewhere where they could live off the land and start a new life.

Sarah and Bill later go to the operating theater to gather medical supplies for Miguel, where they find that Logan has been experimenting on Miller and Johnson's remains.

After discovering evidence that Logan has drifted into insanity due to his failure to civilize the zombies' baser instincts, Bill decides that they should leave in the helicopter immediately.

In response, Rhodes kills Logan's assistant Dr. Fisher, locks Sarah and Bill inside the zombie corral, and orders Private Steel to beat John into submission.

[16][17] The website's critical consensus states that "Day of the Dead may arguably be the least haunting entry in George A. Romero's undead trilogy, but it will give audiences' plenty to chew on with its shocking gore and scathing view of society".

"[25] AllMovie reviewer Keith Phipps stated that: "The last, to date at least, of George Romero's living dead films is in many respects the least interesting, although it's not for a lack of ambition.

Beginning from a position of absolute misanthropy, Romero asks what it means to be human, and the answers are funny, horrifying, and ultimately hopeful.

Near the end of the film version of Resident Evil (2002), the protagonist Alice walks outside of her quarantine into a ravaged city street jammed with traffic.

The deathcore band Through the Eyes of the Dead sampled a clip at the beginning of the song "Between the Gardens that Bathe in Blood", released on the EP The Scars of Ages (2004).

The Ministry song "Burning Inside" from the studio album The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste features an audio sample of the military station's warning horn and a few notes of composer John Harrison's synthesized score.

The first episode of the third season of Stranger Things sees the main characters sneaking into their local cinema to watch an early screening of Day of the Dead.

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (2018), the final DLC map for the Zombies mode is named "Tag der Toten" ('Day of the Dead' in German).

The soundtrack was released on LP and cassette in the same year as the film (1985) by Saturn Records; it contained 6 tracks, all of which was composed and performed by John Harrison.

The new edition was limited to 3,000 copies and contained the original album plus five additional tracks from the music and effects reel (the only surviving recording of the film score).

[44] Little of the original plot exists, with only a few basic elements remaining; notably the underground army base near the end of the film, and some of the characters' names.

[45] This marks the second time that Ving Rhames makes an appearance in a remake of a George A. Romero zombie film, following Dawn of the Dead (2004).

[50] In July 2021, it was announced that Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, and Jarlath Conroy were cast in Night of the Living Dead II, originally set for a 2022 release.

[51] Stef Hutchinson wrote the 24-page comic Day of the Dead: Desertion, which was exclusively released to celebrate the film's 25th anniversary and shows the origins of Bub, before becoming a zombie.