Day of the Dead is a horror film remake of George A. Romero's classic zombie film of the same name, which was the third in Romero's Dead series. The film is directed by Steve Miner (who also directed Friday the 13th Part 2, Friday the 13th Part 3, Soul Man and Halloween H20: 20 Years Later) and written by Jeffrey Reddick. It was originally set for theatrical distribution, but was instead released directly to video.

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.

The movie begins in a small town in Colorado. Trevor (Michael Welch) and his girlfriend, Nina (AnnaLynne McCord), are in an abandoned building with two of their friends. They leave the building to go back to their respective parents' houses. We see a long line of cars at a military roadblock sealing off the city. An angry man yells at the officers to let him through as his child is sick and needs medical care, and we learn that there has been an outbreak of some sort as medical help is needed throughout the town. We are introduced to Captain Rhodes (Ving Rhames) and Corporal Sarah Cross (Mena Suvari). Soon after, privates Bud Crain (Stark Sands) and Salazar (Nick Cannon) show up. Cross takes Bud to go and visit her mother, who has become sick. She arrives home, talks to her brother (Trevor), checks on her mother, then goes to the house of one of Trevor's friends after he and Nina explain his symptoms as being similar to their mother's.

When Bud and Sarah arrive at Trevor's friend's house, they find the bodies of the kid's parents, which have appear to have been mauled and were stashed behind a curtain. They radio Captain Rhodes and take Nina, Trevor, and Trevor's mom to the local hospital. There, Sarah talks to Dr. Logan (Matt Rippy) at the urging of Rhodes, while out in the waiting room all the infected have suddenly gone frozen. Bud runs to inform Sarah of the situation, when all the infected reanimate. They turn into zombie-like creatures, although unlike traditional zombies they were never dead to begin with, and possess super-human strength that allows them to run, jump long distances, and crawl on the ceiling. Nina and Trevor escape and run to the radio station while Sarah, Salazar, and Bud become trapped in an upstairs room. After dispatching Rhodes (who was infected), the three of them (Bud now infected due to a bite from Rhodes) make a stop at the gun store then go and rescue Trevor and Nina from the radio station.

The group heads to the abandoned warehouse from the beginning of the film. Bud has turned into a zombie, but is somehow able to think and does not attack his friends also stating at the start of the movie that Bud was a vegeterian maybe another reason Bud didn't attack his friends. (a vague similarity to Bub from the original Day of the Dead) This is never explained. The group descend into a underground bunker, where they reunite with Dr. Logan. They learn about a government project directed by Dr. Engel (Pat Kilbane). Engel and a group of zombies kill Bud, Salazar, and Logan before Nina, Trevor, and Sarah burn them all using gas tanks. They escape and as they drive off the movie ends with a screamer of a sole surviving zombie jumping in front of the camera.

"Behind The Scenes" photos of some zombie scenes and effects have gone online. The Film was also leaked in late 2007.

Reddick, who adapted the script from Romero's original concept, has stated that this film does not have any connection to Zack Snyder's 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead. He told ComingSoon.net: "It's going to be a separate movie...We wanted to pay homage to the original with the military and the scientists and the socially relevant stuff that George Romero always does, but we wanted to put a fresh spin on it. There will be similarities, but there will be differences as well that I think fans will hopefully dig. Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part 2) is directing."

This film actually bears little resemblance to the original "Day of the Dead" from 1985. 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. Once they are infected, the zombies are able to climb walls and run along the ceiling of buildings, and can jump very high, which is very different than Romero's "slow-moving" zombies and Zack Synder's 2004 "Dawn of the Dead"'s "fast" zombies which can only run fast. 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 a result. This film begins as the outbreak begins to turn lethal, making it more similar to "Night of the Living Dead" Many fans believed this film was to be a sequel to Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" remake in 2004, in which Ving Rhames stars as a police officer who talks of a brother in a nearby military base. It was revealed on imdb.com that Ving Rhames would also appear in this film as a military officer Rhodes, leading to speculation the films would share plot elements. However, "Dawn of the Dead" 2004 took place in Wisconsin, and this film is set in Colorado, making it very improbable that Officer Hall was attempting to walk to the base in Colorado.

Many fans are disappointed in the film's low-budget effects, lackluster performances, and deviations from the original Romero zombie films. Much of the film is cliched and feels very out-of-date. It is especially disappointing that there is no attempt whatsoever at social commentary, despite that being the driving force of the original "Day of the Dead"