Good CHUD friend and all around yellow peril Mike Kim sent me a link to a French website that seems to have among the first pictures from the Day of the Dead remake, including a shot of Ving Rhames in his Rhodes outfit.
This bugs me on a couple of levels. First of all, Ving was in Dawn of the Dead as a different character. While these movies are not in any way connected, I don’t think you should keep getting roles in zombie films. Spread it around, Ving.
But what really gets my goat is that there’s a Rhodes in this movie at all. What’s the point? Zak Snyder and James Gunn went the correct route with Dawn, taking the basic premise of the original and re-imagining it. While Day is unfairly maligned by dweebatronic fanboys, the original is quite good, so why actually remake it? Just take the premise – a military base under siege – and run with it.
And there’s really no need to include Rhodes in this film. First of all, I have met Joe Pilato, and you’re no Joe Pilato, Ving Rhames. Second of all, you just can’t top the death of Rhodes in the original Day. I still think it’s the greatest kill in the history of the cinema, and it gets really fucking mythic when you realize those intestines the zombies are chomping on are real pig guts – that went bad over the weekend when the fridge went on the fritz. Yes, they’re eating real rotten pig guts. Shove that in your urethra, Joe Rogan.
For more pictures of the remake of Day of the Dead, click here.