With the holiday Day of the Dead upon us, we thought we’d take a special look at the DVD release of George Romero's horror flick of the same name, the third in his Night of the Living Dead trilogy. The movie was given the deluxe double-disc treatment last year and warrants a little attention.

Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968 and was an instant classic, presenting intense fright and creepy gore in tasteful black and white. The film featured an African American hero saving a white family in the South, and served as an allegory for racism in the ‘50s and ‘60s. It was released in 2002 as a special Millennium Edition, complete with director commentary, some Romero short films, the shooting script, and plenty of additional bonus material.

The sequel, 1978’s Dawn of the Dead, continued the story of the viral outbreak from the first movie, following a government task force marooned in a shopping mall, and served as social commentary on how Americans are so programmed to shop that even when dead they still hit the malls in droves. Much gorier and in full color, Dawn was recently remade into a hugely successful film that was released on DVD last week in Widescreen and Full Screen unrated director editions. The original was also given the reissue treatment to hype the film, and was released last August. It features commentary from Romero and makeup director/co-star Tom Savini and others, three versions of the film, trailers, and other flesh-crawling fun stuff.

Which brings us to 1985’s Day of the Dead. The third installment takes place in an underground government bunker where a handful of survivors are holed up, fighting the zombies while trying to experiment on one and find a cure. It’s actually the weakest of the three films, as it is horrifically gory yet without the dark humor or social commentary of the first two to soften the blow. Plus, the whole movie takes place underground so it has a very claustrophobic, dark vibe -- which works for the first half, but gets limiting by the last half. However, the 2-disc DVD is quite impressive.

The package comes complete with commentary by director Romero, Savini, production designer Cletus Anderson, and star Lori Cardille, plus an audio interview with actor Richard Liberty. There's also a Wampum Mine promotional video, vintage TV spots, production stills, behind-the-scenes photos, ads, a memorabilia photo gallery, zombie make-up photo gallery, and more.

Best of all though, there are two terrific documentaries that will delight hardcore fans. First up is an all-new, 39-minute documentary featuring interviews with the cast and crew called The Many Days of Day of the Dead that is quite entertaining and enlightening. Then there’s Day of the Dead: Behind The Scenes, a 31-minute long of production footage courtesy of Savini.

So all in all, it’s quite a monster package for quite a monster movie. Day of the Dead may not be as significant as Night, or as relevant as Dawn, but it has the best reissue package and is one helluva scary, gross movie to boot. Certainly worth checking out if you have not seen it, or happen to appreciate a good ol’ fashioned disemboweling… of which there are many in this flick.