This movie was part of a three-film deal with United Film Distribution Company along with Knightriders and Creepshow. Director and writer George Romero had final cut but the screenplay was rewritten several times as the idea of making the Gone With the Wind — I’ve also heard Raiders of the Lost Ark referenced — would never get an R rating and be commerical enough for the budget needed to make the movie. Instead, Romero made a smaller movie on his terms.

While some scenes were shot in Florida, the majority of the footage was shot deep below the normal world in Wampum, PA, just ten miles or less from my parent’s house. As a middle school student, I noticed a lot of seniors were skipping class. They were all going to the salt mines, where this was filming, and would come back with arms made up by Tom Savini. Seeing as how my entire family taught at school — my dad was an art teacher, mom English, uncle the librarian and my aunt was the guidance counselor — all I could do was dream of skipping out and getting to be in a George Romero movie.

If the world seemed like it was ending in Dawn of the Dead, Day finds it definitely over. Few survivors exist — if you follow the math in the film, around six hundred humans are still alive — as Dr. Sarah Bowman (Lori Cardille, daughter of Pittsburgh horror host “Chilly” Billy Cardille and an absolute force in this film), her rapidly growing suicical lover Private Miguel Salazar (Anthony Dileo Jr.), radio operator Bill McDermott (Jarlath Conroy) and helicopter pilot Flyboy (Terry Alexander) have just gone through another town where all they find are the living dead and crocodiles as newspapers blow past the camera proclaiming that the dead walk. It’s an amazing scene and sets you up for so much, but I’m going to have to come clean and lose a few of you here.

I’ve never liked this movie as much as I feel I should.

I don’t know if it’s the calustrophobic conditions, the fact that there’s no hope or that it could never live up to the pedestal I put Dawn of the Dead on, but I always wanted more.

That said — there is much that I do love.

Dr. Matthew “Frankenstein” Logan (Richard Liberty) and his relationship with the only zombie who can communicate, Bub (Sherman Howard) is the emotional heart of this film and the idea that the undead can be reasoned with is the lone hopeful moment. It’s also a major issue that Logan is using dead soldiers to experiment on, as the goal was to find a cure and there’s already a rough relationship between science and military after the death of commanding officer Major Cooper. Now, with Captain Henry Rhodes (Jospeh Pilato) in charge, if they find out that the beloved Cooper is one of the test subjects, the scientists, or lambs, will lose the protection of the soldiers, or the shepherds, from the zombies. You know, the wolves.

I guess I’m downplaying the hope, as there is a helicopter escape at the end, even if that feels cribbed from the last film. There’s also the amazing moment where Rhodes is literally torn apart by the zombies after Bub shoots him for killing his creator. For all the critical words tosses at Pilato for overacting, he’s great in this scene.

Actually, there’s one other moment of hope I never picked up on until now: when Dr. Logan and Fisher are shot, they don’t come back from the dead. Perhaps whatever caused the zombie outbreak has ended.

As for the song that plays over the credits, “The World Inside Your Eyes,” that’s John Harrison, Sputzy Sparacino and Delilah. Sputzy was also in the local Pittsburgh bands Modern Man and Sputzy and the Soul Providers.

Additionally, there are plenty of zombie cameos. Here are the ones that I know of:

Romero is a zombie pushing a cart wearing his trademark plaid scarf.

The former Dean of Fine Arts in Carnegie Mellon, Akram Midani, is a fisherman zombie.

The band NRBQ are zombies inside the mine.

Howard Berger from KNB is a zombie and Greg Nicotero is Johnson, one of the army troops.

The mines where this is filmed go miles below the ground and are where many archival prints of movies are stored, including the movie this was intended to be, Gone With the Wind.

Also known as Disciples of the Master Killer or Master Killer III, this is the third film in a loose trilogy of movies that began with The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. Like those movies, this was written, directed and choreographed Lau Kar-leung.

Hsiao Ho (Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Legendary Weapons of China) takes on the role of another legendary hero of the martial arts, Fong Sai-Yuk. He’s a troublemaker and keeps running into trouble with the Manchu warlords. To save his family’s honor, his mother asks San Te (Gordon Liu) to allow her son to study in the 36th chamber, the place where non-monks may train. However, Sai-Yuk’s pride and lack of respect make quite a headache for the monks.

Sai-Yuk keeps going into town at night, which is forbidden and becomes friends with the Manchu. They are using him to get the secrets of the Shaolin, so that they may destroy the temple. The film closes with Sai-Yuk poisoned and all of the monks trapped inside the Manchu fortress for what they believed was a wedding. The battle that closes the film is absolutely astounding, with every art show in the film paying off in a final battle that is as much about the Shaolin’s refusal to hurt anyone and help one another as it is combat. Nearly every cast member is involved in a gigantic battle that simply must be experienced.

The Arrow Video Shaw Scope Volume Two box set has a brand new 4K restoration of Disciples of the 36th Chamber as well as an interview with star Gordon Liu; Citizen Shaw, a French TV documentary from 1980 directed by Maurice Frydland, in which Sir Run Run Shaw gives an all-access tour of the Shaw Brothers backlot (including behind-the-scenes footage from Return to the 36th Chamber); Hero on the Scaffolding, a featurette produced by Celestial Pictures in 2003; alternate opening credits; a Hong Kong theatrical trailer and an image gallery.

You can get this set from MVD.

You can also stream this movie on the Arrow player. Visit ARROW to start your 30-day free trial. Subscriptions are available for $4.99 monthly or $49.99 yearly. ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV & iOS devices, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com.

In 1974, Shaw Brothers worked with Hammer to make The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. That ignited a desire to not only make martial arts films, but supernatural ones. And man, as the studio goes on, these movies grow more deranged in the very best of ways.

Ho Meng-Hua (The Mighty Peking Man, Oily Maniac) directed this and it only hints at how far Hong Kong horror would go. Lang Chia Chieh (Lo Lieh) wants to be with Mrs. Zhou (Tanny Tien Ni), but she’s in love with Xu Nuo (Ti Lung) who only wants to be with the love of his life, Wang Chu Ying (Lili Li Li-li). In order to win her, Lang Chia Chieh goes to magician Shan Chen Mi (Ku Feng) and has him cast a spell on Mrs. Zhou. It works, if just for a night, and she soon learns that she too can turn to the spirit world to win over the lover that she wants.

These magic spells are incredibly organic and gross. Like, you need to cut off someone’s finger and leave it under your intended person’s bed until it turns into a pile of maggots. Or to kill someone, you put worms directly under their skin.

There’s a lot of soap opera in this but every time you think it’s getting slow, someone gets half naked or makes a possessed rice ball with blood and breast milk, so you can never say it’s bad. It’s just the first course for how completely out there these movies will get.