Army of the Dead Viewers Baffled by Dead Pixels in Zack Snyder Epic

Over the weekend director Zack Snyder's new movie Army of the Dead premiered on Netflix platforms around the world and some viewers immediately noticed a major problem, that first seemed like a hardware issue with their televisions. Throughout the 2.5 hour zombie epic there are instances where "dead pixels" can be seen on the screen, but upon inspection it became clear that this digital artifacts were not because of a fault in the HD TVs but rather embedded into the film itself. Viewers took to social media to talk about the issue and point it out to others, while many were simply happy to learn that it wasn't their TVs that were busted.

In a write-up on the subject Variety reported that Netflix had no comment on the matter when asked about the phenomena. The trade also noted that many fans have theorized the pixels are potentially the fault of a sensor in the cameras used on the movie. Army of the Dead was shot on the RED Monstro digital camera system with the movie serving as both Zack Snyder's first film to be shot digitally but also his first film as his own Director of Photography. It's quite possible though that this wasn't an issue with the movie's production itself, but perhaps a compression problem on Netflix's end as a whole.

If you watch Army of the Dead, don't freak out thinking you have a dead pixel on your TV, it's the movie! #ArmyOfTheDeadPixel pic.twitter.com/DfIQiNqbDx

— DJones (@itsblackfeet) May 23, 2021

It's unclear if this mess-up is something hard-coded into Army of the Dead itself however as some users are reporting that other Netflix original shows and movies have had the same issue, citing dead pixels appearing in recent releases like Shadow and Bone and Jupiter's Legacy. Others even noted that last year's Extraction movie starring Chris Hemsworth also had some.

I mean ultimately the fact that #ArmyOfTheDead has a dead pixel in a bunch of shots is a very, very minor imperfection. But it is also quite funny, and the kind of thing that will drive some viewers absolutely bananas when they notice it. pic.twitter.com/Xg1U3UsTca

— Stephen McNeice (@maccytothedee) May 22, 2021

Neither Netflix nor Snyder have spoken about the errors online, and if it is in fact a problem within the film itself then the streamer could simply update their files after it's fixed and new viewers would never know the difference. Keep an eye out for the pixels in the film if you're planning to watch it and check back here for updates on the matter as we learn them.