Dawn of the Dead [Blu-ray] [1978]

Product Information

Out of the Theatrical, Argento and Extended/Cannes versions; the 1981 Intervision pre-cert seems to be a straight transfer of the original US Theatrical version of the movie (which uncut, runs at 2h 05m 25s). If you own the 2008 Universal, I advise you still pick up this package for the new interviews and added theatrical cut. According to the accompanying book, the folks at Second Sight were given access to the original 35mm camera negatives of the theatrical version for Dawn of the Dead.

Section 3' titles could not be prosecuted for obscenity, but were non-the-less liable to seizure and confiscation under a "less obscene" charge, and ultimately destroyed. Colours are bright when they need to be (the helicopter paintwork is a good example) and naturalistic in the right lighting, though many scenes have a brown/green hue that may well be down to location lighting and/or colour balance on the original neg.The music scores on both are credited to Argento faves Goblin, but the subtle effectiveness of their contribution to Romero's version is traded in on the Argento cut for something louder and brasher that's a long, long way from the group's sublime work on Argento's Suspiria. The stories of the bikers are particularly enjoyable and don’t crop up elsewhere as a lot of the zombie anecdotes do. What I found interesting, watching the film now, was how much of it reminded me of the current COVID situation.

The Richard France interview is quite heartfelt and he’s an honest and interesting speaker, who offers a different angle on the film than many of the other contributors do. We hope you’ll join us in our goal of building a strong community of like-minded enthusiast who have chosen to post with civility and in the spirit of uplifting others. Factory has recorded four very good interviews that it recently shot and have included these on the first disc. Chappel's 'The Gonk', a tune that is almost guaranteed to get fans of the film stumbling around with stiffened legs and outstretched arms. Instead of copying the “teenager in peril” slasher phase of the 90s, Snyder chose to make it a gory zombie movie that is as hyper kinetic as his next few films have proven him to be.The mono track is clean and bright, and as faithful as you can get to the original cinematic experience.

Only thing is, rest and relaxation is the last thing that she’s going to have as her daughter mutates into the living dead before her very eyes and her husband infected with the same evil in the process. Ana is naturally the center of attention, and Sarah Polley is above reproach for playing the terrified, but hardened nurse who does what needs to be done, yest still exercises her conscience. They can't seem to help themselves from reverting back to the capitalistic belief that owning stuff provides comforting protection and signifies a well-valued life even as civilization collapses all around them and just outside their front doors. Romero himself, in some of the interviews included in the set, claims he was aiming to make more of a comic book movie than anything particularly scary. Being a horror fan, he'd been to a number of conventions in London where VHS bootlegs of uncut Nasties were freely available.In 1989 the rights were picked up by Entertainment In Video and they re-submitted the UK 'X' rated version to the BBFC.

Romero's Dawn of the Dead remains a horror masterpiece, featuring poignantly relevant themes on modernity and consumerism. having been a regular most weekends for a good few months prior to this, the guy in the DVD department downstairs asked if I wanted to have a look through 'the horror box', whereby out popped a box from under the counter filled with extreme uncut import DVDs, which would have been illegal to sell. From what I can gather, this cut omits much of the relationship drama and comedy elements (though surprisingly keeps the infamous pie scene) and amps up the bleak tone.A couple of the entries I added are also present on the fanmade Dawn Of The Dead Ultimate Edition - Volume 2 DVD/Blu-Ray, although these versions are from better sources I've come across through trading and doing past projects over the years.