The Firelight Shocks DVD Review Section

Dawn of the Dead: 2 DVD Set Distributor: Dutch Filmworks Region: 2 Ratio: 1:85:1 (Disc 1)/ Fullscreen (Disc 2) Sound: Mono (Godammnit!)

Part 1 - Romero's 'Director's Cut' Disc 1 contains Romero's 'director's cut' of the film which is letterboxed at 1:85:1 (although it is probably safer to say that it has been 'matted' into this ratio), without any anamorphic enhancement. This version runs for just under two hours and twenty minutes and it has little in the way of Goblin's excellent soundtrack. The story behind Dawn of the Dead should be well known to anyone reading this, with four very different people taking up shelter in a shopping mall filled with zombies. The film takes place after the events of Night of the Living Dead and is the best of Romero's zombie trilogy. There is a huge amount of social satire in the film and also some strong comments about America's treatment of refugees (symbolised in the scene where Peter and Roger open fire on a cage full of coloured, scabby looking zombies - huddled together in sleeping bags and blankets). The death of materialism is perhaps best exemplified in the shocking scene where the four peer over the sight of several dead zombies in the mall: one of the most powerful metaphors ever put on the silver screen. The 'director's cut' is the best way to watch Dawn of the Dead and the disc is of surprisingly good quality. The print could do with re-mastering, but the daylight scenes look strong and the darks are very dark. Throughout the film you'll find traces of grain and print damage, and - at times - the colours look a little faded. Still, this is a definite improvement on the quality of the British disc and the best you can hope for until Anchor Bay get around to their inevitable 'bells and whistles' edition. The sound, meanwhile, is fine: nothing great but perfectly acceptable. Romero has never been the most stylistic of directors and Dawn of the Dead is evidence that the man likes to tell his stories in a relatively straightforward, and familiar, visual style - his editing, however, cannot be faulted. Thus, Argento's 'European Director's Cut' is a somewhat confusing experience... Part 2 - Argento's 'European Director's Cut' Part of the agreement between Argento (who partly financed Dawn of the Dead) and Romero was that Argento have the right to cut together a version of Dawn for European audiences. As the legendary original cut of Dawn of the Dead ran for, if rumours are to be believed, 170 minutes - Argento set about producing a film which severely truncated the original Romero cut and replaced sections with footage which has never been seen in any other version of the movie. Confused? Well, Argento's version speeds the film up - cutting out whole chunks of dialogue (including the entire scene where Stephen and Fran find themselves besieged by renegades at the beginning) and even eliminates the classic shot of the zombie having the top of his head swiped off by a helicopter blade! On top of all the missing footage, however, are many extra scenes scattered throughout the movie (none of which pop up in Romero's cut), including a little extra gore in the scene where Peter and Roger shoot the zombies dead in the tower block. There is also more footage of the bikers preparing to raid the mall. Some of these scenes are well worth seeing. Especially poignant is the moment where Peter asks Stephen if he could cut his partner's head off were she bitten by a zombie, but the film - as a whole - is a disjointed affair and quite frustrating to watch after seeing the brilliance of Romero's full version. In saying that, Argento obviously understands the power of a strong soundtrack (as anyone who has seen Suspiria or Inferno will agree) and Goblin's brilliant score adds some extra excitement to some scenes, especially the opening. The picture quality on this disc is varied to say the least. The very beginning looks terrible, with loads of print damage and faded colours. Things begin to improve after the invasion on the tower block and the rest of the film varies in quality. At times the picture is perfectly acceptable (it looks especially strong during the scene at the petrol station) and has no evident damage, whilst at other moments the quality is pitiful. It's still very easy to watch, though, although it must be noted that the sound on this disc, sadly, isn't as good as the sound on Romero's cut, which is a pity considering the aforementioned Goblin music on the soundtrack.

EXTRAS: Well, if two versions of what is probably the most critically acclaimed modern horror film isn't enough then get a load of this... On disc 1 we have two cinema trailers (both letterboxed), five television trailers (all fullscreen) and one radio spot. True, they are all pretty much the same but it's nice that there are so many of them. Each one was also featured on the Elite laserdisc release, just in case you're curious. The only other extra on this disc is a brief picture gallery. The huge problem with this disc is the severe lack of chapter stops. Nine chapter stops is a tiny amount for a film of this length and four of these are spread out to the first half an hour or so making it doubly frustrating!!! The menu has the Goblin music playing over it too. The second disc has even more extras though, including the trailer for the Argento version (fullscreen and of very poor quality) and two German trailers. There is also a trailer for Day of the Dead and a promotional trailer for the extended release of Night of the Living Dead on DVD (with extra footage shot in 1999 by that complete tit John Russo). Talent biographies are present for the likes of Argento, Romero and Savini and the big plus is probably the inclusion of the one hour documentary Document of the Dead. Directed by Roy Frumkes (who later scripted the abysmal Street Trash), this is the original cut of Document, missing the half an hour of behind the scenes footage of Two Evil Eyes which is present on the current VHS release (the quality is no different here by the way). It's a fine extra though, and if you've never seen it before the documentary stands as both insightful and entertaining - especially because you get to see Tom Savini at work. The sad thing is that there are only two chapter stops!!! This is clearly beginning to become a pain in the arse... This two disc set also includes a booklet about the three films in Romero's trilogy, which helps to round off a fine release which is essential for anyone who is has become fed up waiting for a half decent release of Dawn of the Dead to arrive on DVD. This should do fine in the mean time, and I suspect it will be relatively collectable in the years to come. As an aside, just in case you were wondering, the six seconds that were missing from the UK release are restored, but the commentary track by Tom Savini is sadly missing. The box advertises an commercial for 'Monroeville Mall' as being present but I can't find it. Perhaps you can?