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Quint devours Anchor Bay's 4 Disc DAWN OF THE DEAD set!!!
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a little look at the amazing horror geeks wet dream of a DVD release: Anchor Bay's 4 Disc DAWN OF THE DEAD set. This is the real DAWN OF THE DEAD, with real characters that you can relate to, real heart and soul that went into the making of the film and a real subtext instead of lots of flash and quick cuts. I know there are a lot of fans of the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake and I'm sorry if I'm offending you at all, but after spending the last few days lost in Romero's original world I have come to dislike the remake more and more for taking the name, the mall and leaving behind any of the underlying messages. Like I said in my review, I would have liked the movie a lot more if it had been a semi-sequel or homage, but when you remake something I find it unfair to ask the fans of the original to "put it aside" and view the remake as a separate entity. If they really wanted us to do that, then they wouldn't have called the film DAWN OF THE DEAD.
Sorry about the rant, squirts. I can get pretty vocal when it comes to my original DAWN OF THE DEAD and Anchor Bay is only fueling the fire by putting out the DAWN OF THE DEAD ULTIMATE EDITION DVD set. This set is comprised of 4 discs.
DISC 1:
US THEATRICAL VERSION
The first disc (with machete zombie on the DVD itself) has Commentary by George and Chris Romero and Tom Savini. Romero and Savini have recorded commentaries for DAWN before, so there's nothing here that really sticks out to me as being anything new. It's always good to hear from the man about his memories of shooting, but the most entertaining stuff on the disc is hearing Savini's somewhat... how to put it delicately... hazy memories from the set. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on some of the stuff that he contradicts himself on, but he makes a big deal of the big jump he makes from the second floor of the mall at the end of the movie... about him missing the mattresses and boxes and injuring his feet. But as you'll see in the documentaries on the 4th disc you'll see him make the jump and be 100% on the boxes. He tries to explain a little bit in his commentary about how he missed the boxes on the REHEARSAL, which makes more sense, but at the same time he also goes on to describe exactly what happens after he made the on-camera successful jump as happening after he made the rehearsal miss jump. All that shit just makes me laugh.
Also on the disc you'll find Theatrical Trailers, TV spots, Radio Spots, Poster and Advertising Gallery, George A. Romero bio, a comic-book preview and many audio options, such as 5.1 DTS, 5.1 Dolby Surround, 2.0 Dolby Surround and the original Mono. And of course, they present the film Widescreen. You get a little booklet of the Comic adaptation of DAWN and it's pretty well done. It ends with our heroes when they get to the mall and a note saying you need to buy the Trade Paperback for the rest.
DISC 2:
EXTENDED VERSION
This is my favorite cut with more character and more gore. The commentary track on this one, though, is the least interesting of the three with producer Richard P. Rubinstein and moderator Perry Martin. Martin's fine, but Rubinstein's talk is very dry and boring... you know, very producerish. The only thing that I really dug about the commentary was his revelation about the actual budget of the film: $600,000. He had been saying it was $1.5 mil to try to get people in foreign territories to pay more for the rights, a very common practice.
There's also a Monroeville Mall commercial from the '70s which is awesome. Very dated, very sweet with footage of mannequins that I'm sure are in the movie... Perfect small special feature.
Also included on this disc is a behind-the-scenes photo gallery, a memorabilia gallery (which, strangely didn't work for me, but maybe it was just an early glitch) and production stills. This one is presented only in the original Mono.
DISC 3:
THE EUROPEAN VERSION
My favorite commentary in the entire set is on this disc and has the four leads (Ken Foree (Peter), David Emge (Flyboy), Scott H. Reinger (Roger) and Gaylen Ross (Fran)) and it's the only commentary track that doesn't feel like a retread or like it's just going over boring material. The four actors get along really well and playfully jab at each other throughout the whole thing... I mean, Gaylen Ross repeatedly makes fun of David Emge's run. "Oh, that's not a girly run or anything..." What's funny about it is she keeps pointing it out... I don't know, it had me laughing at least.
There's also revelations about the actors that I didn't know, like that Flyboy (Emge) is, funnily enough, the only main cast member to have any sort of army or military training. He was in Vietnam, yet he's playing the wuss. Go figure.
There's also tons of international trailers, posters, lobby cards, pressbook galleries and the like on the disc as well as a bio on Dario Argento, who cut this version of the film for European markets. This cut is great in some areas, but he cuts a little too much of the humor out... my most missed sequence being the part at the end when Ken Foree's gun gets snatched away from him by the zombie that took Roger's gun earlier, who then decides he likes the new gun better. I love that bit. But Argento did cut one scene better... At the airport near the beginning when they're fueling up the helicopter and Flyboy is attacked... In the regular cut Gaylen Ross just kind of stands there watching him as he's reaching for the mini-sledge hammer to bash in the zombie's head, but in Argento's cut the fight is much quicker so she doesn't seem to be just standing there doing nothing. But then again, Argento also cut out the zombie who gets the top of his head lobbed off by the helicopter, so there you go. I still prefer the Extended Version.
DISC 4:
DOCUMENTARIES
Now this is a fun disc. Two, count 'em two, Feature Length Documentaries , plus a few minis take up room on this disc. The first is called THE DEAD WILL WALK, which is an all-new doc that has brand new interviews with everybody and their brother. Argento, Romero, the entire cast, Savini and bunches of the crew tell the story of DAWN OF THE DEAD from the very beginning with Romero being invited out to Italy by Dario Argento to write DAWN to the very end indie release of the film. This one's a lot of fun and the doc where you can see Savini make that successful leap from the second story I mentioned earlier.
The other doc has been around for a while, but I'm really glad it's included on the disc as I hadn't ever gotten around to seeing it. It's Roy Fumkes' film called DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD, which was put out in the '80s. Where the first doc on this disc is more of a talking heads look back, this one is full on set coverage from the actual time. Surprisingly, the two docs don't cover a whole bunch of the same material, so you can watch both without feeling as if you're retreading anything.
The two mini docs are about 10 minutes apiece. The first is a home movie that one of the zombies shot at the time on 8mm. The film is silent, but the zombie narrates it (his name is Robert Langer, by the way). This is some real fly on the wall stuff and very interesting. Could you imagine movies being that cool to let extras just bring their video cameras and go around shooting the set? In this day and age!?! But I'm glad Langer shot because his is some of the most interesting stuff on the disc.
The other doc was shot by none other than hot hunk-a man Greg Nicotero (The N of KNB EFX) and is a tour through the modern day Monroeville Mall (where Dawn was shot). The tour is lead by Ken Foree who is joined by a few of the more memorable zombies (machete zombie, nurse zombie and escalator zombie to name a few) and David Emge. This is actually pretty sweet as Foree guides the group around the mall, pointing out where the bank was, where he made his famous "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth" speech, etc.
All in all, I can't say enough good about the release. Some of the commentaries aren't all that, but just the fact that you're getting all the cuts and all those features... They aren't kidding when they say this is the Ultimate Edition. For the average fan who wouldn't care about the extra features Anchor Bay released DAWN OF THE DEAD a few months ago as a single disc edition. This one is made for us, the super geeks. This is easily one of my all time favorite DVD sets released and I predict it will only be outdone by the ROTK: EE at the end of the year. I highly, highly, highly recommend this disc to you guys. Three different cuts of the movie to choose from, tons of documentaries and supplementals and damn near every thing you could ever hope to know about the making of one of the all time classic horror films. Now if only Anchor Bay could put out a 4 Disc Fred Dekker spectacular of THE MONSTER SQUAD and NIGHT OF THE CREEPS with a full disc of bonus goodies each. Then I could die happy!
That's it from me on this one, squirts! I'm about to embark on a great adventure to see one of the great wonders of the world, but I got a few goodies to give you folks before I take off, including interviews with the coolest buddy comedy zombie hunters in recent memory and a certain Darko Director. 'Til then, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
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but those bitches already suckered me into buying the cheapie regular one, so they can kiss my ass with this one. Besides, I almost never watch extra stuff anyways, and Romero says on the DotD commentary that the directors cut acutally is more boring. Damn dvd makers are whores!!
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I love the Monster Squad too! Bring it on!
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Sep 07, 2004 5:50:19 AM CDT
"Could you imagine movies being that cool to let extras just bri
by zampano
I bought Shaun of the Dead yesterday, and it's loaded with extras. Including a zombie (Adam & Joe's Joe) bringing a dv camera on set and filming his day. So yes, I can imagine it.
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The title is lame and I'm sick of hearing about it... My Dotd Directors cut DVD has a great commentary, additional footage and commericals, and a Monroeville mall commerical (mmm...70's cheese...) Is there anything the laserdisc versions have that isn't covered in the 4 DVD set??? I need a comparasin!!! Please.
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The guy on the SOTD dvd actually gets in trouble for filming, and has to hide the camera at one stage.The funny thing is, that he explains that he has to film in secret because they fear he may put it online for net-nerds....which...is what we are. man, i am sad.
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Saw the sneak preview in Atlanta last week and still can't stop laughing and thinking about it. Best zombie movie since the Romero's Dawn of the Dead.
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Hey, thanks for the correction! You are now officially as useful as MS Word 6.0. Now go fuck yourself.
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Many thanks to the folks who brought up MONSTER SQUAD! We've waited far too long for this on DVD. - AICN has not hyped up SHAUN OF THE DEAD nearly as much as they should have!!!
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Sep 07, 2004 2:53:58 PM CDT
Message? Didn't Romero say he never intended a message?
by kryptonslastson
I could have sworn I watched a doc where Romero said he never intended an anti-consumerism message in Dawn of the Dead, which is the message that so many have latched onto for this film. Why are people such haters of the remake? Because it is an action movie? I'd love to see a sequel to it myself....
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I just bought the DVD a few months ago, and while I'd love to have all the extras, I'm not paying twice for the same movie ever again. No way do they "need more time" between versions, it's just to milk the most loyal consumers. This sounds good but no sale! ps: Shaun of the Dead looks terrible, and combining funny with horror is a losing combo. Despite incessant praise here, I bet it tanks big time.
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Sep 07, 2004 8:02:08 PM CDT
Well, I'd probably be very excited if I gave a damn about this f
by salvatoregravano
Hopefully more films will receive such treatment. All versions, all cuts, in one box - that's how it should be.
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Sep 07, 2004 10:24:44 PM CDT
No, no, motherfuckers I just bought the extended edition DVD. I'
by big bad clone
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Isn't that suppose to be the dvd set of the year? I heard it has all three Matrix films, plus over 30 hours of extras. That has to be as good as it gets this year. Right?
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I think this whole subtext and social commentary aspect of Dawn of the Dead is really overblown. I love the orginal, but I also really like the remake. What the hell, we're talking about zombies here, not Shakespeare!
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fucking a! I have been saying that for ages...no one ever agrees with me.
why I love dawn of the dead (original and the remake...thought the remake was fucking incredible) isn't the subtext and social commentary on society changes blah blah blah ...IT WAS ABOUT ZOMBIES EATING PEOPLE AND HEADS GETTING FUCKING BLOWN OFF.....it's like people use that whole social commentary as a way of justifying loving such a (lets face it) badly acted and badly made film...like that makes it o.k. to like such a film...fuck that....i love it for what it is...a nasty, cheap violent zombie movie. -
agreed. Looking forward to a sequel to the dawn remake, whether it be called Day of the Dead or whatever, so long as it's good.
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"fuck that....i love it for what it is...a nasty, cheap violent zombie movie."
Granted, genre fans DO love it for those reasons, but the greatest thing about it is that it's so much more. There's no denying it's a clever flick, and a great original idea. It is also made INCREDIBLY well considering the budget, and the dvd looks like million bucks. Also, for anyone that says Romero didn't want to have a "message"--watch the fucking thing. It would have taken the world's biggest moron to have made it unaware of the underlying statements. Low barrel schlock entertainment or satiric exploration of the human breakdown, DAWN brings it all to the table. -
I also must agree with slappy.Zombie movies are the stuff nightmares are made of.Isn't that why we flock to this genre of film,to have the living shit scared out of us??
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was to stop the zombies you have to destroy the brain and if they bite you are fucked. thats about it.
seriously...how many of you when you first saw it talked about the fucking social message afterwards. how many of you rewound it back to replay pivotal scenes where that message really came through. none of you ..... we all talked about how fucking cool it was when that guys head gets blown off at the start and rewound to freeze frame it. -
Uh, yeah, when we were fourteen and watched it the first time it was for the gore, of course, the commentary is something that you realize as you mature and become more more intelligent. Therein lies the problem, as most of you don't have the requisite maturity or intelligence to notice this, so go ahead and freeze frame the exploding heads, if that's all you want to get out of this great film. As Aromero himself has always maintained, it's not a subtle message, and not a message movie, but a comic book come to life that just so happens to have a hit you over the head with a machete message. God Bless you Anchor Bay, even though I bought the one disc theatrical cut not more than four months ago, I will plunk down my hard earned for this one, too.
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All right, I get the fact that the survivors seek refuge in a mall, and that the zombies are somehow drawn to a mall, and the ingrained consumerism. So what? What overshadows that "message" (if that is, in fact a message) is the excellent use of a shopping mall as a device in the movie. What a great idea, to hole up in a mall. You got everything you need for a while. It makes sense.
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or whatever your name is...you uppity fuck....answer me this....lets say dawn of the dead came out when it did in the 70's exactly the same in everyway except it always cut away at the gore...like it cut away just before that guys head gets cut up...or it cut away before we see any gore. effectively the same film with zero gore. would people still talk about this film today and how great it was due to the message? um, NO. there certainly wouldnt be an ultimate edition coming out over twenty years later and it wouldnt be as well loved as it is...i just think everyone goes on about the "message" way to much like thats why its great. It is great because of gore. without the gore and general nastiness of it this film would never have been remembered.
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It was announced before the Divimax 1-disc Dawn DVD came out that there was going to be a 4-disc version coming out a few months later. You losers who are whining about having to pay twice for the same movie because you can't wait 5 months are too wrapped up in your instant gratification-fueled existences. No big deal, just don't expect people to feel sorry for you. You other douchebags (Quint included) who slag the remake are laughable, too. The original is memorable and classic due to its unnerving attitude towards violence and gore. The social commentary is a bonus. Jesus, even Romero states that. If you need to pat yourself on the back for appreciating the fact that Dawn of the fucking Dead is a scathing indictment of our consumer culture in order to appreciate it, bully for you. As far as the remake goes, I'd wager that they felt that "message" was so blindingly obvious that they felt no real need to explicitly state it again. If you really didn't like the remake, so be it, but something tells me you're more into (literal) shit like The Stuff if such "social commentary" really creams your Twinkie like you say it does.
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