Dawn of the Dead: European Version (1978)

After playing SPI's DAWN OF THE DEAD boardgame I knew what I wanted to do next, watch the film. The version I picked was the European version, edited by Dario Argento. It is the shortest version of the film collected in Anchor Bay's Ultimate edition release of the film on DVD.

Before I start complaining I will say that Argento's cut works. If this was the only version of the film that existed I would have still been blown away watching it for the first time at a friend's house. And I'd still be watching it thirty years after my first viewing. The European version skips a number of scenes, extends a few scenes, has additional gore shots and more Goblin compared to the U.S. theatrical release.

Tom Savini's ground breaking special effects are certainly one of the major reasons I am enamored with the film. But it's also the characters, Fran, Peter, Roger and Steve. Bucket loads of blood and grue does not make for a classic. I want to see and feel and experience the world the characters inhabit. The characters are so well drawn and their interaction with one another so real that I want to spend as much time with them as possible. The European version, with its shorter running time, takes away from that. It also dispenses with the humour. The scene at the boat dock with the guy asking for a smoke and our heroes telling him the don't have any cigarettes and then promptly lighting up once he is gone is fantastic. It's a funny scene, it releases some built up tension and it's a good foreshadowing into why the characters defend the mall later in the film. I want those scenes. I want to spend those few additional moments with the characters.

And that also explains why I like the so-called director's cut. Just like the shoppers at the Monroeville mall, I want more.

Birth of the Living Dead (2013)

Dir: Rob Kuhns

BIRTH OF THE LIVING DEAD is a documentary about the classic film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Sadly, most of the cast and crew have passed away and do not make an appearance here. The saga of the forming of The Latent Image to releasing the ground breaking zombie film is told from the point of view of director George A. Romero in a series of interviews conducted by documentary film maker Rob Kuhns. Interspersed with Romero's commentary are observations on the culture at the time of filming and the film's impact by Larry Fessenden (also a producer of the documentary), Gale Anne Hurd (a producer on THE WALKING DEAD) and film critic Elvis Mitchell.

As I've seen the film scores of times on television, VHS, laser disc and DVD and have read countless interviews and books about the film there was not much about the film that I hadn't heard / read / seen previously. It's always a treat to watch an interview with Romero but the most fascinating part of this documentary is a teacher in a low income neighbourhood using the film as a teaching aid to poor black and Hispanic students. He even has them act like zombies! Odd that this film went from being warned about by Roger Ebert when he sat in a matinee showing filled with children to being shown uncut on broadcast television (where I first saw it) to being part of the curriculum for a class for young children.

It's a good watch for those that might not know much about the making of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD but I found enough entertainment to have enjoyed the documentary as well.

*** out of ****