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

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These additional cuts were due to the media furore concerning screen violence in the wake of the Dunblane massacre and the killing of James Bulger. Grain is barely visible and the transfer has a very pleasing 'filmic' look that's just not as pronounced on the DVD versions. The project then expanded to a second disc to include more related material, and eventually a third disc. There’s some real gold from on set and the commentaries are fun, helping explain what we’re watching. Romero's classic low budget horror and sequel to 'Night of the Living Dead' where the dead now roam the entire American continent, feeding off the flesh of the living.

The Universal Blu-ray back in 2008 was rather “meh” considering it was encoded with the more bitrate intensive VC-1 codec, and Scream Factory’s 2017 release looked only marginally better in AVC. With a great balance of satire, action and horror, it transcends any minor flaws it may have, to more than justify its lofty status in the pantheon of genre movies. Via the same avenue, I could also get a scan a 35mm print of the Argento Italian cut of Dawn Of The Dead, along with a less desirable 16mm version of the Extended Cut. It was retitled Zombies and rated 'X' with 5m 05s of BBFC cuts to the violence and gore, running at 2h 00m 20s.The modification just involved overlaying my own text; carefully tweaked to appear identical to the trailers original on-screen text. It's completely open matte up to the edge of the film frame, presented as virtually square, meaning a matte to 1. The tenement scene early on is brutal and intense, but later on more comedy seeps in and the whole wish-fulfilment side of having a mall all to themselves, on top of having S.

There are plenty of entertaining anecdotes – I particularly enjoyed the story about the zombie extras who photograph themselves in full make up using the mall's photo booth and then use the resulting pictures to replace the demo pictures of smiling family types on the booth's exterior. The mall itself becomes a microcosm of American consumerism, a source of supplies for a group that over time becomes seduced by the easy pleasures that free access to such a wide range of material goods can offer. The virus currently causing worldwide chaos isn’t as destructive as a zombie outbreak, but the argumentative news pieces we see in Dawn and the way our protagonists grow bored of shutting themselves away from the problem certainly felt familiar, adding a further disturbingly realistic edge to the film.In September 2022, I had the opportunity to acquire something very special; a personally funded 35mm 5K scan of an original Dawn Of The Dead's US Theatrical version print. A comprehensive and enjoyable piece that's littered with extracts of Savini's film work, the star attraction is inevitably Savini himself, particularly the footage of him at home with family and friends, where he has a fencing match on the roof, balances his upright baby on one hand (honestly, you have to see this one) and rigs his wife up with exploding squibs but forgets to provide her with ear plugs. UK collector Scott, also managed to hunt down a copy of the UK Zombies - Dawn Of The Dead trailer, which he found on the UK 1981 Intervision Exterminator pre-cert VHS.

I was initially dubious about having so many but they’re all markedly different and each offer something well worth listening to. 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. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item. In addition to the first disc, I had some pre-existing bootleg VHS to DVD transfers which I though would have a fitting home on this set.The artwork was a fairly simple choice; a double sided Blu-Ray cover with a modified version of the Intervision cover on one side, and the Entertainment In Video cover on the other. This was part of the agreement made, as Argento’s company financed much of the film and he felt some tweaks would need to be made for non-American markets. The first of a Fangoria video magazine series on key figures in horror cinema focuses on the always energetic Savini. With excellent gradational differences between the various shades, be it in the clothing, hair or shadows, visibility within the darkest, murkiest corners is consistently strong and solid.