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There is some confusion here as reviews for Romero's original 1978 film and Snyder's 2004 film are mixed together. This is for the remake.
Remakes of average films are most often disappointing and remakes of good films are frequently terrible. But Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of George Romero’s :Dawn of the Dead” ia a rare remake of a good film that succeeds in every way. I’ve been a Romero fan since I first saw “Night of the Living Dead” in the summer of 1968 and I was very doubtful about any attempt to redo its sequel, but this film convinced me otherwise. It avoided the obvious pitfall of literally remaking the older film by reimagining it instead. It kept the scenario of a group of people finding shelter in a shopping mall during a zombie apocalypse but only that. Even the zombies were changed from Romero’s slow, lumbering zombies to ones like the fast running “infected” of “28 Days Later” released in 2002 (but kept them as reanimated dead, ignoring the rigor mortis problem). I find Romero’s zombies creepier and prefer that style, but understand that for the sake of danger, the fast ones are a much greater threat, something an action version needed.
Comparing the films is not very useful because they are trying to do different things and each succeeds in its way. Romero’s film is more of a character study and Snyder’s more of an action film. With four main characters in the 1978 film there was time to get to know them better. However, a small central cast can lead to the audience perception that the main characters will suffer no harm at least until the end. Snyder’s group population totals 14 at one point, leaving room for some to die. This gives Snyder’s film more tension. Snyder did not retain the social commentary/satire that Romero was famous for in his film. To be honest I never thought much of it because criticism of materialism and consumerism was a cliche at least since the late 60s and had been one of the main themes of the counterculture. The point is not whether I agree or disagree but simply the fact that there was nothing new or especially perceptive about it. What made it stand out to critics in the 70s was that it existed in a horror film, probably the least socially conscious genre imaginable. Repeating it would have made Snyder seem like a copycat. I greatly enjoy both films and so should anyone else.
Snyder had been a director of television commercials and music videos (from Lizzie Borden and ZZ Top to Morrissey ) and “Dawn of the Dead” was his first feature film. It opened the door to a major directorial career, but along the way he became a very polarizing figure. Stepping into the world of comic books and superheroes where passions and opinions run very high, audiences are split between esteem and hatred of him. That’s too much to go into here but since all of the characters here are new, he can not be accused of changing the characters too much from their source material the way he did with the DC Comics films. With an early background in art he has a strong sense in visuals and the look of this film is one of its strong points, the vibrant colors, the lighting and the camera placement are all excellent. (Note that in the opening clip showing four soldiers defending the U.S. Capitol Building, Snyder is the second soldier from the left, not wearing a helmet).
His music video background gave him a sense of telling a story without a lot of talk. Its famous hair-raising 12-minute opening takes us from the quiet normality of leaving late from work and coming home to a loving husband and peaceful suburban neighborhood to complete chaos. This is shot as the view from Ana’s fleeing car and from above it as fires and explosions are seen all around Milwaukee below. It’s one of the best horror movie opening scenes ever. Right from the beginning the film has everything: pacing, camera angles, editing, storytelling, lighting and well-chosen music. There is so much going on, but it all flows smoothly. The story jumps ahead by finding the first group of five already at the mall, shown by simply raising the camera. It’s the first morning of the outbreak, so the mall is not overrun with zombies
It also helped that the people behind the film were actually into Romero’s films and were out to inspire new fans for the zombie genre. Producer Eric Newman considered Romero’s :Dawn” as the top film of its type and was able to purchase the rights from the 1978 film’s producer, Richard Rubinstein, who wouldn’t sell until he was certain it was in the hands of people who cared. Principal writer was James Gunn, another Romero zombie enthusiast who was almost let go from the job when an internet storm arose over the fact that he had written two “Scooby Doo” films. Important fan site hosts were given previews of the script and told fans he was the right guy for the job. He has since gone on to direct all three “Guardians of the Galaxy” films.
The actors were a bunch of relative newcomers (though two of them,Susan Polley and Kevin Zegers, had been child actors) and they played their parts earnestly without any sense of irony about being in a zombie film. Sarah Polley’s Ana Clark is the original pov character and rather than running around screaming, is able to be calm and capable, all the while seeming vulnerable and shaken, like a real person would be. Ving Rhames is police sergeant Kenneth Hall and with his size and innate authority, becomes the operations commander of the group. Jake Weber is a recently divorced man who has worked a series of dead end jobs but finds real ability in himself and is also a group leader. These three make the important decisions but not without including everyone in the discussion.
Ty Burrell was unknown at the time of the film, years before “Modern Family” and as Steve, is a sleazy, annoying jerk. Mekhi Phifer is streetwise Andre, trying to protect his pregnant wife, Luda, and turn his life around. Michael Kelly, later in all six seasons of “House of Cards” is CJ, a belligerent mall security cop whose big concern is that the survivors will shoplift items from the stores. . Kevin Zegers had been in the “Air Bud” films and here is the mall cop trainee, essentially the role of “the kid” with a good heart. There are more, and the number of roles means that some are people who we don’t get to know much about, but this isn’t the kind of film where you need to. The characters make some awful choices of what action to take in this film, often, one suspects, just to set up a new action scene. This is probably the greatest weakness of the film, but it tends to be a regular part of the genre. So does the fact that everyone seems to be able to shoot a gun with great accuracy.
The special effects and makeup departments did exceptional jobs. Romero’s focus had been on the people, not the zombies and even in 1978, his zombies were people with their faces painted a blueish gray. There had been ugly zombies since then, but they were more like fantasy ghouls (think “Return of the Living Dead”) but the makeup team here, led by David Leroy Anderson, took it to another level. Snyder wanted everything to be as real as possible, so they researched physical decomposition in great detail using medical descriptions, photographs and time-lapse videos and made zombies look like the decaying corpses they actually would have been. The effects department created the scenes of the zombies outside the mall, who get ever more numerous each time they’re shown.
The zombie-mania which seems to finally have ebbed, produced scores of zombie movies (mostly bad) and the highly successful “Walking Dead” television series. Perhaps this film did help reignite interest in the genre which had waned after the eighties. It was wildly popular, opening at #1 at the box office (largely due to the opening sequence being shown as a preview on cable) and made back four times its budget. It remains one of the best films of its type, unlikely to be topped.
THE BLU-RAY & HQ 3-disc set by Shout Factory and Universal. This is already long and I;m sure others have gone into great detail about the set and its extras. Shout is a high end video retailer with licensing agreements with Universal, Warner Brothers, Sony, MGM and other major studios. They make very high quality transfers and load them up with excellent extras. This set contains both the theatrical and director’s cut versions in Blu-Ray and the director’s cut on the HQ disc. To me, the HQ is a little more vivid and sharp, but nothing that amazing. The extras include commentary by the director and producer, interviews with the screenwriter and actors Jake Weber and Ty Burrell, Features on makeup and effects, a 25 minute “Newscast” of the developing apocalypse, deleted scenes and more. A must for fans.
Reviews with images
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Amazing set and film had never looked better!!
I will get the warning out of the way first, three disks of the different movie versions are 4K and region free. The fourth disk of extras is a UK region standard Blu Ray so may not play for you in other countries. It doesn’t matter to me. The absolute gold here are the new 4K versions from the original camera negatives on Disk 1 US Theatrical and Disk 2 Extended Edition. I have been a fan since the film first came out and can say it has absolutely never looked better. The colors are much much more natural than they have ever seemed. The first scene with titles does have some harsh noise that is not representative of how the rest of the movie looks, it is generally incredibly clear and noise free. I was previously playing the old Arrow Blu Ray set that I alway thought would never be beaten. This is so much better, it’s night and day transformation. I chose to watch the theatrical version with the multi channel surround sound option that really gives a great soundscape. The extended version only has a mono option. Massively recommended.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
Amazing set and film had never looked better!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
I will get the warning out of the way first, three disks of the different movie versions are 4K and region free. The fourth disk of extras is a UK region standard Blu Ray so may not play for you in other countries. It doesn’t matter to me. The absolute gold here are the new 4K versions from the original camera negatives on Disk 1 US Theatrical and Disk 2 Extended Edition. I have been a fan since the film first came out and can say it has absolutely never looked better. The colors are much much more natural than they have ever seemed. The first scene with titles does have some harsh noise that is not representative of how the rest of the movie looks, it is generally incredibly clear and noise free. I was previously playing the old Arrow Blu Ray set that I alway thought would never be beaten. This is so much better, it’s night and day transformation. I chose to watch the theatrical version with the multi channel surround sound option that really gives a great soundscape. The extended version only has a mono option. Massively recommended.
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
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Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2023
Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2011
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2024
Top reviews from other countries
Piero75
DOWN OF THE DEAD (ZOMBI) ECCELLENTE EDIZIONE (BD)
Reviewed in Italy on December 2, 2020
Piero75
Reviewed in Italy on December 2, 2020
La second sight films esce con un cofanetto che colpisce per qualità di realizzazione, ben quattro blu ray, tre cd, due libri al suo interno.
Analizzando le tre versione, la migliore rimane comunque sempre quella THEATRICAL CUT, si apprezza anche quella di THE ARGENTO CUT
La qualità d'immagine il restauro adottato è praticamente spettacolare, sia per definizione che per colori, se dovessimo rilevare qualche imperfezione, sarebbe forse lieve in alcune inquadrature se praticamente assente. Per un film del 1978 il lavoro di restauro svolto è magnifico
L'audio DTS-HD 5.1 Inglese si presenta molto dinamico grazie al lavoro di rimasterizzazione, i dialoghi sono chiari, il tutto accompagnato da una colonna sonora dei Goblin spettacolare.
Gli extra realizzati per questa nuova edizione sono praticamente tanti, molti dei quali realizzati ex novo proprio per l'edizione, tutti uno più interessante dell'altro, ed anche gli extra di qualche anno fa fanno la loro parte.
Consiglio per gli appassionati l'acquisto ad occhi chiusi in quanto non può mancare un edizione simile.
Il costo vale la spesa, acquistato in preorder ad un prezzo niente male circa 93,00 euro.
Amazon servizio eccellente consegnato con un giorno di anticipo, calcolando che il prodotto veniva da L'Inghilterra.
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Blobbinses
Almost Perfect. Missing one last thing...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2020
Blobbinses
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2020
Studio : Second Sight Films
ASIN : B0892HW4F3
Number of discs : 7
Ok, so the people buying this most likely know the film like the back of their hand anyway so I won't bore you with yet another synopsis of the movie at hand. This review is about what the product has in it, compared to previous releases.
So, the first 3 blu ray discs are the film, in 3 versions:
The Original Theatrical Cut (127 mins)
• NEW 4K scan and restoration of the Original Camera Negative by Second Sight at Final Frame New York and London supervised and approved by DoP Michael Gornick
• Presented in HDR10+
• Audio: New restoration of the original OCN Optical presented in Mono 1.0, Stereo 2.0 and 5.1.
• Commentary by George A. Romero, Tom Savini, Christine Forrest
• NEW commentary by Travis Crawford
• NEW optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired
The Cannes Cut ( basically I think this is the director's cut at 137 mins long )
• Produced using 4K scan of the Theatrical Cut Original Camera Negative and 4K scan of the Extended Cut Colour Reversal Internegative
• Presented in HDR10+
• DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono
• Commentary by Richard P. Rubinstein
• NEW optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired
The Argento Cut (120mins)
• 4K scan of the Interpositive by Michele De Angelis at Backlight Digital, Rome
• Audio: DT-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 / Surround 5.1 / Stereo 2.0
• Commentary by Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, David Emge
• NEW optional English subtitles for the hearing impaired
NOTE, sadly this collection does NOT contain a blu ray ( or otherwise ) transfer of the "MALL HOURS CUT" ( 157mins. <-- this version edits in every last second of footage from various releases around the world and is the one to own if you want to see EVERYthing ) which is kind of a shame, but I understand why it isn't here, because it's really a fan - edit and not an official release of the film.
If you DO want a blu ray version of Dawn of the Dead ( Mall Hours Cut ) you can actually buy it on blu ray ( it's actually bluray quality too, not a crummy, thrown together VHS print, just slapped on a bluray disc ) you'll need to hunt down a ( pretty expensive ) 4 Disc blu ray collection from XTVideo in Germany/Austria(?) and that will have it on there. The packaging on that set is all in German, but don't worry, all the versions of the film and extras have English Audio on them too.
Back to this Amazon item review:
BLU-RAY DISC 4: SPECIAL FEATURES
• NEW Zombies and Bikers – With John Amplas, Roy Frumkes, Tom Savini, Christine Forrest, Tom Dubensky, Tony Buba, Taso Stavrakis and a whole host of zombies and bikers! (59 mins)
• NEW Memories of Monroeville
A tour of the mall with Michael Gornick, Tom Savini, Tom Dubensky and Taso Stavrakis (34 mins)
• NEW Raising the Dead: The Production Logistics (25 mins) With Michael Gornick, Christine Forrest, John Amplas, Tom Dubensky (23 mins)
• NEW The FX of Dawn with Tom Savini (13 mins)
• NEW Dummies! Dummies! – An interview with Richard France (12 mins)
• NEW The Lost Romero Dawn Interview: previously unreleased archive interview (20 mins)
• Super 8 Mall Footage by zombie extra Ralph Langer with option of archive commentary by Robert Langer and new commentary by Ralph Langer (13 mins)
• Document of the Dead: The Original Cut (66 mins)
• Document of the Dead: The Definitive Cut with optional commentary by Roy Frumkes (100 mins)
• The Dead Will Walk 2014 Documentary (80 mins)
• Trailers, TV and Radio Spots (TBC)
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
This is actually some pretty exciting news for mega fans of DotD, because Second Sight Films have really gone to town with finding the music cues that have never been commercially available before, outside of things like the incredibly hard to find and expensive De Wolfe Library. They haven't just slapped the old Trunk Record's Unreleased Incidental Music into the packaging, they've actually gone and found a whole tonne of previously unavailable cues. Not ALL of them, but A LOT of them.
These have probably been around on the net, in various places, for a few years now, but it's fantastic that this company has provided us with CD quality versions without the need to go hunting on forums etc.
AUDIO CD DISC 1
• The Goblin Soundtrack – The usual official Goblin Album of 17 tracks including Alternate and Bonus Tracks
01 - L'alba Dei Morti Viventi
02 - Zombi
03 - Safari
04 - Torte In Faccia
05 - Ai Margini Della Follia
06 - Zaratozom
07 - La Caccia
08 - Tirassegno
09 - Oblio
10 - Risveglio
11 - L'alba Dei Morti Viventi (Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]
12 - Ai Margini Della Follia (Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]
13 - Zombi (Sexy) [CD Bonus Track]
14 - Ai Margini Della Follia (Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]
15 - Zombi (Supermarket) [CD Bonus Track]
16 - L'alba Dei Morti Viventi (Intro — Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]
17 - Zombi (The Living Dead's Voices!) [CD Bonus Track]
AUDIO CD DISC 2
• Dawn of the Dead: De Wolfe and Hudson Music Cues (Part 1)
01 - Cosmogony Part 1
02 - Dramatic Moments No.1
03 - Sinestre
04 - Dramatic Moments No.2
05 - Violence
06 - Cosmogony Part 3
07 - Eclipse
08 - Dark Forest
09 - Cause I'm a Man
10 - Figments
11 - Dynamise 65
12 - Cosmogony Part 4
13 - The Mask of Death
14 - Cosmogony Part 2
15 - Victorian Vintage
16 - Queka
17 - Scarey I
18 - Scarey II
19 - Zap
20 - Spinechiller
21 - Violent Payoff Version 2
22 - Waiting For the Man
23 - Flossie
24 - Neurotic Bird
25 - Desert De Glace
26 - Dank Earth (Part 1)
27 - Red Sequence
28 - Barrage
29 - Face At the Window
AUDIO CD DISC 3
• Dawn of the Dead: De Wolfe and Hudson Music Cues (Part 2)
01 - We Are the Champions
02 - Ragtime Razzamatazz
03 - Tango Tango
04 - Fugarock
05 - Sonata
06 - El Chaco
07 - Dramaturgy Part 1
08 - Night Life
09 - Sun High
10 - Cantando
11 - On His Own
12 - Mechanical High Jinks
13 - Dramaturgy Part 2
14 - So Fantastico
15 - Violence Sting 1
16 - Caverne De Glace
17 - Dramatic Moments No.3
18 - Deserted Vaults
19 - Action Pack
20 - Kadath
21 - Proud Action
22 - Dramatic Moments No.4
23 - The Gonk ( Sadly doesn't end like the film's credits with the clock tower chimes and zombie moans etc, but i'm nitpicking )
NOTE: These cues are sometimes edited down from the full original pieces of music, to the cues in the film itself, to give context to what you're hearing, rather playing the entire piece of music that has only 30 seconds of a DotD cue in the middle of it, that was used in the film.
So that's 69 pieces of music and edited cues from the various film releases. So not complete by any means but all the important stuff is in there, like Victorian Vintage ( turning on the mall power ) and Cantando ( melancholy classical guitar piece ) and the superb Fugarock ( part of the shopping music scene ) etc...
Plus you also get
• Rigid box with lid featuring the original iconic artwork
• Two inner digipaks
• Dissecting the Dead – 160 page hardback book featuring 17 new essays, archive article and George A. Romero interview plus original marketing, artwork and merchandise images and behind-the-scenes stills.
• Dawn of the Dead: The novelisation book by George A. Romero and Susanna Sparrow with exclusive artwork
Overall kinda expensive maybe, but not too bad at all, considering what they've put into the package. The music cues alone, make this release a really cool edition for your DotD collection. The DotD novelisation is a HQ paperback and the Dissecting the Dead book is hardback and includes colour images through the middle section of it. Photos of various behind the scenes and paraphernalia, relevant to the film and it's original release.
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ヒー
購入して良かったと思った１枚です！
Reviewed in Japan on November 14, 2019
ヒー
Reviewed in Japan on November 14, 2019
Amazonマジック発動中です。
このブルーレイのレビュー以外に、ＤＶＤや粗悪な３Ｄ盤のレビューまで一緒になっています。
レビューを参考にして購入を考えている人は、十分に注意して読んでください。
しかし何とかならないモノでしょうか？Amazonさん！
さて私が今回購入したのは、ドイツのゾンビ・ファンが、ダリオ・アルジェント版をベースにディレクターズ・カット版と米国劇場公開版の３本を編集し直して製作したという、幻の１５５(156)分バージョンの最長版。
ＤＶＤは２枚組で、プロの機材を使って編集している様子を記録したメイキングまで収録されているモノです。
ちなみに今回のブルーレイは、本編のみの収録です。
ＤＶＤは、スタンダード画面にビスタサイズという上下に黒い枠があるモノでしたが、このブルーレイはビスタサイズ収録。
ＤＶＤは、リージョンが違うしＰＡＬ盤なので、オールフリーの再生環境を持ったプレイヤーがないと再生出来ません。
現在でもこのＤＶＤは、購入可能です。
しかし今回のブルーレイは、日本の機種でも再生可能なフリーのブルーレイ。
Amazonさんから届いて再生するまでは、16,000円を超える高額商品だったので、見てガッカリするのではないかと心配していましたが、結果はその逆でした。
ＤＶＤは、日本のファンには聞き慣れないドイツ語だけだったのに対し、今回のブルーレイは英語版も選択できます。
そして何と言っても画質が良かったこと。
ＤＶＤとブルーレイの差だよと言われそうですが、それ以上のように見えました。
レストアもされているのではないかと思うほど、ＤＶＤの画質とは違ってフィルム・キズも目立たない画質でした。
また、国内盤の他の３種類のブルーレイと画質を比較してみましたが、他のブルーレイと殆ど差はありません。
しかし３本を再編集しただけあって、色合いがかなり違う連続するシーンもあり、気になる人には向かないかも知れません。
ただし、映画『ゾンビ』のために撮影されたカットが、全て繋ぎ合わされて見られるという幸運に、各シーンの色の差や画質の違いはあまり気にならないというのが、ゾンビ・ファン（ダリオ＆ロメロ・ファン）の本音です。
とにかく買って損はなかったと言うのが自分の感想です。
ファンの人にしか分からない感覚かも知れませんが、私は高額でも満足しています。
と言うより、購入出来るうちに購入しておかないとプレミア商品間違いなし感がある一枚だと思います。
ケースは、スチールブックの特別仕様で、ケースの表面は一段の段差が有り、その段差に厚みのある立体カードが固定されているモノです。
少し動かして見ると３Ｄ感が際立ちます。
と言うことで、問答無用で５つ星とさせて頂きました。
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