Dawn of the Dead (1978)

 

"An Amazing Achievement. The Ultimate DAWN OF THE DEAD set"

Oh yes, Second Sight have outdone themselves with this, an immense, affectionate and one could say almost obsessive tribute to one of the most famous horror films ever made, being released on Blu-ray and 4K UHD no less. George A Romero changed the landscape of horror with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD in 1969, but it was 1978's DAWN OF THE DEAD that popularised the frequently colourful, often splatter-filled, usually nihilistic, over the top, doom laden subgenre that to this day is what fans everywhere think of when the term 'zombie movie' is mentioned.

So where to start? The plot: the zombie apocalypse has just begun, and we're only just slightly further on in timeline terms from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Four individuals - Fran (Gaylen Ross), her boyfriend Stephen (David Emge), and two state troopers Roger (Scott H Reiniger) and Peter (Ken Foree) escape the city and end up in an enormous shopping mall which they convert into somewhere they can live. But the dead are massing outside and there are threats in the form of other human beings, too.

George Romero was one of a group of innovative directors who created work that was a dream for horror fans. While never skimping on the splatter (and employing makeup maestros like Tom Savini to ensure the effects looked as real as possible) Romero's work was intelligent, informed, satirical and political - the perfect answer to the absurd claims still prevalent at the time that the horror genre was a waste of time. How many of us pointed those critics to DAWN OF THE DEAD back in the day? They wouldn't have watched it but it didn't matter. George was our hero and he still is.

And he didn't make DAWN OF THE DEAD alone. Another key genre figure and genius movie director, Dario Argento, provided a major contribution and rock band Goblin to provide the music score, with Argento retaining rights to cutting the film for European distribution while Romero did the edit for the US. Which begins to explain why there are so many discs in this set. Let's take a look at what we get (along with the extras, shall we?)

Disc 1

This is George Romero's theatrical cut, (127 minutes) meaning it's the version US audiences will have seen under the title DAWN OF THE DEAD when the film was released in US cinemas unrated (you can do that sort of thing in the US, or at least you could) back in 1978. UK audiences didn't see this version because it had to be cut for an 'X' and it went out under the title ZOMBIES, and was also the version Alpha Video put out on UK VHS in the 1980s. The film uses its Goblin score only sparsely, with much greater use made of library music tracks. The sound mix on this disc is something special, with Mono, Stereo and 5.1 options. Second Sight have given us a 4K scan and  restoration of the negative supervised and approved by DP Michael Gornick. 
        Extras include a Romero, Savini, and Christine Forrest commentary track ported over from the old DVD release, plus a new commentary from Travis Crawford.

Disc 2

Romero's cut still had stuff he took out that he would have preferred left in, though, and so we get what is known as the 'Cannes' cut which is ten minutes longer (137 minutes). Second Sight's disc is a 4K scan in HDR10+ with mono soundtrack. This one has a ported over commentary from producer Richard P Rubinstein.

Disc 3

The Argento cut! And the one the UK censor wasn't happy to pass because all the violence 'lacked justification'. So everywhere else in Europe got to see this one except the UK, which got a cut version of what's on Disc 1. Anyway, the Argento cut is a bit shorter (by seven minutes) but feels a lot tighter and more action-packed, thanks in part to a lot more use of the Goblin score. Somedays it's actually my preferred version and if you're always ignored it on previous DAWN sets give it a go as it really does feel like a different film to the Romero version. Sound options are mono, stereo and 5.1 surround so let 'The Goblins' pulse through those speakers. The commentary track on here is from the four leads.

Disc 4

The extras! Fans will have seen Roy Frumkes' extensive and detailed DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD before, and there's also the The Dead Will Walk documentary from 2014.

But there's loads of new stuff including an hour with Zombies and Bikers (including Savini and a host of familiar Romero names and faces), a half hour tour of the Monroeville Mall, 13 minutes with Tom Savini on the effects, a new interview with actor Richard France (Dummies! Dummies!), a new piece on the logistics of the production, a previously unreleased 20 minute archival Romero interview and 13 minutes of Super 8 footage of the mall shot by one of the zombie extras at the time. You also get trailers, TV and radio spots.

But you also get...

Three CDS! The first is the Goblin soundtrack, bumped up to 17 tracks (the previous Varese CD only had 10) with extra and alternate cuts. The other two are library tracks from the DeWolfe music library. Trunk Records previously released a single CD of library music in the UK but obviously these expand on that.

And..

The novelisation for those who haven't kept their Sphere paperback (UK) from 1978!

A new 160 page hardback book with 17 new essays and a whole bunch of marketing materials and behind the scenes stills!

A great big box to keep it all in!

So - three different versions of the film all in 4K with different sound options. Three soundtrack CDs, a disc packed with extras and books and goodies as well. Second Sight have set the standard by which all future box sets dedicated to a single film will be measured. It's an amazing piece of work and fans are going to be absolutely delighted. If you're still not convinced here's the trailer for the set:

George A Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD is out from Second Sight in 4K UHD and Blu-ray in the most amazing sets ever dedicated to a single film from Monday 16th November 2020