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 This nicely put together two disc package from Dutch Film Works gives you the two different versions of DAWN OF THE DEAD (cut for the US by Romero himself) and ZOMBI: DAWN OF THE DEAD (cut by Argento for Europe).What differs between the two versions is mostly the cutting pace. Argento cut away some of the dialogue and most scenes are "snappier". Argento's version is also supposed to be gorier but to be honest I haven't noticed any differences. Dario also uses Goblins soundtrack more then Romero and mixed the music higher. Argento's disc runs 113.59 minutes while Romero's runs 139.25 minutes so there is quite a difference between them.
Now over to the different discs! |
| video | The discs menus are in English and navigates easily. Goblins music and moaning zombies and some gunfire is playing in stereo. Romero's version is in widescreen while Argento's version is presented in Pan & Scan. Romero's disc shows a lot of scratches and smudges but apart from that the image is sharp and vibrant. Probably a good transfer from a less then good master source. All the nice gore parts are of course here.
Argento's disc is as I said in 4:3, which is a shame, but you can't have it all now can you? The picture is about the same as on the widescreen disc. A lot of scratches. The image is also not as sharp as the other disc. Reds are fine looking though and show no bleeding, which is proof that the mastering is not bad.
I thought it was quite interesting to see the different versions right after each other. The cutting pace is really different. While Romero works a lot with silence and lets the movie breath Argento seems more keen to get to the "good" parts (the body parts that is...). An example of different cutting is when the helicopter has landed among the hillbillies that practice target shooting on the flesh eating monsters. When the guy and girl are attacked by a zombie and the guy smacks him down with a sledgehammer. Romero's cutting is quite clumsy but funny. Argento's way of putting together that scene looks more "real", but then again not at all as funny. |
| sound | | The sound is in stereo and sounds like a stereo soundtrack from that period. pretty flat and boring in other words. The sound is as good as it gets on a stereo soundtrack, and if you like Goblins music you will get quite a dose on the Argento cut. During the looting scenes from the mall, Argento uses Goblins funky "march-disco music", while Romero employs really dorky Hillbilly banjo style music. Again quite a big difference. |
| extras | The two discs are packed with extras that at least in my mind make up for the not so good picture quality. On disc one you'll get seven trailers and one radio spot. A photo gallery with 27 different posters and lobby cards.
Disc two gives you five different trailers for the Zombi cut and also biographies and filmographies on Romero, Argento and Savini (in English). And most incredible: Roy Frumkes sixty minute documentary, Document of the Dead! The doc is a really nice bonus and gives you a good insight into the way Romero works (which is quite different, I think). The picture quality is not great but it looks sharp. I think the interviews are filmed on 16 mm or perhaps even 8 mm, which probably helped to make it look pretty harsh.
The cover looks good and is put in a keepcase. Inside you'll find a twelve page booklet on Romero's "Misbehaving dead people" trilogy. It's written in Dutch and English with photos from the films. You should also get a coupon which gives you the chance to get four collector cards and a A4 print of the cover. Everything is in colour and is printed in a strictly limited edition! Naturally I have the cards and the A4 and it looks great! |
| conclusion | | All in all a great package giving Argento fans an opportunity to compare the different versions. Plus a huge stack of extras. Again the picture quality could be better, but the extras make up for that. I think it's hard for a really small company like this to cash up for a digital clean up. So I strongly recommend this version to anyone that can stand the scratches and get a big pile of other cool features! |
| reviewed by Mattias Borgh |
| cover artwork |
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DAWN OF THE DEAD
DUTCH FILM WORKS; HOLLAND
dvd specification
original year of release: 1978
approximate running time: 140 mins (Romero's cut), 114 mins (Argento's cut)
aspect ratio: widescreen (Romero's cut), pan & scan (Argento's cut)
system: PAL (colour)
rating: unrated
sound: dutch dolby digital 2.0 surround, english dolby digital 2.0 surround
dvd release: dutch film works
region: 2
region coding: 2
dvd extras
biographies/filmographies (In English)
12 trailers
1 radio spot
photo gallery (27 photos)
document of the dead (one hour documentary about the making of the film) |
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