Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35916 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Colour, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 126 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
George Romero's 1978 follow-up to his classic Night of the Living Dead is quite terrifying and gory (those zombies do like the taste of living flesh). But in its own way, it is just as comically satiric as the first film in its take on contemporary values. This time, we follow the fortunes of four people who lock themselves inside a shopping mall to get away from the marauding dead and who then immerse themselves in unabashed consumerism, taking what they want from an array of clothing and jewellery shops, making gourmet meals, etc. It is Romero's take on Louis XVI in the modern world: keep the starving masses at bay and crank up the insulated indulgence. Still, this is a horror film when all is said and done and even some of Romero's best visual jokes (a Hare Krishna turned blue-skinned zombie) can make you sweat. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.co.uk Review
The quite terrifying and gory Dawn of the Dead was George Romero's 1978 follow-up to his classic 1968 Night of the Living Dead. But it is also just as comically satiric as the first film in its take on contemporary values. This time, we follow the fortunes of four people who lock themselves inside a shopping centre to get away from the marauding dead and who then immerse themselves in unabashed consumerism, taking what they want from an array of clothing and jewellery shops, making gourmet meals and so on. It is Romero's take on Louis XVI in the modern world: keep the starving masses at bay and crank up the insulated indulgence. Still, this is a horror film after all and even some of Romero's best visual jokes (a Hare Krishna turned blue-skinned zombie) can make you sweat. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Best Region 2 version yet, but not perfect.
This is at least the third time Dawn of the Dead has been released in the UK, but the only time it has been totally uncut. This edition only seems to vary from the previous releases by way of being uncut, it's the same longer director's cut and the same Tom Savini commentary and presumably the same print.

Noticeable restorations include shots of zombie children being machine-gunned, and two instances from the tenement siege: sight of a man biting chunks of flesh from a woman's arm and neck, and a man's head exploding from a shotgun blast. Also included is the machete in the head. Yes, it's UNCUT! If you've only seen the heavily cut late eighties video version released by EIV, you're in for a treat here.

First point of contention is the 4:3 picture (seems unmatted) and the print used, which is from an NTSC source and features frequent speckles and marks. On the good side, colours and black level are both reasonably good, and for a low-budget seventies movie it generally looks okay, with a reasonable amount of detail. It's arguable that a fully remastered version wouldn't look that much better unless an original negative was used.

Soundwise, it's the original mono soundtrack, and this sounds clear enough through TV speakers. I generally prefer a movie's original soundtrack to any sort of upgraded 5.1 remix, which usually sounds flat and echoey.

Extras-wise we get Tom Savini's commentary, which is well worth a listen but may already be very familiar to fans of the movie, and a gallery of a dozen or so production stills. Apart from scene selection, that's it.

As for the movie, any horror fan worth their salt will know this is a genuine classic, and I'm sure I don't need to elaborate here. Although the DVD presentation may be somewhat lacking, the main draw here is the full uncensored director's cut, and for that alone it's well worth your time.

The Dawn of a Movie Era
The fact that Dawn of the Dead is a horror classic is undisputed. The film has become part of popular culture, name-checked everywhere from the local paper to The Simpsons. The film was a massive success on both sides of the Atlantic, and opened the flood-gate of zombie movies in the early and mid 1980s. If the original movie was the revolution, Dawn was the film that kick-started the 80s video-nasties spree.

The film stars four people struggling to stay alive in the madness of a world breaking apart. The dead are walking and eating human flesh, the epidemic is spreading and all people can do is kill each other and steal and loot. Director George Romero uses the film to make stabs at the beast within us and the pettiness of mankind, with an added attack on consumerism. One character remarks that the shopping mall was "an important part in their lives" and the dead return there with as little thought as most shoppers. The images of zombies aimlessly wandering the mall are scarily mirrored every time you go shopping.

The actors are of course unknown, but the star of the show are Romero's undead and Tom Savini's effects. While many of the zombies are just painted blue, all are acted with great intensity by a host of extras whose only reward was a dollar and a T-shirt entitled: "I was a zombie in Dawn of the Dead". The walking dead make terrifying enemies in the film, and Romero potrays them with disturbing realism.

One of the reasons I bought this DVD was for the Uncut moniker, but there are only six seconds of footage that was previously unseen. While other reviewers claim the film is missing scenes where the bikers storm the mall, my version at least keeps the whole scene intact.

The fact that the film has only just been released uncut after 25 years isn't surprising, as its staggeringly violent and Romero directs the violence with a nochalance that makes it even more impacting. There are dozens of head shots in the film (and one impressive exploding head which was previously cut) and every one looks utterly convincing and is accompanied by a spray of blood. Savini has great fun killing zombies with a variety of tools from machetes and katanas to screwdrivers and helicopter blades. There are also the disturbing scenes when the careless looters are overwhelmed by the undead and ripped apart and devoured. If there is one quibble with the effects it is that the blood is, at times, obviously paint. In the final film, Day of the Dead, Romero addressed these criticisms with shocking brutality.

Overall this is an intelligent, thought-provoking nightmare that is all too believable. While many zombie flicks are utter trash that are only known to horror elitists, Dawn of the Dead is a cinema classic that has survived the passing of time and is remembered for more than merely being banned by the BBFC. A classic.

A wonderful box set!!!
This item will be of no interest to the casual viewer. That is not an elitist comment (i hate those), merely a fact. This box set includes all versions of the film released. The most familiar U.S. theatrical version, the extended version shown at Cannes (lots of new and extended scenes but quite crude in its cutting) and the much (unfairly) maligned "European Cut" edited by horror meister Dario Argento (i actually found this version well paced and enjoyed the additional music that was placed within it). The fourth disc which includes several (excellent) documentaries is also a treat.

So... the long and the short of it is this: If you saw the film and loved it buy the version you saw and you will enjoy it. If however you become a Romero (or even specifically a "Dawn") geek you really should invest in this set. Just make sure you can play U.S. discs (why do the yanks get all the good stuff?!) and you will be in eye gouging, blood gushing, flesh tearing heaven (or is that hell?) An excellent (and very well put together) set, (the film has NEVER looked better) that all gore fiends and true (unsnobby and unpretentious) cinema fans will relish. You owe it to yourself to own this set!!!