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

Product Information

Despite the more monochrome color palette of the film, the remaster allows for every available color to pop. There’s also a section on the influence of his films, including amusing clips from spoofs, such as Night of the Giving Head. The Romero, Savini and Christine Forrest commentary is an enjoyable look back at the shoot with plenty of interesting facts and anecdotes.

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. The packaging is also a small joy, and is arranged in such a way that you can choose between four different covers.The 4K disc just handles the grain better (a cleaner and more nuanced look to the structure) and the fine details are superb. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was a hugely influential film, not only in the horror genre, where it established the classic tropes of the zombie movie, but also in terms of low budget independent filmmaking. Both are BD-50 with the first disc housing the theatrical version (a high-def debut) and the second including the previously released unrated version. 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.

Disc 2 plays without a menu since there is nothing else to choose from, but has chapter stops every 5 minutes. Another Dawn Of The Dead version I thought worth preserving was the 1981 UK Intervision pre-cert VHS, although I've never owned that myself. Effects are spread across the speakers, with some heft supplied by the sub; it is quite atmospheric with the surrounds coming into play, obviously limited by the source, this is never-the-less natural sounding.Though the unrated footage is of a slightly lesser quality compared to the rest of the 4K scan, the entire print appears beautiful and enjoyable. Dawn of the Dead, sensibly, sees Romero take a very different approach to the zombie movie than its predecessor. The Richard France interview is quite heartfelt and he’s an honest and interesting speaker, who offers a different angle on the film than many of the other contributors do. The star prize here and the key selling point of the set is the Blu-ray transfer of the theatrical cut.

The mono track is clean and bright, and as faithful as you can get to the original cinematic experience.Looking to get out of the city while they still can is helicopter pilot Stephen, his girlfriend Fran and his close friend Roger, a SWAT commando who invites newly met comrade Peter to join them. Add to that an amazing extras package that combines new and existing material and you have an unmissable set. But the included extras are still top notch and the quality of the Blu-ray transfer on the theatrical cut justifies the purchase alone.

Surrounds get a good workout with all of the zombie munching and craziness that ensues from the escape, right down to the battle to get away from the mall at the end.There's inevitably some crossover with the first commentary, but the sheer number of contributors here provides a wider perspective and a further selection of anecdotes, and there's even some on-set behind-the-scenes footage included. What should be a one-sided fight – the soldiers are armed with automatic weapons, after all – proves to be anything but. A comprehensive, informative and thoroughly engaging retrospective documentary on the making of Dawn of the Dead that tells the story of its production through interviews with many of the key personnel involved, including Romero, his wife and assistant director Chris, DoP Michael Gornick, editor Pascale Buba, makeup effects wizard Tom Savini, co-producer Dario Argento, all of the main cast and a good few of the minor supporting players, who worked, in the words of one of them, "for a dollar and a doughnut. Easily the worst of the restorations presented, though worst is relative here; this cut too has never looked so good.