Welcome back to Night of the Reviews. In the previous installment, we talked about the Romero's classic - Night of the Living Dead. It was a film that birthed the genre. However, Romero had a bit of a tough time over the next few years. One of the biggest issues was the copyright mishap. As it has been discussed over the years, the original Night of the Living Dead failed to have a copyright on the title. This left Romero and his team unable to make money from the film. The money they would have received instead went to the Producers. It's a big reason why there are so many different reboots and remakes of that original film - it's in the public domain. If you see a movie and there's a film showing on a tv somewhere in it, chances are it'll be Night of the Living Dead. Romero continued going on to make other films. His fans though were shocked that it'd take so long to have him return to the genre that he started. His reasoning was that he didn't want to be sterotyped as a horror director.
In 1978, Romero released a sequel to Night of the Living Dead. Dawn of the Dead was an interesting approach for the director and writer. It brought a more anthological approach to the world of the Living Dead. Gone were the characters and setting in the original film. This time, it was a much larger look at what a zombie apocalypse could have on society. The scale of everything was a bit bigger. Hell, the effects present in the film were jaw-dropping. But Romero was still able to bring great characters to life in his story.
The story of Dawn of the Dead is a very simple one. That's the wonderful thing about it as was for Night before it. It basically boils down to two personnel (Francine and Stephen) from a TV station and two policemen (Roger and Peter) set off in a helicopter to find a safe place to hide out. Their search leads them to a shopping mall where they manage to find a place that, while not zombie-free, is quite secure.
What a better place to have a story in an apocalypse than a mall. It makes a lot of sense as you'd have a lot of access to everything you could probably need. The characters in this film are just as strong as the characters from Night. Stephen is someone that is a bit headstrong. He strongly believes that he's doing the right thing in the very beginning by getting Francine to safety. He's also incredibly cautious about who to trust especially when meeting Roger and Peter. He's trying his hardest to be the knight in shining armor for Francine. Francine feels a bit like Barbara from Night. However over the course of the film, she really comes into her own. She is able to show that she's her own person. This is honestly greatly depicted during a scene when she rejects Stephen's attempt at a proposal. I get it's the end of the world, but is it really necessary to propose Stephen? To me, it feels like Stephen's trying his best to try to find some sort of way to control some element of what the world has become. Roger and Peter have two great introductions in the film. They were apart of a SWAT team that was going through an apartment building - which was filled with zombies. They were able to showcase their great weapon skills during this sequence. Plus Peter is also pretty headstrong as he quickly puts Stephen in his place after Stephen's failed attempt at taking out a zombie. Roger seems like a pretty good guy. He's Peter's right hand man. They both are on the same page and seem to understand how to work together as a team.
There are lots of messages hidden within the film. Well not exactly hidden, but are covered. Some of them could be considered a bit dated. But looking at everything Romero wanted to discuss, it's all relevant still to today. Yeah, the topic of abortion has changed greatly from when the film was initially released. But it's still an important topic today. The biggest topic of discussion that arises from this film is consumerism. At first, all of the characters become lost in it. They are all caught up in the moment of having to have it all. Roger and Stephen are the biggest examples as they literally lose themselves in their material possessions. Everything has a value. To the point of even money having a false semblance of value in this new world. Thankfully, Peter and Francine both are able to shake the lure of this.
This whole thing is still so relevant that it's a bit sickening. I mean think about it. During the early stages of COVID-19, what is one thing that people were protesting? The malls being closed. They just wished so much that could be able to go back to their leisurely activities. Not because it would be a way of helping the economy. But because they wanted to get back to a 'normal life'. It's honestly not much different.
The zombies in this film are definitely different than in Night. In Night, it was hard to gather exactly what the zombies look like. Mostly because that film was in black and white. Tom Savini worked on this film for the effects and it definitely shows. The only thing that Savini has come out and said over the years is that he wished he hadn't made the zombies a grey color. Due to this film being in color, it causes the zombies to be a little blue at times. This is especially evident in the Argento Cut. The gore is also a big sign that this is a Savini Effects film. When the zombies bite something, they don't just bite something. They take chunks out with the proper blood spurting. It greatly helps brings Romero's disastrous zombie apocalyptic nightmare to life.
Now the only version of Dawn of the Dead that I own is The Argento Cut. When I began to research this film, I learned that there were three different cuts for this film. That's a lot of different ways to enjoy the film. It also allows a lot of flexibility to the viewer in terms of what they may be interested in. There is the original theatrical cut that runs a solid 127 minutes - this is the version that has been released throughout the years. There was also the Extended Cut that brought the film to 139 minutes. This added some more character beats to scenes to help flesh things out. Some people could say that it's not bad to have more of the world that they enjoy. Now the 139 minute isn't Romero's preferred version - that distinction belongs to the theatrical.
Because Dawn of the Dead was a joint Italian Production, Argento had helped co-finance the film alongside his brother Claudio and producer Alfredo Cuomo. Their big idea for helping finance the film was to have the international distribution rights. This led to Romero and Argento separately editing the film. The Argento Cut featured mostly score by the band Goblin. This Argneto Cut is kind of a cliff-notes version of Romero's original film. It's much faster paced. However, it removes some of the heavy dialogue and comedy to focus more on the horror and the action.
I have tried watching Romero's original theatrical cut. I understand why some people will prefer it. For me, I tend to gravitate more towards The Argento Cut. It feels more in tone with Night and the subsequent Day. It's the version I would recommend for the awesome Goblin soundtrack.
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Follow BlazinBlue's Horror Review on Facebook and Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment