8.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 5.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
As modern society is consumed by zombie carnage, four desperate survivors barricade themselves inside a shopping mall to battle the flesh-eating hordes of the undead.
Starring: Scott H. Reiniger, Ken Foree, David Emge, Gaylen Ross, Tom SaviniHorror | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono (Original)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Bonus View (PiP)
Region free
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 5.0 |
When there is no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth.
I've seen
this
movie so many times it feels like an old friend. Filmed at the Monroeville Mall near Pittsburgh,
PA,
(a mall I lived close to growing up and frequently visited), George Romero's Dawn of the
Dead is the definitive zombie movie of all time, and one of the great classics of
contemporary Horror,
alongside Halloween, The Lost Boys , and
The
Exorcist.
Hopelessness prevails for both the living and the dead
Starz presents Dawn of the Dead in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with a 1080p transfer. This is a drab film that has always looked a little dark to me. This may sound strange, but this is a movie you can almost smell based on the visual look (and a lot of the time, especially early on, it doesn't smell good). The Blu-ray presentation is nothing short of remarkable when compared to the most recent DVD release. There are a few speckles of dirt here and there, but overall this is a clean and clear transfer. I didn't notice any overt edge enhancement like what I saw in Evil Dead II. Fine detail that wasn't noticeable in previous versions is here. There is a depth to the text in the opening credits I never noticed before. Flesh tones never falter and the overall color palette never wavers. Blood actually looks red in this release! The blood issue is mentioned in the commentary and though they admit it looks fake, the filmmakers believe it adds to the cartoonish feel of the violence. Nevertheless, it looks great here, the best I have seen it yet. I've seen previous editions where there was a definite heavy orange tint to the blood (I've never seen the film on anything but home video). Minute detail in the gore, especially splatterings and drippings of blood, look dramatically improved here. There was quite a bit of noise on the old DVD editions, even the most recent one, but the print on the Blu-ray is pristine. I didn't think this was going to be a huge upgrade from the DVD while I was watching it, but to my surprise it blows the DVD away. There is no question that, video-wise, this the best Dawn of the Dead has ever looked on home video.
As with all the other Starz releases I have reviewed so far, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM 5.1 Uncompressed soundtracks are included. Oddly enough, there is a DTS logo on the disc, but no DTS track is available on the actual program (note that the "Ultimate Edition" DVD does include DTS). Also available is the film's original mono soundtrack. I am very pleased that Starz included this track. I'm all for including as much of the original source material as possible. For the purpose of this review, however, I screened the film with the multichannel audio options. Part of the movie's music is performed by Goblin (the famous group that has worked with Dario Argento on films like Suspiria and Deep Red). The theme is mixed with creepy moaning sounds and features heavy synthesizer usage and as a result sounds dated, but it works very well with the film. Parts of the remainder of the score come across as sounding a little distorted, but I can't say if that is due to the presentation here or if this is how it was intended to sound. There is a good deal of clarity across the front soundstage, but dialogue is sometimes drowned out by the heavy, pulsating LFE track and synthesizer score, especially in the final act of the film. The track features good separation and a natural flow as the action travels across the screen. There isn't much happening in the rear, though we do get several nice effects scattered throughout, but there were several points in the movie where I felt the track could have been re- mixed a little better to more envelop the viewer in the action. All of this is moot if you are a purist and intended to listen to the mono track, which sounds just fine but suffers from some of the same problems as the multichannel tracks, such as dialogue lost amidst music and effects.
Starz offers up a plethora of supplements, starting off with, as usual, a commentary track
that features DVD producer Perry Martin, writer/director George Romero, Make-up artist Tom
Savini,
and assistant director Chris Romero (the wife of George Romero). It's the same track that is
featured on the 4-disc DVD edition,
and it's several years old (recorded while Romero was still trying to get a fourth Dead
film
made). Still, it offers up some great stories and inside information. Fans are going to love this
one!
There is a "Film Fast Facts" text-based trivia track that serves up much of the same
highlights that are discussed in the commentary track and is best viewed while listening to the
commentary track. Next is The Dead Will Walk, a documentary presented in 480p, that
runs for an hour and fifteen minutes. Discussed here is quite a bit of the making of the movie,
casting, writing the script, Romero's background and lots of other fun material.
Also
included are on-set home movies (480p, 13 minutes), filmed by one of the extras who appeared
in
the film as a zombie. It's a great supplement that is my favorite on the disc. We also have a
tour
of Monroeville Mall featuring Ken Foree (480p, 11 minutes), a
Monroeville Mall commercial, trailers, TV spots (all 480p), and radio spots.
Many of the
supplements are not carried over from the ultimate edition, such as the excellent Document
of
the Dead, but I am sure they will find their way to Blu-ray in the next few years.
Fans of the style of horror that is raking in the dollars at the box office today may be disappointed with Dawn of the Dead. It's not as fast-paced and kinetic as the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre films, for example, and the gore looks really, really fake. If this is your first foray into the world of George Romero, you owe it to yourself to go out and buy the first of his Dead trilogy, the famous Night of the Living Dead. It is a film in the public domain and there are multiple editions available, many at a bargain price. Dawn of the Dead is a seminal piece of movie history and anyone interested in collecting the best of the best ever committed to film should have this as part of their collection. The video quality is top-notch and the sound quality does its job, and the inclusion of the original monaural track is a nice addition. The extras are great, but not everything that could be incorporated into this release is here. I'm hanging onto my 4 disc DVD set for the additional versions of the film and the extras, but anytime I want to screen the original version, I'll be playing the Blu-ray. Highly recommended.
Collector's Edition
1985
2005
Collector's Edition | + Theatrical Cut on BD
2004
1968
2007
2013
2014
2018
2010
2010
Standard Edition
1985
2014
2011
2019
2018
Collector's Edition
1978
2020
Collector's Edition
1977
Zombi 2 / Zombie Flesh Eaters
1979
Ultimate Undead Edition
2009