Dawn of the Dead (Collector's Edition)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Because Amazon lumps all reviews for the title in together, despite which version you buy, this is a review for the Dawn of the Dead: Limited Edition [Blu-ray] byStudio : Second Sight FilmsASIN : B0892HW4F3Number of discs : 7Ok, so the people buying this most likely know the film like the back of their hand anyway so I won't bore you with yet another synopsis of the movie at hand. This review is about what the product has in it, compared to previous releases.So, the first 3 blu ray discs are the film, in 3 versions:The Original Theatrical Cut (127 mins)• NEW 4K scan and restoration of the Original Camera Negative by Second Sight at Final Frame New York and London supervised and approved by DoP Michael Gornick• Presented in HDR10+• Audio: New restoration of the original OCN Optical presented in Mono 1.0, Stereo 2.0 and 5.1.• Commentary by George A. Romero, Tom Savini, Christine Forrest• NEW commentary by Travis Crawford• NEW optional English subtitles for the hearing impairedThe Cannes Cut ( basically I think this is the director's cut at 137 mins long )• Produced using 4K scan of the Theatrical Cut Original Camera Negative and 4K scan of the Extended Cut Colour Reversal Internegative• Presented in HDR10+• DTS-HD Master Audio 1.0 Mono• Commentary by Richard P. Rubinstein• NEW optional English subtitles for the hearing impairedThe Argento Cut (120mins)• 4K scan of the Interpositive by Michele De Angelis at Backlight Digital, Rome• Audio: DT-HD Master Audio Mono 1.0 / Surround 5.1 / Stereo 2.0• Commentary by Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, David Emge• NEW optional English subtitles for the hearing impairedNOTE, sadly this collection does NOT contain a blu ray ( or otherwise ) transfer of the "MALL HOURS CUT" ( 157mins. <-- this version edits in every last second of footage from various releases around the world and is the one to own if you want to see EVERYthing ) which is kind of a shame, but I understand why it isn't here, because it's really a fan - edit and not an official release of the film.If you DO want a blu ray version of Dawn of the Dead ( Mall Hours Cut ) you can actually buy it on blu ray ( it's actually bluray quality too, not a crummy, thrown together VHS print, just slapped on a bluray disc ) you'll need to hunt down a ( pretty expensive ) 4 Disc blu ray collection from XTVideo in Germany/Austria(?) and that will have it on there. The packaging on that set is all in German, but don't worry, all the versions of the film and extras have English Audio on them too.Back to this Amazon item review:BLU-RAY DISC 4: SPECIAL FEATURES• NEW Zombies and Bikers – With John Amplas, Roy Frumkes, Tom Savini, Christine Forrest, Tom Dubensky, Tony Buba, Taso Stavrakis and a whole host of zombies and bikers! (59 mins)• NEW Memories of MonroevilleA tour of the mall with Michael Gornick, Tom Savini, Tom Dubensky and Taso Stavrakis (34 mins)• NEW Raising the Dead: The Production Logistics (25 mins) With Michael Gornick, Christine Forrest, John Amplas, Tom Dubensky (23 mins)• NEW The FX of Dawn with Tom Savini (13 mins)• NEW Dummies! Dummies! – An interview with Richard France (12 mins)• NEW The Lost Romero Dawn Interview: previously unreleased archive interview (20 mins)• Super 8 Mall Footage by zombie extra Ralph Langer with option of archive commentary by Robert Langer and new commentary by Ralph Langer (13 mins)• Document of the Dead: The Original Cut (66 mins)• Document of the Dead: The Definitive Cut with optional commentary by Roy Frumkes (100 mins)• The Dead Will Walk 2014 Documentary (80 mins)• Trailers, TV and Radio Spots (TBC)LIMITED EDITION CONTENTSThis is actually some pretty exciting news for mega fans of DotD, because Second Sight Films have really gone to town with finding the music cues that have never been commercially available before, outside of things like the incredibly hard to find and expensive De Wolfe Library. They haven't just slapped the old Trunk Record's Unreleased Incidental Music into the packaging, they've actually gone and found a whole tonne of previously unavailable cues. Not ALL of them, but A LOT of them.These have probably been around on the net, in various places, for a few years now, but it's fantastic that this company has provided us with CD quality versions without the need to go hunting on forums etc.AUDIO CD DISC 1• The Goblin Soundtrack – The usual official Goblin Album of 17 tracks including Alternate and Bonus Tracks01 - L'alba Dei Morti Viventi02 - Zombi03 - Safari04 - Torte In Faccia05 - Ai Margini Della Follia06 - Zaratozom07 - La Caccia08 - Tirassegno09 - Oblio10 - Risveglio11 - L'alba Dei Morti Viventi (Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]12 - Ai Margini Della Follia (Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]13 - Zombi (Sexy) [CD Bonus Track]14 - Ai Margini Della Follia (Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]15 - Zombi (Supermarket) [CD Bonus Track]16 - L'alba Dei Morti Viventi (Intro — Alternate Take) [CD Bonus Track]17 - Zombi (The Living Dead's Voices!) [CD Bonus Track]AUDIO CD DISC 2• Dawn of the Dead: De Wolfe and Hudson Music Cues (Part 1)01 - Cosmogony Part 102 - Dramatic Moments No.103 - Sinestre04 - Dramatic Moments No.205 - Violence06 - Cosmogony Part 307 - Eclipse08 - Dark Forest09 - Cause I'm a Man10 - Figments11 - Dynamise 6512 - Cosmogony Part 413 - The Mask of Death14 - Cosmogony Part 215 - Victorian Vintage16 - Queka17 - Scarey I18 - Scarey II19 - Zap20 - Spinechiller21 - Violent Payoff Version 222 - Waiting For the Man23 - Flossie24 - Neurotic Bird25 - Desert De Glace26 - Dank Earth (Part 1)27 - Red Sequence28 - Barrage29 - Face At the WindowAUDIO CD DISC 3• Dawn of the Dead: De Wolfe and Hudson Music Cues (Part 2)01 - We Are the Champions02 - Ragtime Razzamatazz03 - Tango Tango04 - Fugarock05 - Sonata06 - El Chaco07 - Dramaturgy Part 108 - Night Life09 - Sun High10 - Cantando11 - On His Own12 - Mechanical High Jinks13 - Dramaturgy Part 214 - So Fantastico15 - Violence Sting 116 - Caverne De Glace17 - Dramatic Moments No.318 - Deserted Vaults19 - Action Pack20 - Kadath21 - Proud Action22 - Dramatic Moments No.423 - The Gonk ( Sadly doesn't end like the film's credits with the clock tower chimes and zombie moans etc, but i'm nitpicking )NOTE: These cues are sometimes edited down from the full original pieces of music, to the cues in the film itself, to give context to what you're hearing, rather playing the entire piece of music that has only 30 seconds of a DotD cue in the middle of it, that was used in the film.So that's 69 pieces of music and edited cues from the various film releases. So not complete by any means but all the important stuff is in there, like Victorian Vintage ( turning on the mall power ) and Cantando ( melancholy classical guitar piece ) and the superb Fugarock ( part of the shopping music scene ) etc...Plus you also get• Rigid box with lid featuring the original iconic artwork• Two inner digipaks• Dissecting the Dead – 160 page hardback book featuring 17 new essays, archive article and George A. Romero interview plus original marketing, artwork and merchandise images and behind-the-scenes stills.• Dawn of the Dead: The novelisation book by George A. Romero and Susanna Sparrow with exclusive artworkOverall kinda expensive maybe, but not too bad at all, considering what they've put into the package. The music cues alone, make this release a really cool edition for your DotD collection. The DotD novelisation is a HQ paperback and the Dissecting the Dead book is hardback and includes colour images through the middle section of it. Photos of various behind the scenes and paraphernalia, relevant to the film and it's original release.

The Divimax 1 disc Special Edition 2004:I bought this dvd for the audio commentary, but mostly for the NTSC rate without the PAL speed up. Also the PAL release of this film has some aliasing. The blu rays are selling at hefty prices as they are virtually out of print now, so nice to get a cheaper, but quality alternative. This Divimax DVD is quite vivid and in an anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.85, with no visible print damage, though soft in parts, but forgiveable for a film that is over 40 years old. It has a healthy bitrate, as it is on a dual layered 7.54gb disc and plays very smoothly without grain spikes or NTSC judder.The menu audio choices are overkill and contains hiss in parts, especially the Dolby 5.1 surround. There's no real surround to speak of and it seems overdone with too much bass. I preferred the more balanced 2.0 surround track, as I found the Dolby 5.1 track choice quite tinny and front sounding with fake separation in some action gun shot scenes, especially echoes. The mono choice is included for purists only, but is flat sounding as expected. The DTS is a clearer audio experience, though hardly reference quality as it's more like monoaural in essence, but it does exhibit a better acoustic range, as it's louder than the Dolby tracks with better bass definition and contains none of that wretched dialnorm. The dvd includes a 4 page booklet(liner notes) and is bare bones-I knew that, but a definite bargain, as I'd missed getting it first time round and then it went out of print. The blu ray releases I've seen to date were either heavily DNR'ed(causing ghosting issues)leaving too little natural grain texture left and/or the colour palettes were off with over saturation and wrong black levels. However the 'good old reliable dvd' is still highly passable, but a 1080p should be superior, if mastered correctly. That said Anchor Bay has rendered this film correctly grainwise and used vivid balanced colors in this Divimax release. Unfortunately there's edge enhancement to bring out detail, but nonetheless is the best DVD remastering I've seen in many years- a gorgeous print, and the menu layout is excellent!You'd think George Romero(R.I.P) might have done a redux and used some modern cgi to digitally fix the goofs in this film, as he did use it to mixed effect in his later 'Dead' films. The clear lack of budget shows up the dummy(easy these days to insert digitally a person before the actual gun blast effect!) which gets its head blasted off in the ghetto scene. The missing zombies after a car explodes in the field as the helicopter passes overhead are some of the continuity errors missed in the later editing process. Other errors being the waving arm appearing right of the frame when Peter shoots the zombie kids(but in the Anchor Bay 2007 blu ray this error is completely missing due to losing a frame or left de-centering of the picture?), or the sitting camera crew appearing in a shop window as the car drives speedily past it. All now part of the film's raw charm.On the commentary however, Romero mentions his dislike of cgi overall, but apart from Tom Savini's brief mentioning of one of the continuity errors- bouncing of Savini from a trampoline to simulate being thrown in the air(which by the way is seen in a brief shot!) when the truck hits him as a zombie, neither party seemed that interested in it. Most likely the reason being that someone else(the producer of said film) now holds the total remastering rights and has spent $6 million bucks of his own money on a lavish 3D remastering and as yet not released it, as well as Romero trying to get his 4th film funded at that time(Land of The Dead!), so was preoccupied as relayed in the excellent commentary track.The choice Goblin music combined with Romero's muzak and smart editing reigns supreme for a much better viewing experience and his 127 minute theatrical version for me is definitely still the way to go, as it maintains the director's intended vision and holds up well, as I was never a fan of that bloated Cannes extended version(with the partially scored audio track) nor the Argento shorter cut with its weirder Euro centred music and choppy scenes. This Divimax release is the best fiver that I've ever spent on a DVD!Film A+Video: AAudio: B(DTS or the 2.0 Dolby surround)Extras: CUpdate: 2021The new Second Sight remastering especially of the theatrical version is very good compared to other blu rays out there, but the deficiencies of the special FX is much more noticeable, highlighting the plastic used in some gore scenes and the film has a blue effect making some zombies look like smurfs! The grain texture of the film is good though in this release, so that's a bonus, but overall the film now has greater brightness and contrast levels which are a big change from previous viewings. The continuity errors still remain, but these errors were embedded in the OCN(original camera negative print) and adjusting would mean a major reframing of the aspect ratio.Don't get rid of that 2004 Divimax DVD just yet. It upscales fine on a HD TV and still looks great. It's also free of the artifacts that older DVD releases have!

Very realistic in terms of the treatment of US police officers give to the minorities of America within the first 10 minutes of the movie.Very enlightening as a British viewer.

I bought this. A lovely set, with 3 of the 4 cuts of this movie. But it’s missing the Complete Edition (also called Mall Hours Edition) which is the longest version available with everything therein. It was a fan cut originally, but also got properly released by XTVideo in Germany on BluRay as a Limited Edition (no longer available and now very expensive). So I have to say- the producers of this box set missed a trick by failing to produce THE definitive box set for this movie, even though it is a great job, in 4K of course.