David Galindo
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2003
- Messages
- 1,263
[c]Dawn of the Dead (UMD)
Region 1 • PG • Dolby Digital • Available November 22nd
[/c]
The original Dawn of the Dead got an excellent DVD release, which doesn't translate well to UMD...damn.
Thoughts on the Movie
If you’ve read my reviews by now, you know I am new to the horror genre. To go back and watch the film that defined the zombie horror genre was a great experience, and to my surprise the movie still holds up well to this day.
Dawn of the Dead starts off in chaos as a news station tries to explain whether or not to destroy the living dead that are walking the earth. One of the great things about this movie is that it never tries to explain how or why there are zombies overtaking cities...they just are, and that’s that. Or as one person brilliantly states in the film, “When hell is full, the dead will walk the earth.”
And so we go on our journey with four people- one pregnant female newscaster, her fiancé, and two swat team members (one hot shot white guy and a powerful black dude). Now guess which ones die first, if any. You may be surprised.
So they take hold of a helicopter, and after a short tussle during refueling at a small landing field (which hilariously has some random redneck hunters shooting zombies at a distance & drinking a cold brewsky) they land at a shopping mall, which is where the entire rest of the movie takes place. This leads to some clever sight gags as the zombies figure out escalators, and soon the four board up the mall and kill all the zombies remaining in the mall. And then they go shopping. Hoo boy, do they go shopping...and after what seems like ten minutes of nonstop shop, we get a zombie kill. And then they shop some more. The extended version of this film on DVD, by the way, contains even more shopping.
I think it’s kinda genius to bury someone in a plastic topiary garden, and the shopping scenes allow for some good human interaction, but man does it drag on. Because there is no way for the zombies to get into the mall, the guys in the mall are free to do whatever they please. Somehow I think the directors realized this and gave us a random Mexican motorcycle gang to finally get the movie started up again.
Does it sound like I’m complaining? Nah, I’m not. I thought this movie was extremely clever in some instances, and in others tried a bit too hard. In one instance for example, we see one guy in the motorcycle gang repeatedly try to get his blood pressure tested by a machine, until finally he’s actually trying to fight off zombies to get his blood measured, when said zombies chew his arm off and leave it in the machine, giving us the visual gag of “Your Blood Pressure is: 0.”
But I’m nitpicking. This movie was good, and while I’m not totally convinced ignoring the horror genre has left a giant gaping hole in my life, I can certainly respect it.
NOTE: this UMD contains the theatrical version of the film.
Video Quality
Kept at a 1.85 ratio, Dawn of the Dead does not show its age for being a nearly thirty year old movie. The picture is sharp, and everything looks fantastic...the colors are good, and while the black levels could be better, they work just fine. Very nice job overall.
4/5
Audio Quality
There are some good directional effects, but this movie is mostly dialogue driven, and the volume is up to par. No complaints here; the audio does a fine job complementing the film.
4/5
Extras
Dawn of the Dead got a spectacular 4-disc DVD boxset with different versions of the film, commentaries, behind the scenes interviews, etc. So what kind of extras do we get here?
Nothing. Not even any subtitles, for kripes sake.
The menu is nothing but a play option, and they managed to even screw up that with a bad still from a production photo of the movie. This UMD is bone dry, and that just plain sucks.
0/5
Overall…
The price is nice at $13, but the UMD is completely barren of any extras or even basic subtitle support. However, the picture and audio are done very well, and if that’s all you care about when it comes to UMD, then you’re all set.
3/5
Region 1 • PG • Dolby Digital • Available November 22nd
[/c]The original Dawn of the Dead got an excellent DVD release, which doesn't translate well to UMD...damn.
Thoughts on the Movie
If you’ve read my reviews by now, you know I am new to the horror genre. To go back and watch the film that defined the zombie horror genre was a great experience, and to my surprise the movie still holds up well to this day.
Dawn of the Dead starts off in chaos as a news station tries to explain whether or not to destroy the living dead that are walking the earth. One of the great things about this movie is that it never tries to explain how or why there are zombies overtaking cities...they just are, and that’s that. Or as one person brilliantly states in the film, “When hell is full, the dead will walk the earth.”
And so we go on our journey with four people- one pregnant female newscaster, her fiancé, and two swat team members (one hot shot white guy and a powerful black dude). Now guess which ones die first, if any. You may be surprised.
So they take hold of a helicopter, and after a short tussle during refueling at a small landing field (which hilariously has some random redneck hunters shooting zombies at a distance & drinking a cold brewsky) they land at a shopping mall, which is where the entire rest of the movie takes place. This leads to some clever sight gags as the zombies figure out escalators, and soon the four board up the mall and kill all the zombies remaining in the mall. And then they go shopping. Hoo boy, do they go shopping...and after what seems like ten minutes of nonstop shop, we get a zombie kill. And then they shop some more. The extended version of this film on DVD, by the way, contains even more shopping.
I think it’s kinda genius to bury someone in a plastic topiary garden, and the shopping scenes allow for some good human interaction, but man does it drag on. Because there is no way for the zombies to get into the mall, the guys in the mall are free to do whatever they please. Somehow I think the directors realized this and gave us a random Mexican motorcycle gang to finally get the movie started up again.
Does it sound like I’m complaining? Nah, I’m not. I thought this movie was extremely clever in some instances, and in others tried a bit too hard. In one instance for example, we see one guy in the motorcycle gang repeatedly try to get his blood pressure tested by a machine, until finally he’s actually trying to fight off zombies to get his blood measured, when said zombies chew his arm off and leave it in the machine, giving us the visual gag of “Your Blood Pressure is: 0.”
But I’m nitpicking. This movie was good, and while I’m not totally convinced ignoring the horror genre has left a giant gaping hole in my life, I can certainly respect it.
NOTE: this UMD contains the theatrical version of the film.
Video Quality
Kept at a 1.85 ratio, Dawn of the Dead does not show its age for being a nearly thirty year old movie. The picture is sharp, and everything looks fantastic...the colors are good, and while the black levels could be better, they work just fine. Very nice job overall.
4/5
Audio Quality
There are some good directional effects, but this movie is mostly dialogue driven, and the volume is up to par. No complaints here; the audio does a fine job complementing the film.
4/5
Extras
Dawn of the Dead got a spectacular 4-disc DVD boxset with different versions of the film, commentaries, behind the scenes interviews, etc. So what kind of extras do we get here?
Nothing. Not even any subtitles, for kripes sake.
The menu is nothing but a play option, and they managed to even screw up that with a bad still from a production photo of the movie. This UMD is bone dry, and that just plain sucks.
0/5
Overall…
The price is nice at $13, but the UMD is completely barren of any extras or even basic subtitle support. However, the picture and audio are done very well, and if that’s all you care about when it comes to UMD, then you’re all set.
3/5
