..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Dawn of the Dead: Unrated Director's Cut
Directed by Zack Snyder

The zombies in the superb Dawn of the Dead remake don't lumber about. They use every muscle still attached to them and they run like hell. The clever and highly satisfying 2004 production is a worthy reworking of its 1979 namesake. It doesn't follow the earlier film's narrative, but the gist of it is the same. The zombie attacks begin at the film's opening, but spread quickly (and only by bites-people who die by other means stay dead). The heroine, played by Sarah Polley, and a few others - Ving Rhames is the best-known member of the cast-gather in a shopping mall, where they hold off the ever-increasing hordes of undead. Because the zombies move so fast, the film achieves a marvelous level of tension and excitement that is then beautifully contrasted to the coziness of living in a shopping mall. You wish you could be there, too, despite the danger.

As super as the film itself is, however, the Universal Widescreen release, Dawn of the Dead Unrated Director's Cut (25819, $30), is even better, not just because the 110-minute film has 9 more minutes of gore and character development, but because the 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound brings all the movie's thrills right into your own viewing room. The audio mix and delivery are outstanding, with many engaging rear-channel and side-channel separation effects, and plenty of thrust all around. The audio track is as much fun as the gore. The letterboxing has an aspect ratio of about 2.35:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer looks fine, and the cinematography is efficient. There are alternate French and Spanish audio tracks in 5.1 Dolby and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles ("'¿Por qué vienen aquí?' 'Su memoria, quizá. Por instinto. Quizá vengan por nosotros.'").

Like the audio track, an extra effort has been made with the DVD's special features to provide material that will legitimately enhance a viewer's entertainment. Specifically, there are two short films created for the DVD that were spun out of the feature. One is a 21-minute montage of news reports, a few of which are glimpsed in the movie, depicting the ever-increasing crisis as it advances. It is smartly and caringly staged, with graphics, interviews, confused information and a gradual deterioration of professionalism as the reports advance. Richard Biggs appears as the primary news anchor, and Bruce Boxleitner shows up as the president. The other piece is even better. In the film, the owner of a gun store across the parking lot from the mall, played by Bruce Bohne, has barricaded himself, and he exchanges communications with the heroes via written signs. The 16-minute short is kind of a replay of the movie from his point of view, ostensibly a videotape record he made of his experiences, and it makes a superb epilog or addendum to the main feature.

There are also 11 minutes of deleted scenes that explain a few narrative transitions a bit more clearly, a fine 8-minute piece on the makeup effects (but don't watch it if you're snacking), a 7-minute look at some of the primary zombies, and a 6-minute segment about the gunshot-in-the-head effects. The director, Zack Snyder, and the producer, Eric Newman, supply a commentary track for both the film and the deleted scenes. It is an adequate talk. They don't delve too deeply into the effects and stunts, but they discuss the logic behind various story choices and describe what went on behind the staging of most key sequences. Snyder discusses a scene in which a woman about to give birth is tied to a bed while her husband tends to her: "I did one version of that where the blood comes out. I had like four gallons of brown fluid, with, like, chunks in it. Then we did one version where it just like gushed out and it went right to the end of the bed and then over, like a waterfall. And everyone thought that was too much, except for me."

January 20, 2005

DVD Roundup: This Week's DVD Releases
The Review Vault

- by Douglas Pratt

Douglas Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is published monthly.
For a free sample, call (516)594-9304 or go to his website at www.DVDLaser.com