Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8890 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 384 minutes

Amazon.com
Are you ready to get down with the sickness? Movie logic dictates that you shouldn't remake a classic, but Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead defies that logic and comes up a winner. You could argue that George A. Romero's 1978 original was sacred ground for horror buffs, but it was a low-budget classic, and Snyder's action-packed upgrade benefits from the same manic pacing that energized Romero's continuing zombie saga. Romero's indictment of mega-mall commercialism is lost (it's arguably outmoded anyway), so Snyder and screenwriter James Gunn compensate with the same setting--in this case, a Milwaukee shopping mall under siege by cannibalistic zombies in the wake of a devastating viral outbreak--a well-chosen cast (led by Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer), some outrageously morbid humor, and a no-frills plot that keeps tension high and blood splattering by the bucketful. Horror buffs will catch plenty of tributes to Romero's film (including cameos by three of its cast members, including gore-makeup wizard Tom Savini), and shocking images are abundant enough to qualify this Dawn as an excellent zombie-flick double-feature with 28 Days Later, its de facto British counterpart. --Jeff Shannon

DVD features
Zombie fans, all rise from the bowls of the earth and rejoice! Anchor Bay's Ultimate Edition of Romero's horror classic Dawn of the Dead not only delivers the DVD goods in spades but goes above and beyond all expectations. The ongoing fan dissatisfaction of which version is available can now end, and the neverending debate of which version is the best can continue ad nauseum. For Anchor Bay has included all versions of the film in their pure, grotesque glory for fans to fully analyze, dissect, and digest. Included in this four-disc set are the "U.S. Theatrical Release" (127 minute, unrated director's cut, with the famous "Goblin" soundtrack in DTS; this is Romero's preferred version), the Dario Argento-edited "European Version" (118 minutes, a faster pace, a few extended scenes, and more "Goblin" music), the "Extended Version" released for the 1978 Cannes Film festival (139 minutes, with additional scenes, more gore, and a music score of library tracks), and a bonus disc of documentaries. All films are remastered and presented in 1:85 anamorphic widescreen. The U.S. and European versions have 5.1 and 2.0 Dolby Surround, and all three versions are presented in their original mono.

You may have your favorite version of the film, but there is no arguing about quality. They all look and sound fantastic. Each version has its own commentary track. The European version has the actors' commentary track, while the extended version has producer Richard Rubinstein. But it is the commentary track on the U.S theatrical version that is the real gem. It includes Romero himself, his wife Chris, and makeup artist Tom Savini. If you enjoyed the stellar commentary on Anchor Bay's Day of the Dead, you can expect more of the same. The three of them will take you on a strange trip down memory lane discussing every possible nuance and anecdote of Romero's crowning achievement. The extras on this set are too numerous to lay out in detail. However, two documentaries are particularly noteworthy. The Dead Will Walk (75 minutes) is an all-new documentary tracking the entire life cycle of the Dawn of the Dead phenomenon. It includes tons of interviews with cast and crew members. It is interesting to compare the new documentary with Roy Frumkes' Document of the Dead (92 minutes), an excellent, original documentary that was shot during the making of the film. All in all, Anchor Bay has done an exceptional job with this Ultimate Edition. If you make it through the set, feel free to award yourself an honorary Ph.D in the undead. --Rob Bracco

Customer Reviews

This film is held in regards as the zombie "Bible" by most avid zombie fans, and rightfully so.
Taking the concept of NOTLD one step further. I would consider this one of the most important film of the 70's.

I'm not sure when this film was premiered in 1979, that the world was ready for such a thing. The Violence(allthough it looks horribly fake by todays standards) was extremely graphic. The atmosphere throughout the movie is open, but confined at the same time.

This film is held in regards as the zombie "Bible" by most avid zombie fans, and rightfully so.

This particular version of the movie, while a little more expensive, is the way to go, with different versions of the movie, and the DOTD graphic novel, you cant beat it with a stick.

9/10

human satire at it's finest. at its bloody finest, that is.
i have watched this romp of a movie at least 100 times. this is romeros masterpiece.the thing that gets me is how above average the acting is. not oscar calliber of course. but for the genre, very very good. romeros style in editing is also unique. is cut and paste style works well with the anxiety of the film. the opening in the news room with the blood red carpeted walls, is definitly a forshadowing of the violence to come. imediatly your swept into the struggle for sanity as everyone in the news room is confused and filled with anxiety with what is happenning. and people struggling to comprehend there role in all of this, the basic survival insticts are taking over[just like the zombies instinct to feed and stay ,alive? well, dead alive anyway.and our 2 heroes in military garb. one black and one white and one tall and one short spring on the seen in a apartment buiding slum full of alive and dead people. this is where you either check out, or say holy crap. this is going to be one for the ages.the nutjob coligue spews racial profanity lookin to kill all the dead and alive he can. he kicks open the door and boom there goes a head exploding. brain matter every where. then here comes the african american zombie , to unite with his wife or girfriend, she embrasses him as he bites a 3 inch hunk of flesh of of her coller bone area then bites a hunk of her arm, with blood spewing out.[the blood is a cartoonish bright red color enhancing the comic book effect], if you havent lost your lunch by now things calm down as the 2 hereos join up with the newsroom man and woman.for a helicopter ride to the monroeville mall.this was the first 20 minutes, the rest of the movie is basically an action adventure film. on the way to the mall you get the requisit hillbilly rednecks [complete with hippy folk music] having a blast playing target practice with the walking dead [i love this segment, this is a rehash of a similar scene from 1968's night of the diving dead. then a pit stop at the small local airport where another zombie , we'll call frankenstein zombie,smeaks up on our little white guy but of course the helicopter blade chops off the top of his head.nice touch from special effects master tom savini. to round this out, basically the adventure in the mall is the meat and potatos of the movie, this is where the social satire is most effective, aren't we all a lot like those zombies when were at the mall. take a good look next time your at the mall. one of my favorite scenes is when the biker gang is rampaging the mall, and there at jc pennie i assume ,and one biker dude picks up a tv , and the another biker dude says hey man, what the hell you gonna watch on that. he then throws it down and drives a sledge hammer through the picture screen,[another satirical comment from romero about television]the grand finally of the movie is a gory good time.total mayhem with only 2 of our 4 escaping to live another day. i love this movie . now i know this isnt the godfather or raging bull, but it is an enertaining rollercoaster ride of movie, and this divi max dvd is killer , perfect picture and great dts sound ,and the commentary with romero ,his wife cris and efects guy ,tom svaini is also worth repeated listens, what i would have given to be one of those zombies, they were paid hardly anything,only free meals and the right to say they were part of one of the greatest cult classics ever made.how much fun ,did they have. no dvd collection is complete without it. remember if your squemish you will have to suffer the first 20 minutes and the last 10 minutes. but when you think about it ,the gore on csi isnt much better.

Horror and splatter at its finest!
This is a very entertaining movie off the bat. But the ultimate edition has different versions with bonus footage! It is definitely "icing on the cake" as they say. So with the bargain you're getting here at Amazon, do yourself a favor and pick this up today!