The box for the VHS tape of Dawn Of The Dead creeped me out. I'd see it in the video store and steer clear. You remember the one. Roger, recently undead, is sitting up in a three picture panel. Yeesh.
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Boris
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Quick Thought On Dawn Of The Dead
I didn't like zombie films. But I don't know that I really had seen many. White Zombie I had seen, taped off of television back in the 80's, and I didn't care for the voodoo type zombies. I liked vampires and monsters. Also I liked slasher films that I saw (cut) on cable.
The box for the VHS tape of Dawn Of The Dead creeped me out. I'd see it in the video store and steer clear. You remember the one. Roger, recently undead, is sitting up in a three picture panel. Yeesh.
All of this changed one very late night in the late 90's at Matthew's house. Upstairs, in between his and his sister's room is an open air television room. Matthew threw in a VHS of Dawn (much to my (more than likely) silent) chagrin. How wrong was I? You know how wrong I was. I've forgotten plenty since but I haven't forgotten that night. This is the ultimate zombie film and only a few can really even challenge that title. It just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover and you should occasionally go outside of your perceived comfort zone. I try to remember this when Richard is putting over musicals.
The box for the VHS tape of Dawn Of The Dead creeped me out. I'd see it in the video store and steer clear. You remember the one. Roger, recently undead, is sitting up in a three picture panel. Yeesh.
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Good story with the right conclusion - it IS the ultimate zombie film! As a fellow lover of lists I'm sometimes tempted to put Night above it (for historical significance) or even Day (which is the one I revisit the most, because, well, I love it), but if there can only be one, it must be Dawn!
ReplyDeleteI had a bumpy/delayed start with Dawn myself. When I first started university, my friend and I would rent horror movies all the time, which was actually a new thing for me. I wasn't that much into movies outside of Jim Jarmusch, some arthouse/high brow cult stuff and, err, 80s teen films. The problem is that many of the horror/splatter classics are still banned here and only available in very cut forms. So one day I got a weird super-cut from Austria or Denmark which combined the Argento and the Romero cut. I didn't know any better. It was awful. The color tone of the zombies changed with every other scene, the movie was looong and weird. Still, I was intrigued and my brother-in-law bought me the nice 4-DVD set when he was in the US. I started reading up on the internet and learned some stuff along the way. Perhaps I saw the remake first (which I liked), I can't really remember, but the original Dawn and Shaun, which I had the luck to stumble across very early, were the impetus to check out more horror films, both serious and campy.
Here's to the ultimate zombie film!!
Cheers,
MLP
Well! Dead isn't very well regarded in the circles I run in. It's a film I always want to like more. I've got a two disc set and I've been eyeballing the Scream Factory bluray.
ReplyDeleteYour brother in law got you The Ultimate Edition?! That is amazing and he is obviously the best brother in law ever. I believe it's out of print. I have a copy myself.
I like the Dawn remake too. Don't tell Richard. And as always, thanks for commenting!
You meant "Day," right? I'm surprised how often it's still regarded as a lesser film, even though from reading about it it seems to have grown in reputation over the years. To me it's right up there with the first two, even though I don't like the whole "Bob" story.
ReplyDeleteI told my brother-in-law to buy it, but it was still nice of him! It was pretty cheap too. I also have the first UK Blu-ray Editions of Dawn & Day from Arrow. They were among my first Blu-rays and I got them cheap as well, but they too are out of print I think. If you see them somewhere for a reasonable price, don't hesitate, they're fantastic! I dread the day I finally go regionfree...all these Scream Factory releases and the temptation to stupidly double.dip...
-MLP
Argh! I do mean Day. It's reputation has indeed grown but I think anyway you slice it, it'll be third on most folks lists. I like it but I don't love it. You know what I mean?
ReplyDeleteI went region free late last year and I'm never looking back!