A must for Dawn of the Dead fans!
As a documentary, this film could have been a bit better. But as a companion to Dawn of the Dead, this is excellent stuff. The film offers plenty of behind-the-scenes material in the Monroeville Mall. One is able to see this incredible space transformed into one of the great film sets of all time. There are also interviews with cast members and with Tom Savini as well, not to mention Savini diving from the balcony in his death-stunt. Document of the Dead also goes into other Romero films with behind-the-scenes and other business bits like distribution, etc. However, there is quite a bit of Dawn material here, making this essential for the die-hard fan.
An Excellent Documentary On George Romero From Roy Frumkes
This has to be one of the most thorough documentaries ever made about flimaking, independent or otherwise. It covers every facet involved; pre-production, scriptwriting, casting, storyboarding, production, post production, editing, distribution. It has interesting interviews with Romero, (producer) Richard Rubinstein, special effects artist/actor/stuntman Tom Savivi, several cast and crew members, and clips from Romero's two hour forty five minute version of Dawn Of The Dead which include some alternate footage not seen on the U.S. theatrical release. All interspersed with scenes from Night Of The Living Dead, Martin, and the Calgon commercial spoof on Fantastic Voyage.
There is also a segment on Two Evil Eyes which reunites Romero and Frumkes. It focuses on a special effects segment detailing on what can go wrong in movie making usually does. Quite effective.
The DVD supplements feature a fascinating audio commentary with director Frumkes, cinematographer Reeves Lehmann, and...
A glimpse at the brilliance that is George A. Romero.
A group of students from the School of Visual Arts got access to several days on the set of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and a documentary took shape. Largely intended to be shown to film students as an educational tool in preparing them for the business side of film production, the movie also is a wonderful showcase of writer/director George A. Romero's fierce independent streak and unique handling of the genre. Those just wanting to see Romero showing zombies where to stand or Savini doing his stuff had better stick to the DVD extras on Day of the Dead (or the upcoming multi-disc edition of Dawn that Anchor Bay is putting together), for this documentary is more studious of the man's artistic intent and the nature of independent movie making itself. For serious fans of Romero, however, this is an essential annotation to the Dead trilogy. Highest recommendation.
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