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NOVEMBER 30TH 2003- THE NEW AND IMPROVED LIVING DEAD! So, until Christmas my friends.......... APRIL 2ND 2003 - AND NOW A FORMAL APOLOGY DAWN FINALLY UNLEASHED IN THE UK WITHOUT ANY CUTS!!! ANCHOR BAY NEWS Meanwhile, the release date of the 2-disc Day Special Edition has been pushed back to August 2003 for reasons unknown. Extras to be seen are two commentaries (one by Romero, one by Roger Avary), 2 making of featurettes, the entire screenplay, interviews and promotional materials such as trailers and poster artwork. George Romero's masterpiece is coming back to DVD in a big way. Featuring newly re-mastered widescreen transfers (16x9 enhanced), new DTS & Dolby EX Surround Sound, all-new cast & crew interviews, all-new audio commentary tracks, trailers, poster & still galleries and more! Available separately will be the original Theatrical Version and the Extended (Director's Cut) Version. Also available will be a special multi-disc box set including an exclusive presentation of the ZOMBI version of the film from Europe. Expect more announcements in the coming months, and please note all features at this point are tentative and subject to change. Closed Captioned for the Hearing Impaired.
THE PITTSBURGH COMICON - CANCELLATIONS & UPDATES DAWN OF THE DEAD REMAKE SCRIPT REVIEW
A Brief Word From Your Devoted Rotten One: In no way, shape, or form do I advocate the idea of a remake to this seminal Romero classic. It's a bad idea.'Nuff said. The following review is an objective look at Gunn's update.Hatred of said re-imagining is set aside. Bitterness filed away in the morgue for another time. But the love and history I've accumulated watching the original over the years was never forgotten. Desperate as a vagrant anxious to clean your windshield for some measly change, Hollywood is having an arduous time rejuvenating the zombie film. Completely dismissed is the baggage of various social commentaries that accompanied Romero's trilogy and absent is the pure visceral thrill found in the imported flesh-eater fests of the '80s. Studios just don't seem to get what zombie films are all about. Don't believe me? Watch "Resident Evil" again if you are so inclined (while it had some minor zombie mayhem, it completely missed the opportunity to tap the publics' current fears of biochemical weapons). Or, keep scratching your head in bafflement as Romero's fourth entry, "Dead Reckoning" (SCRIPT REVIEW HERE), gets passed on time and time again. Gunn's take on "Dawn of the Deadâ" doesn't help matters in the slightest. Well, maybe it helps in the sense that it brings a little Peter Jackson, circa "Dead Alive", action to a studio picture. But who really knows what'll survive the transition to film - the MPAA is still as prudent as ever, folks. Beyond the gore factor, the script is an absolute product of the times: littered with forgettable characters and too many unnecessary moments of humor. Never an ounce of seriousness to haunt movie-goers long after they've witnessed this daunting parable. On screen it'll be eye candy. Something to get the gorehounds' rocks off and nothing more - in the end, asking the question, again, why the fuck bother making the film when the original offered the ultimate in brain-splattering pleasure and so much more? The core of the story remains the same: a colorful band of characters take shelter in a local mall (here, set in the state of Washington) after the world is turned upside down when the dead walk the earth. Not only must they battle the undead menace, but come to grips with personal issues as well. Gunn approaches the subject matter as if this was the very beginning - encapsulating the living-taken-off-guard nature of "Night of the Living Dead" rather than serve as a direct sequel (to the '68 or '90 film) where the world knows what's happening from the get-go and is trying to handle the situation with dire results. Could this approach possibly signal an attempt to kick start a new zombie series? Probably. Why start a new franchise with a remake rather than a fresh concept is beyond me. What starts as a team of five mall-residing folks - a local drug dealer, his pregnant girlfriend, a nurse, a loner, and a black cop named Ken (hmm...) - turns into an ensemble cast of survivors that makes the script feel more like a Emmerich/Devlin film with Stephen King-like miscreants whose black t-shirts may as well read "scumbag" across their chests. Gunn draws such a sharp bead on his five leads in the first act, it's jarring when he paints a broad canvas with other characters stamped "zombie chow" on their foreheads. Action gets muddled and sympathy for anyone stretches mucho thin. Those familiar with Gunn's novel, "The Toy Collector", will know that he loves to make the misfit of society find some meaning in his life. "Dawn" gives Gunn a chance to explore the lives of three losers - a stoner, a skinhead, and a drug-dealer looking to redeem himself from a certain afterlife in hell - who find some sort of order amongst the chaos that now surrounds them. Unfortunately, you hate the two of the three. Again, too many characters and not enough exploration of the madness that comes with being locked away from society for months on end. The script begins as a study in human nature in a country gone mad but rapidly morphs into a horror/action picture of survival filled with some pretty ridiculous problem solving. Want an example? Take for instance a moment in which pet store dogs - trained for weeks to follow the lead of the a mutt, Captain Amazing - must race across a zombie-filled parking lot to the gun shop across the street to retrieve ammo. Zombies only dig on the human flesh, so the dogs are safe from the human zombie threat, but there's no safety from zombie dogs... Sheesh, there's some pretty silly stuff here (let's not forget the newborn zombie baby either). Of course, we're talking James Gunn here - Troma vet and author of the box-office smash "Scooby Dooâ" film. I mean, the guy's got some pretty far-out, ideas. There's just no room for them in a remake that was under the scornful eye of hundreds of fans the minute the project was announced. There
isn't exactly any set zombie logic here either. Within
the first five pages it's established that once you're
bit, you turn within a minute or two. That rule is broken
time and again, only called upon to add a little tension
to a scene. It's gimmicky and a cheap shot. Zombies
are incredibly mobile and intelligent too. We witness
some If Romero's film hadn't existed before this script, Gunn's draft would've stood as just another mildly crappy zombie film. It's got a shiny wrapper and on the surface it looks fun...but it's essentially a hollow film. I get the feeling Gunn thought he was taking enormous leaps and bounds by delivering on the gore, when what he really wasn't making emotional risks with the characters and situations. I recall reading a few quotes from Gunn when this project was announced, that he'd find writing this as an opportunity to study consumerism and really exploit it. Somewhere between that quote and the actually writing his mission statement got lost along the way - perhaps it was a project that just became an unstoppable monster for him. Who knows? In any case, the script is an unnecessary mess and missed opportunity. Oh,
and for those curious to know if the script retained
the famous line uttered by Ken Foree, "When there's
no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.",
it seems to have been inserted in one scene more out
of necessity than for actual morose meaning. The character
who utters the line is so jacked-up on painkillers at
the time he says it, there doesn't seem to be any conviction
in what he's saying. Rather some inane ravings from
an already delirious man - it kind of sums up the whole
script, really. DECEMBER 15TH 2002 - ANCHOR BAY SET DATES FOR DAWN AND DAY ON DVD At long last, the third in George Romero's famous zombie trilogy Day of the Dead will finally hit DVD on April 29th, courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. Featuring stomach-churning gore effects by legendary effects wizard Tom Savini, this horror classic comes uncut and uncensored in a feature-packed two disc set. Specs include a brand-new THX-certified 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround EX and DTS 6.1 ES surround tracks, an audio commentary with Romero, 2 featurettes, still galleries, the complete screenplay, trailers, and a collectible booklet. Retail is $34.95. With regards to the Dawn set, this will be released in October 2003 as a four-disc set with the film being given the same visual and audio treatment as Day. Extras are the same as initially reported.
A DISAPPOINTING CHRISTMAS ON UK TELEVISION FOR DEAD FANS... NEW NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD 1990 CD PITTSBURGH COMICON 2003 DETAILS
SEPTEMBER 11TH 2002 - DEAD RECKONING PROGRESS AND DVD INFO! 
Disc one features the much-loathed 30th anniversary edition with all of its 'Special Features'. Yes, you too can be amazed by the wonderful scene presented from Bill Hinzman's 'Flesheater' and really boogie on down to the 'Dance of the Dead' music video. MARCH 25th 2002 - DAY OF THE DEAD CD & NIGHT S.E
This marks the return to regular updates again as I've finally managed to sort things out at Angelfire, for the time-being anyway. I can get back to work on the Day section and perhaps introduce a few new things around the place! FEBRUARY 15th 2002 - DEAD TRILOGY BOXSET FEBRUARY 15th 2002 - ZOMBIE ON DVD FEBRUARY 9th 2002 - DEAD 4 TITLE ANNOUNCED! GoreZone.net announced today that Dead 4 seems that little bit closer to reality. In a statement from Anchor Bay: So, there you have it! Although nothing is definate, it seems that everything has been sorted. R7, webmaster of GAR.com confirmed that Dead Reckoning is indeed the title and that the above statement is true. I'll keep you posted on this topic as soon as I get more info! JANUARY 24th 2002 - DAWN 3-DISC SET SOONER THAN YOU THINK Anchor Bay have finally got their asses into gear and have officially stated that they will be releasing a DVD with all three main edits of the film in the fall of 2002. It is not known which country will get it first but it seems that the UK will have the edge, as most American's have been told that copies will hit their shelves in 2003. Extras wise, there will be a selection of trailers, the Romero/Savini commentary lifted from the US laserdisc and (possibly) a new commentary track with all four main cast members. AB is also trying to get the licensing for Document of the Dead. Expect some deluxe packaging and a hefty price tag! View the Old Site Layout Here View an even older Layout Here |
