Dawn of the Dead: Ultimate Edition (1978)

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General		Extras
Category	Horror	Featurette-The Dead will Walk Documentary Audio Commentary-with Richard Rubinstein Audio Commentary-with George A. Romero, Tom Savini & Chris Romero Biographies-Cast & Crew-Biographies and Filmographies of the main cast and Romero Radio Spots-Original Radio Spots Read Along-Original Cinematic Reviews Gallery-Photo Theatrical Trailer-US & German trailers Audio Commentary-with Richard Rubinstein, moderated by Perry Martin Interviews-Crew-interview with George A. Romero Gallery-Stills Gallery Audio Commentary-with David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger & Gaylen Ross Featurette-Document of the Dead Documentary Gallery-Stills Gallery
Rating
Year Of Production	1978
Running Time	385:20
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (95:00) Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	George A. Romero
Studio Distributor	Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	David Emge Ken Foree Scott H. Reiniger Gaylen Ross David Crawford David Early Richard France Howard Smith Daniel Dietrich Fred Baker James A. Baffico Rod Stouffer
Case	Amaray-Transparent-S/C-Dual
RPI	$34.95	Music	Dario Argento Goblin Agostino Marangolo

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 5.1 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In September, 2004 Anchor Bay Entertainment released the Dawn of the Dead - Ultimate Edition in the United States. This version of the 1978 classic zombie film by George A. Romero included three different cuts of the film on three discs and an extras disc, four discs altogether. This release no doubt was suitably tied, market-wise, to the Zack Snyder re-make of Dawn of the Dead in 2004. Australian distributor, Umbrella Entertainment have now released an Ultimate Edition of the original Dawn of the Dead on three discs in 2009 in region 4. The question is: how does it compare to the Region 1 Anchor Bay release?

    Both the Region 1 and Region 4 Ultimate Editions include three cuts of the film, the theatrical version, the extended version and the Dario Argento Cut.

    The theatrical version is 127 minutes long and is director George A. Romero's preferred cut (and most fans' too!). This version was seen in theatres in the United States in 1979 and it retains the unrated gore effects that director George A. Romero intended for the film. Romero has also included stock library music to augment the soundtrack created by Italian group, The Goblins.

    The extended version is 139 minutes long and is sometimes referred to as the 'original director's cut'. This is a misleading moniker for this version of the film, in actuality the extended version is simply the rough cut that was presented to New York test audiences in 1978 and at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. The extended version differs in pacing and use of more library stock music for the soundtrack. It was never meant to be the final, definitive version of the film as it was transferred at the time to 16mm film.

    The Dario Argento Cut or the 'European version' is vastly different to the other two versions on this Ultimate Edition release on DVD. Dario Argento was the Italian producer who helped to bankroll the script. As a result of a deal with Romero, Argento was able to get distribution rights to non-English speaking countries other than Latin America. To market the film in Europe, Argento cut out the dialogue and character development scenes, and included more soundtrack music from The Goblins. It is also the shortest cut, clocking in at 119 minutes.

    The Umbrella Entertainment release contains three discs, as against four on the Anchor Bay US release, with extras included along with the different cuts of the film. On disc one, the theatrical version, a 75-minute documentary entitled The Dead will Walk is included. The extended version includes an exclusive to region 4 interview with George A. Romero conducted at the Melbourne Film Festival. The Dario Argento cut on disc three includes the 91-minute documentary, The Document of the Dead.

Video

    All three cuts are soft and contain a similar amount of film artefacts, which overall is minimal. The theatrical version is a NTSC-to-PAL transfer which retains the same 127-minute running time, so it is interlaced and noticeably not as sharp as the extended version and Dario Argento cut. The colour timing on all three cuts is also different, with the theatrical cut and the extended version similar in brightness, the Dario Argento cut is darker.

    The aspect ratio of the theatrical and Dario Argento cuts are 1:78:1, 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions. The extended version seems to be 1:85:1, 16x9 enhanced for widescreen televisions (refer to the screenshots below).

    The theatrical version is 4.88 gb in length on disc one, with a running time of 127:02. The average bitrate is 5.25 m/b per sec. The Dead will Walk documentary is 74:55 long and 2.24 gb in size on disc one. The screenshot below clearly shows how the NTSC-to-PAL transfer is less defined as the other two cuts, yet similar in colour timing to the extended version.

    The extended version has not been converted from NTSC to PAL and therefore is sharper. The title contains less mosquito noise, the wall is more defined, although colour grading is similar in both shots. This version is 5.42 gb in size with an average bitrate of 5.31 m/b per sec. The length of the extended version is 139:19. The interview with Romero on disc two is 49:23 in length and 1.82 gb in size.

    Colour in the Dario Argento cut is darker. This cut has also been transferred in NTSC for the Region 4 release, like the second disc extended cut. The length of this version is 118:59, taking up 4.78gb in space on a dual-layered DVD, with the 91:37 Document of the Dead documentary 2.88 gb in size on disc three.

    Film artefacts, as mentioned above, are minimal, with mostly white artefacts appearing briefly. The image on all three cuts is mostly free of film artefacts.

    There are no subtitles on any disc of this release whatsoever! This is an abysmal DVD authoring practise. The Anchor Bay Region 1 release also has no subtitles and thus is equally condemnable.

    The RSDL change on the theatrical version occurs at 95:00, on the extended version it occurs at 100:42 and on the Dario Argento cut it occurs at 98:03. The Dario Argento cut pauses during a cut in a scene, but the other two layer changes on the theatrical and extended versions occur during a scene transition.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio tracks on all three cuts is mainly confined to the front speakers, there is not much ambiance in the soundtracks.

    The theatrical version has the choice of two soundtracks, a Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track at 192 kbps and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at a very low bitrate of 224 kbps. These are virtually identical, in fact, I would say the Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track is better. The extended version has one audio track which is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono with a bitrate of 192 kbps. The Dario Argento cut has a Dolby Digital 5.1 track encoded at 448 kbps. This adds volume to the more prominent Goblins soundtrack in this cut, but overall I was happy enough with the Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack on the theatrical version. The audio commentaries on all three versions are encoded in Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 kbps.

    Dialogue is clear although audio is not always perfectly synchronised, perhaps there was some post-production synchronisation work done on the soundtrack?

    The music is of the era of the 1970s, both Romero's stock library music and the synth-based soundtrack from The Goblins.

    Surround channel usage is limited to the front speakers and centre channel.

    The subwoofer is only utilised for explosive effects like gunshots.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Featurette - The Dead will Walk documentary (74:55)

Audio Commentary - with Producer Richard P. Rubinstein and Perry Martin

Audio Commentary - with George A. Romero, Make-Up Effects Creator Tom Savini, Assistant Director Christine Romero, and DVD Producer Perry Martin

Biographies-Cast & Crew

Radio Spots (2:42)

Read Along - Original Reviews

Gallery-Photo (2:25)

Theatrical Trailers - US & German (3:35)

Audio Commentary - with Producer Richard P. Rubinstein and Perry Martin

Interviews-Crew - director George A. Romero

Gallery

Audio Commentary - with Actors David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Gaylen Ross

Featurette - Document of the Dead documentary (91:37)

Gallery

    The Region 1 Anchor Bay Ultimate Edition remains the version of choice, mainly due to the extras being separate from the main features. Also, The Anchor Bay release has better soundtrack options (i.e. a DTS and Dolby Digital original mono track on the theatrical cut, a Dolby-surround 2.0 and original Dolby Digital mono track on the Dario Argento cut). The Region 4 Umbrella Entertainment release has all the commentaries and main documentaries included from the Region 1 version and so is a good alternative if you do not want to import the Region 1 release.

    If you are a fan of George A. Romero's films, or a fan of zombie genre films, then this Ultimate Edition is for you. If you are a collector of DVD's you may be content with the previous single-disc theatrical version. Of course, if you are a real fan of Dawn of the Dead, then you already own the Region 1 Anchor Bay release of the film on four discs, don't you?

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall