Document of the Dead

Fans of the Dead Trilogy have to at least seen this flick twice let alone own a copy in their video library. It is a wonderful look in the early to mid career of George Romero and his work in the art of Horror Movie Making. We take a deep look into not only Pittsburgh, where Romero lived and worked, but Romero himself and the journey into Night of the Living Dead, and the many films to follow. I enjoyed this film for the simple reason that it was shot on film and for a very low budget. It added to the realness of the story and the struggle of an Independent Film Maker and his journey into creating a film that will last for generations.

'Document of the Dead' is an interesting look at the making of 'Dawn of the Dead' and other works of George A. Romero, but despite the subject matter, 'Document...' for me was a little disappointing. Well hyped in the press and by the production crew itself, I couldn't help feel a little sold short by the final package. Admittedly this in part can be explained due to technical difficulties when the film was being made, (see trivia) and we can only guess how much more interesting 'Document...' would have been with those extra 66 shots, but the film has other faults. Sound quality at times was poor, while the voice of narrator Susan Tyrell I found coma inducing, and at times narration was overtly technical to the point of boredom. There was also some repetitive cuts (including a whole rerun of the final credits and time coded footage) that obviously wasn't supposed to be there, though I'm not sure if this was down to the original production team or the video distributor.

Die hard Romero fans will no doubt salivate at the behind the scenes and extra unseen footage, as may curious independent filmmakers and students, but the presentation here will more likely bore unfamiliar, less technically minded audiences. Romero's work, and how he works is in no dispute though, it is fascinatingly interesting. He comes across eloquently while still remaining down to earth and you can't help empathise with his struggle despite his successful track record. Interviews with Tom Savini also help immensely, livening the film with his energy and obvious passion he has for his work.

'Document...' isn't quite the companion to 'Dawn of the Dead' that I was hoping for, but under the circumstances it's understandable, in fact it's a credit to the film makers that it ever got put out there at all! But despite covering some of Romero's other work, Dawn footage is what we were all here for and it's a shame that in the end there just wasn't quite enough.

The thing that intrigues me the most about Romero is aside from his down-to-earth attitudes when it comes to film-making and the film-making process, he has pretty much no ego. This is a man who has directed four of the most popular horror films ever made- Night of the Living Dead and its sequels Dawn (my favorite), Day, and now Land, and he doesn't seem to take as much credit for it as he should or a lessor director would. What's also fascinating about the documentary here is that it focuses on two things- Romero's style in his films (here shown as Night, Dawn, and the great vampire film Martin), and the making of 'Dawn', and in the making of Dawn one realizes why he has not much to be very big about- a lot of what goes into the film is improvisation, the work of the actors, and Tom Savini's masterpiece of comic-book/over-stylized violence and zombies. The director of this documentary goes in depth with the style that swarms over Night and Martin, and Romero goes into detail in interviews about his own process, how he writes, directs, and edits, and what seems complicated on the screen really is not.

Basically, if you love the horror genre, or even just Romero's films, it's very worthwhile to check this out, even when some of the narration becomes obvious (or if you would rather watch the films instead of hearing exposition on them). The history of Dawn is fascinating if only as a time capsule, of when malls were in their beginning stages, when make-up wasn't as sophisticated (though maybe not as unique) as today, and when the level of violence in his films was almost unfathomable in those days of post-Vietnam America. It's sort of sad in a way to hear about Romero's problems with making the films he wants to make, as he talks of the problems being a "maverick" in the Hollywood system, but that's how it might always be. But just to see these images, and to see the process and how it unfolds (especially a behind-the-scenes look at one special effect and its length and depth in Two Evil Eyes) is enough to recommend it- it's available with the Dawn of the Dead box-set on DVD, but it also is on TV every now and again. Grade: A

Having just finished watching this for the third(and most likely last) time, I can sadly clearly see why I gave up on it around the half-way point the first time; as the credits rolled, I realized that I did not feel entertained or even informed... I merely felt relieved. Add to that the version I watched was only just over an hour in length, not the 90 minutes that this page lists it as, and you can tell that I, personally, was quite underwhelmed by this feature. The presentation felt flat; it really wasn't very engaging or fascinating, in spite of the movie it revolves around being both of those and more. The editing wasn't very tight, nor does it try anything interesting, but rather goes through the motions. However, I think what really slayed this was the idolization of Romero; he is compared to Hitchcock, his style is mercilessly praised and his films, shots and cuts are analyzed to mean far more and be far more planned and thought out than they actually are. Imagine the dichotomy when Romero himself, in his interviews, comes off as a down-to-Earth, nice, pleasant guy who just happens to rock at making horror movies and manages to inject satire and social commentary without it coming across as forced. These clips, as well as Tom Savini's presence(in which he confirms the viewer's first impression of Romero) are what make this watchable. Pacing is non-existent. The voice-over narration sounds as if the speaker is bored out of her mind, but I don't know what they had access to as far as that goes, so I'll cut them some slack on that. In any case, the pseudo-intellectual analysis and shameless praise is far more distracting. I respect Romero... I think he has created one heck of a horror trilogy. He's clearly talented and smart, but the way he's spoken of in this simply comes off as some excited, easily impressionable kids expressing their fandom without having the sense to openly admit that that's what it is. I recommend this to fans of Romero and Dawn of the Dead... just be aware of and prepared for the unintended hyperbole and the lackluster production. 5/10

Well, the one thing I learned from this documentary is that George A. Romero smokes a lot and that he apparently can't give an interview without holding a cigarette in his fingers, whether it's lit or not. Apart from that, this documentary doesn't feature any groundbreaking news or memorable information. I guess that, as usually the case with footage like this, it's a lot more fun to make it than to actually watch it as an extra feature on the DVD. Roy Frumkes probably had the time of his life following and interviewing horror idols like George Romero, Ken Foree and Tom Savini (especially since he was still a student at the time) but for other viewers it's not that interesting. The introduction is rather ingenious, as it shows a comical sketch of the Marx-brothers mocking Pittsburgh (the place where all Romero's movies are set) and than it's just a whole lot of interviews and sequences from "Night", "Dawn" and the modern vampire movie "Martin". The documentary explains how Romero was influenced by the news events of that time and that he's a truly gifted filmmaker with a sixth sense for imaginative camera angles. Stuff we all knew already, in other words. There's some nice trivia about the mall where "Dawn of the Dead" was shot, like for instance, filming was interrupted during the month of December because of the Christmas decoration that couldn't feature in the film. The parts with Tom Savini are also a lot of fun to watch, because he clearly loves his job and was offered a lot of creative freedom by Romero for his zombie make-up in "Dawn". There surely are worse ways to spend 60 minutes of your life, but overall this documentary is not really worth bothering for.