Document of the Dead

'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.

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.

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

Document of the Dead (1989)

*** (out of 4)

This Roy Frumkes documentary has its main focus on the making of DAWN OF THE DEAD but we get some additional footage about the making of MARTIN and TWO EVIL EYES. Obviously, as the title would suggest, the main focus is on Romero's DAWN OF THE DEAD and we get quite a bit of behind-the-scenes footage where we get to see Romero directing as well as answering questions about the movie. It's interesting hearing him talk about the project during various stages of its production. There's a very interesting bit about them having to shut down production due to Christmas and not being able to work around the decorations in the mall. What's so interesting is that Romero used this month off to edit what footage he had but he also reworked the screenplay. It's also interesting that Romero states he shot both endings, although in recent times it has been said that the alternate tragic ending was never shot. Fans of DAWN OF THE DEAD are already going to know many of the stories but most of those stories came from this film. Since the release of this there have been a couple more documentaries but I'm sure us die hard fans would watch all of them and any future ones they decide to make. The stuff with MARTIN and TWO EVIL EYES is included for reasons that I'm not really sure but this too is fun. We get interviews with Romero, his wife and Tom Savini as they discuss TWO EVIL EYES. The best stuff is all the footage of them trying to get a couple of the special effects to work properly. Romero also spends this time talking about the companies, both big and small, who feel they owe directors once they give them money. Fans of Romero, DAWN OF THE DEAD and just horror films in general should enjoy this documentary.

DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD has a promising idea behind it: the making of horror classic DAWN OF THE DEAD. Yet it only features a bit of footage centering around DAWN OF THE DEAD, which is not that interesting. Other footage revolves around MARTIN, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and TWO EVIL EYES. Tom Savini is interviewed, but seems bitter in most of the footage. Romero seems like a nice, down-to-earth guy and gives valuable information about low-budget filmmaking, distribution, and ratings problems. Only three of the four DAWN leads are interviewed and not in-depth at all, which was of interest to me. Some nice bits about DOCUMENT is a Calgon soap commercial by Romero's 60s company featuring none other than NIGHT stars Russell Streiner and Karl Hardman!; also are some alternate takes of some scenes in DAWN (the scene of zombies breaking through the apartment complex barricade is longer and scarier; dialogue in the scene of subduing a black female zombie) that make me wonder if they appear in ANY cut of the finished product? I'd love to know, they really are more effective. Susan Tyrell, a personal favorite, narrates the whole thing. I love her voice, so it's nice to hear her. Select scenes from NOTLD and MARTIN are featured, but what are they doing here? It's as if director Roy Frumkes ran out of DAWN material and improvised in the editing room! Overall, DOCUMENT is recommended only to hardcore Romero and Savini fans; then again, I'm a hardcore fan myself and I STILL didn't like this. Oh well, give it a try, but don't expect a masterpiece.