Document of the Dead

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.

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 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.

'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.

Shot when "making-of's" weren't standard practice yet, this is a fortunate movie in that it not only provides a lot of insight into George Romero's working methods, but also catches him making one of his (and the horror genre's) best films, the original "Dawn of the Dead." There's also a moderate amount of information about "Night of the Living Dead" and "Martin," used to further detail identifiable aspects of his cinematic style. It would have been interesting if the film had gone on to describe the marketing, box-office and general commercial rewards of "Dawn," rather than stopping with post-production and the decision to release without an MPAA rating.

I saw the 2nd of the documentary's three versions, which adds material shot ten years later when he was shooting his part of the two-part horror feature "Two Evil Eyes." That content is fine but doesn't really deepen the profile, beyond showing that Romero hadn't really profited from the horror explosion of the VCr era--perhaps because he preferred to work independently, perhaps because the increasingly franchise-driven nature of mainstream horror didn't appeal to him. (Even though, of course, he had his own "Dead" franchise--but that pretty much reinvented itself with each new entry.) In any case, he seems a bit embattled and weary of the constant struggle for funding in this shorter second section.