Document of the Dead

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.

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.

'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.

A great film if you fall into one of three catagories: a) Horror movie fan, b) more specifically, a George Romero fan, or c) a film student. Basically what this movie boils down to is a look into the world of horror film production. It follows the development of the movie Dawn of the Dead from pre- to post-production. Provides a fascinating look into how exactly a film is shot and put together into its final form. I had heard of this film's existence shortly after I became a rabid Romero fan, and when I bought I was expecting a great supplement to the classic film. I have to admit I was a little disappointed after first viewing. While the movie concentrates on Dawn out of all of Romero's movies, I was left wanting more.

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