Dawn Of The Dead Archives - Sci-Fi Tips

Top Ten Moments In George A Romero’s Trilogy Of The Dead

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2020 10:14:00 +0000

In 1968, when George A Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead (co-written with John Russo) was unleashed on the world, it not only created a whole new way of telling horror movies that would go on to inspire countless filmmakers, it cemented Romero as one of the great social storytellers of our time. Its success would ensure a sequel ten years later with Dawn Of The Dead (which is still considered one of the best horror films of all time) and then Day Of The Dead seven years later.

Romero would wait an astonishing 20 years until the next installment, Land Of The Dead in 2005, followed by Diary Of The Dead in 2007 and then in 2009, Survival Of The Dead – which would sadly be the last movie Romero would direct before his death.

Here we celebrate Romero and his Dead movies by heading back to where it all started with the original trilogy and picking out our most stand-out moments. From shocking endings, to poignant social commentary and even a pie in the face, here are our top moments from George A Romero’s original Trilogy Of The Dead…

When Johnny mocks the zombie in Night Of The Living Dead

At the beginning of Night Of The Living Dead, we know that the strange man in the cemetery is a creature who has risen from the dead, so when Johnny goes straight up to him to mock him we can’t help but scream for him to run away! Okay, Johnny was annoying but he didn’t deserve to get his head smashed in!

When Harry doesn’t help Ben in Night Of The Living Dead

Harry is the absolute worst. He makes bad decisions, he’s selfish AND when he has the chance to help Ben to get back into the safety of the house after Ben leaves it to find a way to rescue them all – he doesn’t! We said he was the worst! We can’t help but feel he deserves the punch Ben throws at him when he manages to escape on his own.

The ending of Night Of The Living Dead

Ben has been the most consistent throughout the whole movie, helping out others in need and being a strong leader. He survives a night of zombies only to emerge in the sunlight the next day… and is immediately shot by the police. It’s a shocking and poignant moment – and far more horrific than any of the zombie scenes throughout the rest of the movie.

When Peter kills one of his fellow SWAT team members in Dawn Of The Dead

Peter is the voice of calm and reason throughout Dawn Of The Dead and when one of his fellow SWAT Team members gets infected he swoops in and takes the infected down without a moment’s hesitation while the others look on in shock. What a badass.

When Stephen, Peter and Francine go shopping in Dawn Of The Dead

There aren’t many light moments in Dawn Of The Dead but when our group let loose and go shopping when they’re alone in the mall, it is a moment of much-needed light relief. It doesn’t last long…

When the bikers raid the mall in Dawn Of The Dead

A biker gang has decided THEY want the mall for themselves and when they finally break in (leading loads of zombies in with them – c’mon guys!) they go on a rampage, stealing what they can, trashing the place and… throwing pies in the faces of zombies?!

When Stephen decides to take on the bikers after seeing them destroy the mall in Dawn Of The Dead

“It’s ours, we took it,” Stephen mutters as he lets the bikers know his location after shooting at them. This is Romero at his one his absolute best, commenting on our obsession with consumerism even during an apocalyptic event. Why shouldn’t the bikers have access to the mall and Stephen can?!

When Peter decides to join Francine in the helicopter in Dawn Of The Dead

Just when you think Peter has lost all hope and can’t live in this world anymore he has a VERY last-minute change of heart and joins Francine on the helicopter and they escape together – hurray!

When Rhodes turns on his men in Day Of The Dead

Rhodes is a bit of a dick in Day Of The Dead, he doesn’t like the scientists who try to understand the zombies, he doesn’t like living in the bunker, he’s a misogynist and a bully. But his men stand behind him no matter what. So when Rhodes turns on his men and leave them to the mercy of a lot of zombies it’s… well it’s not really a shock because Rhodes is a dick… but that was a harsh move!

‘Bub’ the zombie in Day Of The Dead

So… let’s talk about the [undead] elephant in the room – smart zombies. The zombie named ‘Bub’ knows what a book is, he can salute and he can resist eating people around him. He also feels sad when his friend, Frankenstein dies and can [and does] shoot a gun. Day Of The Living Dead can get a bit silly in places but we think we draw the line at smart zombies.

Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition 4K UHD and Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition Blu-ray is out now from Second Sight Films. Any on the list that we should have included? Don’t forget to get in touch with us on our social media channels to tell us yours!

The post Top Ten Moments In George A Romero’s Trilogy Of The Dead appeared first on Sci-Fi Tips.

Dawn Of The Dead 4K Review: Take A Trip To The Mall Of Horrors

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 01:06:11 +0000

Much like the undead and their never-ending appetite for flesh, current audiences really can’t seem to get enough of the zombie genre. Be it from the comicbook-inspired long-running series The Walking Dead, the ever-growing Resident Evil franchise, a good old zom-rom-com like Shaun Of The Dead or Warm Bodies, to the more recent successes of K-zom series Train To Busan, there’s something there for everyone and seemingly no signs of its appeal fading anytime soon. All the aforementioned titles (and too many others to name) were all inspired, if not directly influenced by George A Romero’s Dead series, especially its arguably most iconic addition to that franchise: Dawn Of The Dead.

Ten years before Dawn, George A. Romero wrote and directed his first feature Night Of The Living Dead. Told over one harrowing night after the dead start coming back to life with an intense need for human flesh, it was a low budget production with a concept loosely based on Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend. Following its release, it slowly grew in stature and would go on to become a massive hit both financially and culturally. He continued to direct a number of other films, but they failed to hit anywhere near the same levels of success. During this time, Romero had a meeting with frequent collaborator Richard Rubenstein at a mall in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was there that the idea was conceived that it could potentially be an ideal location to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Following discussions with Italian producer, Dario Argento, about returning to the zombie genre with a Night Of sequel, Romero had his concept and was subsequently invited to Rome to pen the script. Although his vision was much bigger than anything he’d worked on prior, the studio showed enough faith to give him the green light. Filming would take just three months and, following a number of re-cuts and re-edits, the movie secured a distributor and was released worldwide.

What was delivered is a sequel that not only pushed the envelope creatively, but masterfully combined an inventive and joyful style of filmmaking that expresses Romero’s societal commentary; something that was very much at the core of the first film and remains, but on a much larger scale. Even now, and somewhat alarmingly, the themes he touches upon are very much relevant to this day.

Set not long after the events of Night Of, America is trying to control being overrun by masses of the undead and are seemingly losing despite all their best efforts. We’re introduced to our four protagonists – first in Francine (Gaylen Ross) and Stephen (David Emge), who work in a news television station and (conveniently) have access to a helicopter. They’re joined by Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott H. Reiniger), members of a SWAT team who have witnessed first-hand the devastating effects of the outbreak. After they all meet up and successfully escape the city, they land themselves at a shopping mall which is completely swarming with rotting consumers (see what we did there?), but decide to make a go of clearing out the location and making it a home of their own.

Watching the four main character arcs unfold in Dawn is one of its undeniably greatest strengths. Romero’s flexibility in allowing his cast to have the creative freedom to approach the roles based on their own perceptions was a masterstroke (even the zombie actors were given full licence to make their undead personas their own). Ken Foree is the inevitable standout of the bunch; whilst on the surface, he’s relatively cool, calm and collected, underneath it all the emotional weight all of the death and devastation is very much taking its toll on him… Also giving him one of the most iconic lines in cinematic history is never going to do you any harm: ‘When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.’

Thematically there’s a fair amount thrown in here, offering up horror, satire and suspense, whilst finding the room to add personal and understated touches in its subtler moments. Romero was quite frank about his directional approach to proceedings, which were essentially throwing all levels of shit at the wall, and whatever stuck past the cutting room made it into the film. It’s an admirable approach but equally creates a slight problem when certain parts feel overly hokey and corny… which one could argue is exactly what Romero wanted; it perhaps just doesn’t play as well 42 years later.

Another element that time has not been so kind to is Tom Savini’s prosthetic makeup/special effects work (Romero once highlighted that one of his deepest regrets is that the type of fake blood they used ended up looking more like melted red crayons!). Despite this very minor gripe, it’s still a blast in terms what they got to do creatively, particularly the exploding head scene which has no doubt been burned into many of its viewers’ minds!

Dawn Of The Dead holds up as a genre-defining classic; providing iconic horror imagery and an intricately paced storyline (that maybe doesn’t get as much credit as it merits), all tied together neatly by its group of survivors’ performances. This re-release in 4K is a great opportunity for anyone to not only dive back into this world, but to check out all the alternative cuts and a long list of bonus extras. However, if this is your first viewing, then here’s your chance to find out exactly why Romero will forever be known as the ‘Godfather Of The Dead’.

Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition 4K UHD and Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition Blu-ray is out on 16 November 2020 from Second Sight Films.

The post Dawn Of The Dead 4K Review: Take A Trip To The Mall Of Horrors appeared first on Sci-Fi Tips.

Dawn Of The Dead: Interview with Scott Reiniger

admin — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 22:16:52 +0000

Often cited to be one of the greatest horror films of all time, George A. Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead was the long-awaited, highly anticipated sequel to the genre-defining Night Of The Living Dead.

Released in 1978, Dawn Of The Dead showed Romero once being again ahead of the curve, mixing biting political satire with state-of-the-art-gore for a masterpiece that packs as much of a punch today as it did back then.

With a zombie epidemic escalating, a small band of survivors seek refuge in that shrine to capitalism, the shopping mall. But the undead, still possessed by an instinctive desire to consume, have had the same idea…

Now, Dawn Of The Dead is due to be available on Limited Edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray this month courtesy of Second Sight Films so we took the chance to sit down with actor Scott Reiniger who played doomed SWAT cop Roger about working with Romero and what it is that makes Dawn Of The Dead such a seminal and enduring film…

Dawn Of The Dead is having a new release on 4K this month. What’s it like revisiting the film all these years later?

Oh, it always continues to be fun! Honestly, I’m still amazed the film has such longevity and it’s actually more popular today than it ever has been, so that you could never expect!

How did you get involved in the movie?

I was an actor in New York, and Chris Forrest (George [Romero’s] girlfriend at the time) and I were in the Theatre Department together in college, and she suggested me to George. She said to me: “Do you know who George Romero is?” and I said: “Well, yeah, he’s the guy who directed Night Of The Living Dead!” She said he had this new film, Dawn Of The Dead, and [she’d like me] to audition for it. I said sure send me the script. It was 225 pages long and it was the bloodiest thing I ever read on paper in my entire life!

So then I went in and I met with George. George is very relaxed. You’ve probably heard that, but he is. He’s very down to earth, very relaxed. He gives you a lot of space as an actor and I did I think two scenes first time and then he kind of smiled at me and he said “okay, I really like what you’re doing come back next week”. So I go back next week, and auditioned again. I think I did three scenes that time and then he’s looking at me with a grin on his face, he said: “You know, I really like what you’re doing but I’ve already cast this guy – he’s over six foot tall and twice your size and if you do this you will be playing opposite him a lot in the movie. So I’m concerned about that.” He was very honest and I said to him – it just popped out of my mouth! – I said: “George you know the audience is not going to give a crap about that after the first five minutes about our size difference!” and he laughed. Then I saw him later that night and he put his hand on my shoulder and said: “Okay you got the part”. So that was that!

What were your first thoughts when you read the script?

The script when you read it on the page doesn’t capture the satire and humour. We only started to get George’s point of view about the entire thing when we started shooting it and that became really interesting to watch…

Dawn Of The Dead is full of satire and humour.

Had you watched Night Of The Living Dead before you got involved in Dawn Of The Dead?

I saw Night Of The Living Dead when I was really young. I honestly did not re-watch it before I shot but I remember the movie vividly as a matter of fact and I’m not exaggerating because I was really young when I saw it! I came out of the movie and I went ‘wow was this a documentary or what!’ because I know it’s a movie, but it was filmed in black and white and it looks like a documentary. I remember thinking to myself, ‘God did this really happen’ and I’m like well, no of course, it didn’t really happen, but it really struck me I must say!

Was there much pressure when filming Dawn Of The Dead that this was a highly-anticipated sequel?

Yeah, it was in the back of my mind that it was a sequel, but that didn’t influence what I was going do in the film. It just helped me understand George more. As an actor, George gives you a lot of space. That’s the great thing about him. He’s very, very relaxed, he’s very organised and because he’s so organised he can give you a lot of freedom as an actor and do some improv.

What was it like shooting the film?

It was a very, very positive shoot just very, very long hours. When we’re in the mall [we filmed] all night long and slept during the day. But [doing that] that day after day after day after day, I felt after a while we were in The Twilight Zone! Imagine wandering around the mall with all the zombies wandering about! I remember the first day we were shooting, Kenny [Foree], David [Emge] and I came out to the mall area and we’re strapping guns and all of this to us, and I remember there were these two elderly women there and they were like ‘my God, what is going on?!’. They didn’t know there was a movie about to be shot there – I thought that was kind of funny!

We can imagine it was a pretty strange experience…

It was odd. Not odd in a bad way, it was just kind of surreal. You’ve got to imagine, it’s really late at night like we’re at 2:00 o’clock in the morning and nobody’s in the mall except us, the production crew, all the actors and all the zombies. So it was a very bizarre feeling. Also sleeping during the day and then working all night, it kind of changes your outlook on things, but in the end, it was a pretty smooth shoot!

Scott and the cast would sleep during the day and shoot the movie in the mall at night.

What are your thoughts on the character of Roger?

He goes through a major arc. The character has a great range, which is what attracted me to the part.

I thought that I had to create a back story. It doesn’t tell you that in the script but as the actor you create that on your own and I said well ‘okay this guy’s a sharpshooter’, that’s what’s in the script, he’s an ex-SWAT cop and so I started filling out this whole back story. That he was in the military and then became a SWAT cop because that’s the only kind of work that he would do that he would thrive in. He loved the sense of living on the edge. He loved danger, and he prides himself on being able to control any situation that he’s in which was his biggest mistake, his fatal flaw and he starts to lose it as you well know.

Why do you think he starts to lose it?

The stress was too great for him, and it was creating a lot of inner conflict with him. He felt he could handle any situation and he actually was deluded about that because he was not being realistic about the full impact of what was really going on. Then gradually it hits him when he starts to make stupid mistakes, which was his downfall.

Did you and Romero work on the character?

He would talk about that a little bit, not a lot. He basically trusted you or trusted me, you know, and Kenny. I would talk with him about it, but we didn’t go deep into it because he trusted me. I was going to come up with what he thought was going to work and it did work. He gave a lot of independence creatively.

I also heard that the role he created it for Roger was this big, burly Nick Nolte kind of street guy who became a cop and I’m going ‘well, I don’t think I really fit that’ so I had to go from my own point of view of how it really fit me. So a lot of my decisions were based on that and he liked it.

Did Romero ever mention the wider, satirical elements of the film with you?

Yeah, he would allude to it sure, never a lot of heavy deep discussion about it because he was clear about what he wanted. He expected the actors to fill in the blanks. So one thing about George is that he doesn’t talk like: “Oh I’m doing this amazing movie. It’s got social ramifications.” He doesn’t have that kind of ego, that’s what I thought was great about him. You know, he wasn’t pontificating about things. He said: “Let people just read what they want to in the movie and we’ll leave it at that.”

George was a very interesting man, a very affectionate person. He’s known as the gentle giant because he was very tall, and very easy, very relaxed, very efficient. He wouldn’t over talk stuff. He might give you a couple of pointers and that’s about it.

Why do you think we’re still discussing the movie today?

It’s still relevant. I think some of it is dated but George tends to put social themes in his work. If you watch his other movies there’s always some shred of that woven into them. So we were very aware of that. There wasn’t a lot of discussion about it though, just because it became very obvious what was happening once we started shooting.

The wider themes of the movie became apparent as the cast and crew started shooting Dawn Of The Dead.

Did you have any idea how big the movie would be when it was released?

I had no idea! Earlier on [while shooting] the movie I remember seeing a lot of the gore and thinking: ‘Should I have done this movie? Is this going to ruin my career?’ That did go through my thoughts but not for long because I love the part and it was very controversial. Some people liked it, some people hated it.

It’s often cited to be one of the best horror films ever made, why do you think that is?

I think it’s interesting you bring that up because when I’ve been at conventions I ask that of the audience and they say it’s the relationship between the four characters and the impact that the circumstances are having on them personally and on their inner relationships with each other. That’s what I [also] thought personally but it was good to hear! It made a lot of people think: “If there was a zombie apocalypse what would I do?” I guess a great place to go would be a mall!

It’s funny because zombies have become so much part of our culture [these days]. It’s become mainstream. Years ago it was not like that at all!

What were your thoughts on Dawn Of The Dead’s follow-up, Day Of The Dead?

I thought it was a very strong movie, I thought it was very very bleak. It was disturbing to me to watch it frankly and I don’t mean that negatively about the movie. It was just a disturbing movie to watch. Very different from Dawn. It was so dark.

You had a cameo in the 2005 Dawn Of The Dead remake. How did that come about?

That was a treat, it was a lot of fun. I got cast and Kenny got cast in it and I think [Tom Savini] was in it. They cast us because of the fan base from the original Dawn. That’s why we were cast, it was very obvious, and the producer Eric Newman, Zack Snyder the director, they were very energetic. The first day on the set the producer came up to me and was so thankful that I was there. He was acting like he was a teenager!

I asked him: “How did you end up making this?” and he went: “Ever since I was 12, 13 I’ve always dreamed about making a remake of Dawn Of The Dead.” I said: “Are you kidding me?” and he said: “No, I’m serious. I can’t believe we’re here now making this film because it was just a dream I had as a kid!” He was very very nice. Zack Snyder was very relaxed, a very funny person. It was a nice few days I must say!

Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition 4K UHD and Limited Edition Blu-ray is out on 16 November from Second Sight Films.

The post Dawn Of The Dead: Interview with Scott Reiniger appeared first on Sci-Fi Tips.

Dawn Of The Dead: Limited Edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray announced

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 22:00:52 +0000

Now this is a thing of beauty! George A. Romero’s long-awaited, highly anticipated Dawn Of The Dead will be getting a glorious home release box set full of extras and three versions of the film!

The film has been painstakingly restored and will soon be available in two separate format releases: Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition 4K UHD and Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition Blu-ray.

Dawn of the Dead arrived ten years after George A. Romero’s seminal Night of the Living Dead and ushered in a new era of zombie films. It showed Romero once again ahead of the curve, mixing biting political satire with state-of-the-art-gore for a genre-defining masterpiece that packs as much of a punch today as it did 40 years ago.

This time, with a zombie epidemic escalating, a small band of survivors seek refuge a shopping mall. But the undead, still possessed by an instinctive desire to consume, have had the same idea…

Survivors and zombies head for the mall…

Both box sets of Dawn of the Dead will include the original iconic poster art plus newly commissioned artwork inside. They also include a whopping four discs – with three versions of the film: The Theatrical Cut, The Extended (‘Cannes’) Cut and The Argento Cut, plus stacks of special features that take in new and archive interviews, including the previously unreleased The Lost Romero Dawn Interview.

With commentaries and documentaries galore, soundtrack CDs and a brand new 160-page hardback book Dissecting The Dead complete with brand new writing, this is a veritable treasure trove and a must have for any horror fan.

Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition 4K UHD and Dawn Of The Dead Limited Edition Blu-ray on 16 November 2020 from Second Sight Films.

The post Dawn Of The Dead: Limited Edition 4K UHD and Blu-ray announced appeared first on Sci-Fi Tips.