The George A. Romero Collection (Crazies/Martin/Dawn Of The Dead (1978)/Umbrella Entertainment/Region Zero/0/PAL
DVD Set)
PLEASE NOTE: This DVD can only be operated on
machines capable of playing back DVDs that can handle Region Zero/0 PAL format
software and can be ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the
website address provided at the end of the review.
The Crazies
Picture:
D Sound: D Extras: C- Film: C-
Martin
Picture:
D Sound: D Extras: C Film: B
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Picture:
D Sound: D Extras: C+ Film: B+
George A.
Romero is, and always will be, the great granddaddy of the zombie film. Starting all the way back with the genre
staple Night of the Living Dead, this release contains three of the
next films that Romero made, culminating in the legendary Dawn of the Dead.
The Crazies, while not technically a zombie
film, is definitely one of the formative films that would influence Romero’s
later flesh-eater flicks. A government
project gone awry has unleashed a virus on a small town that causes its victims
to either die or go crazy. This film
sets up some of the standard tropes that will become familiar throughout the
history of zombie and other horror films.
Martin is Romero’s take on the classic
vampire story. Reportedly Romero’s
favorite of his own films, there’s a good reason for it. A subtle character study makes us look at the
vampire subgenre in a new light as we follow a modern day bloodsucker grappling
with who, what, and where he is. A
fantastically written and executed film, Martin
is reason enough to buy the set, but of course you’ll probably want it for the
next movie.
Dawn of the Dead is, without a doubt, one of the
most legendary horror films of all time. After having cut his teeth and earned some
respect with his previous films, you can tell that Romero was able to get a lot
more funding for Dawn. This is the film that makes you wish for a
zombie apocalypse just so you can run amok in a shopping mall for months on
end.
All three
films are pretty low budget, and it’s very apparent. The picture and sound quality are, quite
frankly, pretty bad. Dawn of the Dead has the best
production values out of them all but it still looks dated and verges on
sub-par, even anamorphically enhanced as they all are. The aspect ratios vary but each disc has the
option of Dolby Digital 2.0 or 5.1 sound, but no DTS of any kind.
All the
films have commentary tracks, original advertisements, and stills galleries. Dawn
of the Dead actually has two commentary tracks, a near-feature-length
documentary, and cast and crew biographies and filmographies. Martin
also has a making-of featurette.
These are
films that anyone who has ever considered him/herself a horror fan should see. This is a must-have collection with some
fairly hard-to-find titles. Plus, you get the play the Spot-the-Savini game.
For more
on Dawn Of The Dead, try these
links:
U.S.
Anchor Bay DiviMax DVD Set
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1416/Dawn+Of+The+Dead+-+Ultimate+Ed
DiviMax Single
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/887/Dawn+Of+The+Dead+(Divimax)
As noted above, you can order this George Romero PAL DVD import
exclusively from Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Matthew Carrick
