View Full Version : Anchor Bay: Dawn Of The Dead 3disk-Coming Soon
This taken from gorezone.net
** DAWN OF THE DEAD 3 DVD set!!: Yesterday at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors, Anchor Bay representative Michael Felsher confirmed for us fanatics, the rumor of the definitive DAWN OF THE DEAD 3 disc set being released by Anchor Bay. This 3 disc set was confirmed by Felsher yesterday who said it would be released sometime in 2002 and the set will include all three cuts of the film (the U.S. theatrical cut, the 139 minute director's cut and the Dario Argento cut, ZOMBIE) -also to be included is the commentary track from the Laserdisc and very possibly (although not yet 100% confirmed), a commentary from the four main stars of the film. Felsher also stated the possibiliy of working with Synapse films and including DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD in this package! This was incredible news yesterday, DAWN OF THE DEAD is definately a top five favorite of mine and this ultimate set has already to me salivating. I can't wait for what will surely be another amazing release from Anchor Bay.
Fantastic news:)
Cheers
George vader
08-01-2002, 19:01
Great news!
I've been wondering which version to get ,
wonder what the price will be though?
Originally posted by George vader
wonder what the price will be though?
Hopefully they won't make it a 'Limited Edition' thereby artificially increasing the price even more. :rolleyes:
But I have my doubts, but great news nonetheless. Here's hoping....
dtsrules
09-01-2002, 06:23
Hmm
Why couldn't they include the 156 minute version as well.
I know it's in German but would it really matter?
scaramanga
09-01-2002, 07:32
:clap: I cant wait for this but im still gonna keep my R2 for the commentry!
Clipper-
09-01-2002, 07:36
This is excellent news and means I can replace my Dutch 2 disc and Anchor Bay US theatrical...
Extras wise they have to get the Document of the Dead or else it is hardly a definitive package (as I and many others would have to keep the Dutch 2 disc which does have it).
New commentary sounds interesting if it comes off..
As for the German 156-minute version... Well I would regard it as no more than a gimmick version. All they did was splice together all the scenes used in all three versions to make it. Given the fact that the 139 minute version feels a mite too long then the 156 will drag badly. Also including every scene may sound comprehensive but there is a reason the 3 versions are cut that way so putting everything in once cut sounds like a mess to me... Admittedly I'd like to catch it once just for the novelty curio factor :)
Oh and as a final point... I wish they'd stop calling the 139-minute cut the director's cut. It is not Romero's preferred cut it is simply an early cut they put together for Cannes. It is missing quite a few Romero trademark touches, most notably, the fast cutting pace in action sequences is missing.
Michael Brooke
09-01-2002, 08:47
I completely agree with Clipper - why do people automatically assume that the longest version is invariably the best?
I was recently involved in reducing a feature film from a 140-minute first cut to a 95-minute final cut, and there's no question that the latter is a far superior film. True, we had to sacrifice a few scenes that looked great in isolation - but they just didn't work in the context of the film as a whole, throwing the pacing off (something that's very hard to calculate during writing and production) and interfering with the overall story arc.
Much the same is true of the 139-minute <I>Dawn of the Dead</I>, which is often painfully dull to little real effect. Romero was absolutely right to cut it, and I actually think he could have trimmed it further!
dtsrules
09-01-2002, 09:20
Originally posted by Clipper
As for the German 156-minute version...
... Admittedly I'd like to catch it once just for the novelty curio factor
That's why i said about including it in this edition.I would love to see it and make my own mind up.
Originally posted by Michael Brooke
I completely agree with Clipper - why do people automatically assume that the longest version is invariably the best?
Did i mention it being the best version?
If it's available why not try to use it and give us punters the choice.
Clipper-
09-01-2002, 10:08
With regard to the 156 minute version I only mentioned that whilst it would be interesting it will undoubtedly be a mess... Did Romero even cut or see this version? Or did some schlep slap it together :)
As for giving punters choice... well this is always an interesting point to me...
Alot of the time we defend Director's to the hilt and say that we want to see their preferred vision... Be it with aspect ratios or versions of films. It seems this only applies when it suits us...
I'm sure if Romero had his way there would only be one version available as he intended it to be seen.
So having 3 versions is a nice to have for the consumer but I'm sure it's hardly what the director wanted.
If Romero somehow wrestled control of the film and only allowed 1 version in future releases (barring the Italian market of course) then I would respect his decision... To tell the truth I always watch the theatrical and have only watched the other version once or twice in the case of the so-called DC.
Cameron prefers Aliens : SE (obviously) and now the earlier version is not available. I prefer the original version but I defend Cameron's right to only have his intended version available...
Kubrick basically wanted Fear and Desire to be unavailable... if he couldn't stand it anymore then I defend his right to prevent it's release (well the Estate's right now). Doesn't mean I don't want to see it.
Also the Shining... Kubrick trimmed it a week into it's theatrical run and those scenes have never appeared on the DVD's... Why? because he didn't want them seen... Yes I want to see them... but if he said no then who am I to complain.
In the end the Director is an artist and his/her final version is what we entitled to see.... Anything else is a bonus.
Michael Brooke
09-01-2002, 10:13
Again, I totally agree with Clipper - and in any case, if you're that desperate to see this totally unofficial 156-minute version, why not assemble it yourself? It looks as though Anchor Bay will be providing you with all the raw materials! :D
Clipper-
09-01-2002, 13:25
The issue is even more complex...
I did some research in the past when reviewing the 2-disc dutch edition for the DVDTimes review and after some double checking it seems I'd forgotten exactly how many versions there are :)
http://us.imdb.com/AlternateVersions?0077402
maybe we should have the Japanese cut with a neat explanation as to why the Zombies walk the Earth at the beginning?
or the ultra short 102-minute ultra violent German cut
or the 110-minute violence free German cut
or...
The question is where do you stop? the 156-minute version is no more valid than any of the others mentioned above and IMDB lists several versions which seem more "official"
If you add the unauthorised 156-minute cut then do you try and track down 145-minute german bootleg edition?
In fact why not just give us the unedited footage and let us create our own cut :D at it seems everyone else has had a go...
BTW is there a record for the number of alternate versions there is of a film? And does Dawn of the Dead hold it :D
oh and finally an additional question for MB...
IMDB has this quote
"DVD of the theatrical cut released by Anchor Bay in 1999 contains some extra footage during the dock scene (in which Joe Pilato plays a police officer). This scene runs slightly longer than in the actual 126-minute theatrical version, but is not complete as seen in the "director's cut", or Cannes cut."
I'm sure you reviewed this... Surely this means that it isn't Romero's final U.S. cut or did it have his approval. I have to say that the scene has a bad cut in it which means Pilato suddenly appears from nowhere... (in fact in my review of the 2-disc I state that that is my only concern over the U.S. cut and I prefer the way the Cannes cut dealt with that scene)
wong fei hong
09-01-2002, 18:44
First off, I'm pretty excited about this - it is one of my favourite films. Zombies are great... :D
Skewing off the topic slightly,
Originally posted by Clipper-
maybe we should have the Japanese cut with a neat explanation as to why the Zombies walk the Earth at the beginning?
I have never heard about this, so I checked the link to imdb that was posted above and it says:
They accomplished this by sticking some white words on to a black background that typed across the screen while a heavy clicking came from the soundtrack
Sound familiar? Resident Evil games, anybody? Sounds like too much of a coincidence to be anything else. :cool:
I wonder what that explanation was...
it'd be nice if they dug out the infamous alternate ending (if it does actually exist :) )
Idle Child
11-01-2002, 00:09
good points clipper, but i think the point about the format of DVD itself needs to be considered, that allows us punters to experience deleted scenes/alternative takes/angle comparrison all at the touch of a button. it's more for the cash.
it's not so much assuming that a longer cut is "better", but when faced with spending your cash on essentially the same movie, but a different version of the disc which is less in running time, people tend to weigh it up and come to the conclusion that they'd like more for their money, rather than less.
in the case of the unofficial extended version of "Dawn", at least Anchor Bay is giving the customer more. However, i agree that if it's not director endorsed then it shouldn't appear on the disc, as i sure wouldn't like my films messed with if i were a director. If this is unendorsed, then anchor bay should have put the extended material in a sub-menu, away from the real movie, leaving the movie unmollested.
Michael Brooke
11-01-2002, 08:34
<B>it's not so much assuming that a longer cut is "better", but when faced with spending your cash on essentially the same movie, but a different version of the disc which is less in running time, people tend to weigh it up and come to the conclusion that they'd like more for their money, rather than less. </B>
Yes, but my point above is that more sometimes <U>is</U> less! To cite an example from personal experience (my own film <I>Paradise Grove</I>), we spent weeks agonising over where to put a scene that we thought was absolutely crucial, but just couldn't get it to fit - it kept breaking up the flow of the surrounding material.
Finally, almost in desperation, we tried running the film with the scene omitted altogether - and the improvement was miraculous: we missed it far less than we thought we would, because it turned out that all the information in that scene was conveyed in other forms elsewhere.
It's not the quantity that matters, it's the quality - something often forgotten by people who assume <I>Titanic</I> is a better film than Ingmar Bergman's <I>Persona</I> merely because it's more than twice as long!
Idle Child
11-01-2002, 11:22
yes and i agree it's the quality, but you can only make that informed judgement on a film when you've viewed both editions (longer & lesser). even then, it's a case of personal taste as too which version you prefer.
So, when faced with a choice of a movie you would like to own on DVD with the possiblity of extra scenes, i'd say more people are inclined to go for a longer cut than a standard version because they'd like to see more of what they originally liked. if only for completions sake.
i'm glad DVD allows this sort of thing. fans of a particular movie can look further into a movie's production and plot than normal VHS would allow. quality extras (like deleted scenes/alternate takes) on a dvd are a film fans' dream.
Randal_Graves
11-01-2002, 11:44
Originally posted by Clipper-
This is excellent news and means I can replace my Dutch 2 disc and Anchor Bay US theatrical...
Extras wise they have to get the Document of the Dead or else it is hardly a definitive package (as I and many others would have to keep the Dutch 2 disc which does have it).
Also I hope it has the FULL version of Document of the Dead on and not just the 60 minutes long one.
Clipper-
11-01-2002, 13:50
Very good point... I just assumed it was the full version... one simple check on IMDB shows that it is 24 mins shorter than it should be....
Actually after two mins of searching it seems there is a separate release of Document of the Dead on DVD. It's the full 84-minute version with 6 minutes of deleted footage. It also has a commentary from the makers. Finally it has some interview pieces from the set of Two Evil Eyes. DV-depot have it instock so I'm sure other retailers will as well.
Even if Anchor Bay get the documentary I doubt they'll get all the extras for the doc so this maybe worth a separate purchase.
I think I'll certainly add it to my "must buy" list :)
As for the 3-disk Dawn of the Dead it apparently will have the group commentary from the Laser Disc according to the rumours... other than that who knows?
No matter how much you learn about Dawn of the Dead and it's versions and history, there is always more to it than you think....
Cheers for the heads up Randal
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