While many will cite Dawn Of The Dead as being George A. Romero’s crowning achievement, hardcore fans often point to its follow-up Day Of The Dead as the high point of the series. Following a group of soldiers and scientists in an underground bunker in a world overrun with zombies, it’s a tense and claustrophobic slow-burner (but when it eventually goes off, it really goes off) and its themes of disintegration of community and loss of trust contain still-relevant warnings about how the main threat to society can sometimes come from within.
Umbrella’s Ultimate Edition – released for the Australian market – includes what appears to be the same print as 2013’s Shout! Factory release, which is no bad thing as the picture was far sharper and brighter than the original 2007 BR release. With any re-release of a classic film though, it’s the extras we’re most interested in, and there’s a huge amount of bonus content across this two-disc set. Unfortunately though, there’s not much new content here – these extra features (apart from potentially one, which we haven’t seen mentioned anywhere else) have been available on previous DVD/BR releases…
Making of documentary “The World’s End” is the most recent inclusion, again taken from Shout! Factory’s 2013’s BR edition. The usual interviews with the cast and crew give the lowdown on how the idea for the film and its eventual production came together, interspersed with behind the scenes photos. Romero himself is in fine form here, smiling and joking his way through his comments – all of the interviewees are very laid back, and everyone comes across well. With a running time of 85 minutes, it’s the only HD extra in this collection – everything else is presented in standard definition.
Elsewhere on disc one, the main feature includes two audio commentaries and a couple of entertaining behind the scenes mini-documentaries – one following the cast and crew, and the other focusing on the work of special effects maestro Tom Savini. The possible new addition is a 50-minute Q&A with George A. Romero from the 2008 Melbourne International Film Festival, plus there’s the usual TV spots and theatrical trailers, and an old 8-minute infomercial for the Gateway Commerce Centre, the underground facility where DOTD was filmed.
Moving on to disc two’s archive content, presented on DVD rather than Bluray, a decent selection of documentaries scrutinise the production of the film in even more detail. Arrow Video’s 40-minute “The Many Days Of The Dead” is another talking heads-style documentary which feels very similar to disc one’s “The World’s End”, and “Reflections On The Living Dead”, originally released to coincide with Night Of The Living Dead‘s 25th anniversary in 1993 and presumably included here for completion’s sake, features a round table discussion (without the table) between four of the key players behind the film. Between these and the two audio commentaries on disc one, there’s an awful lot of information to take in.
Captain Rhodes (the eccentrically-dressed Joe Pilato) takes centre stage in “Joe Of The Dead” where he seems happy to talk about himself for 50 minutes (although a little less interested in reprising some of his lines from the film), and the home video-style (ie. picture and audio quality varies wildly) “Travelogue Of The Dead” (17 minutes) in which he attends a couple of conventions in Scotland and Ireland. Rounding things off is a huge 500-picture image gallery containing all manner of behind the scenes photos, poster and video artwork, and even production documents to wade through.
As the title says, this is a fantastic attempt at creating the “Ultimate Edition” of one of the all-time greatest zombie films. Apart from the film fest interview though (and a stunning illustration on the reversible cover), there’s not really anything notable for owners of previous editions, so unless you’re a hardcore fan or just getting your Romero collection started, there aren’t a huge amount of reasons to seek this edition out.
DAY OF THE DEAD: ULTIMATE EDITION / CERT: 18 / DIRECTOR: GEORGE A. ROMERO / SCREENPLAY: GEORGE A. ROMERO / STARRING: LORI CARDILLE, JOE PILATO, SHERMAN HOWARD, RICHARD LIBERTY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW (AUS)
