Down in the Mall

Dawn of the Dead: US Theatrical Cut
Nightcrawlers Meetup
DVD
1/12/08

"Bobby Conroy Comes Back From the Dead"
in 20th Century Ghosts
by Joe Hill

I went to the first Meetup last night, a Zombiethon of Dawn of the Dead, and the first two versions of Night of the Living Dead. Due to the playoffs, I was only able to stay for the first movie, which turned out to be Dawn. I think I've only actually seen it twice. Once of VHS waaay back in high school (I don't recall liking it) and the "Director's Cut" at least five years ago. I remember thinking it was great then. But I think I prefer the shorter Theatrical Cut.

I like movies like this and Blade Runner, where there's a number of different versions out there and everybody has one they like better. It's not like the Zach Snyder Dawn of the Dead, where there's two versions, but one is clearly superior, mainly because the R-Rated cut of Snyder's Dawn drops a scene that make a big chunk of the movie make sense. I like Snyder's movie and I seem to like it more each time I see it, but I think the remake factor knocks it down a notch (The Fly and The Thing just tapped me on the shoulder and coughed. Wait, that was Tilda). And there's more going on in Romero's film, subtext-wise, even though Snyder's does not have anybody stupid enough to take a blood-pressure test in the midst of a zombie attack.

When did I get into a which-is-better argument with myself? I like them both.

One thing I did notice this time around was that the blood did not look as Crayola-red as I remembered. I've since found out that for the DVD release they actually went through and recolored the blood. It fixes one of the things that severely dates the picture, though there's not much that can be done about the clothes, hair, or carpet on the walls. I'm fine with going back and changing that aspect of the movie. Everybody should get a do-over.

Speaking of which...

Just before bed last night, I read "Bobby Conroy Comes Back From the Dead," in Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts collection. It's a nice story about second chances and zombie love. Though it's not really about zombies, in that it's a love story between two zombie extras on the set of Romero's Dawn of the Dead. It's good, though not as brilliant as Hill's "Pop Art" or "20th Century Ghost," and he seems to get Romero and Tom Savini just right. Like most of what I've read by Hill (and dammit, I keep wanting to call him "King") I feel like all I really should say about it is that it's good, and you should read it.
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I'm going to try to do this with each movie now:

Still image alert: Peter and Steven go to the bank.