Dawn of the Dead on BBC 2

mike65

FILM: Dawn of The Dead
Channel: BBC 2 Northern Ireland (Digital) 106
Date: Wednesday 7th April 2004
Time: 23:20 to 01:40 (starting in 4 days)
Duration: 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Gruesome horror story in which the deceased return to life to devour the living. As the rampaging zombie population multiplies, four people barricade themselves in a shopping mall in a desperate bid to survive. A sequel to the horror classic Night of the Living Dead.
Director: George A Romero
Starring: Ken Foree, David Emge, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, Tom Savini
(Subtitles, 1979, 4 Star)

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Mike.

ixoy

And also don't forget to point out that the first movie in the trilogy - Night of the Living Dead - is on BBC2 on Sunday/Monday @ 00:25-2:00. That's the original Romero 1968 version, not the '90s remake. Maybe they'll also show Day of the Dead later on?

mike65

Good call! On "Day..." I think Channel 4 have the rights to that one so....

Mike.

vibe666

nice one. prefer day of the dead myself though, but it's still a great movie, they both were. rather good timing too. methinks, more than just coincidence.

BrianD3

"Dawn" has been shown a number of times on BBC 2 (analogue) but each time it has had some of the gore cut out. Eg the head explosion, screwdriver to ear and machete to head scenes were missing, and the zombie children scene was shortened.

I wonder if they will show the film intact this time? I doubt it!

As for Day of the Dead, I reckon the dead will walk the earth before that film will be shown uncut on UK terrestrial TV I don't think any version of "Day" has been shown on terrestrial TV but AFAIK a cut version was shown on the satellite channel Bravo. And Bravo also showed a FULLY UNCUT version of Dawn a few years back

BrianD3

BrianD3

So, did anyone catch the film last night? I saw about the first 50 minutes and all gore scenes that are usually cut or shortened were fully intact This included the head explosion, neck/arm munching and the zombie children shooting. I assume that the rest of the film was also uncut, with scenes such as the screwdriver through the ear and machete to the head also being uncensored.

AFAIK this is the first time that Dawn has ever been shown fully uncut on UK terrestrial TV.

BrianD3

mike65

I was wondering which version they would show - the last time it was on it was 138 mins long and was apparently the version that Romeo considered the most "complete" and but also as noted above missing some of the big "splat" moments. It also had a somewhat partial music soundtrack with some sequence edits that were fairly loose as well.

I taped it off NTL digital so will sit down to enjoy it some time soon!

Mike.

lodgepole

That was the Argento cut they showed last night wasn't it?

mike65

Good question! I think the Argento cut which was distributed in most of Europe was also just about the shortest at 118 mins or so. But lasts nights was 140
yet it contains scenes that were not in the long Romeo
version as mentioned by me above. I just watched the first 15 mins (to check the tape was okay and nearly got engrossed!) and the exploding "shot gun head" is included this time.

Also what dipstick decided to show it 4:3 ratio?

edit> just found this http://dvd.reviewindex.co.uk/reviews_uk/B00008MIYY.html

Noticeable restorations include shots of zombie children being machine-gunned, and two instances from the tenement siege: sight of a man biting chunks of flesh from a womans arm and neck, and a mans head exploding from a shotgun blast. Also included is the machete in the head. Yes, its UNCUT! If youve only seen the heavily cut late eighties video version released by EIV, youre in for a treat here.

First point of contention is the 4:3 picture (seems unmatted) and the print used, which is from an NTSC source and features frequent speckles and marks. On the good side, colours and black level are both reasonably good, and for a low-budget seventies movie it generally looks okay, with a reasonable amount of detail. Its arguable that a fully remastered version wouldnt look that much better unless an original negative was used.

Mike.

RichyX

That was the first time I've seen it and was a good old laugh. Never been freaked by horrors but this had a cool twitchy feeling. Tempted to see the remake but it reeks of MTV so doubt I will.

lodgepole

Just looked up the imdb, and it was shot to 1.37:1 on the negative and matted for cinema release. So the version shown was unmatted, which is a lot more forgiveable than pan and scan.

Retr0gamer

That was the first time I've seen it. Was a right old laugh.

Since my mother taped over night of the living dead I've been tempted by this:

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=105309&p=57&c=&g=72

Although if they are cut then I won't bother.

jill_valentine

Somebody mentioned the remake. I saw it last night and while it might as well have been called "The Little Elephants Tobogan" to all the relation it bore to the original, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Its sort of the b***rd offspring of Pitch Black and 28 Days Later. The best opening reel of any movie, ever. Fantastic opening, fantastic ending, and while it doesn't even try for the creepy dread of the first, my heart never stopped bloody pounding. Andrenalicious!

lodgepole

Originally posted by Retr0gamer
That was the first time I've seen it. Was a right old laugh.

Since my mother taped over night of the living dead I've been tempted by this:

http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=105309&p=57&c=&g=72

Although if they are cut then I won't bother.

Be wary of that box set. I have a terrible feeling that the Night of the Living Dead in the set is the version with the new score and the reshot "additional" footage. If it is, avoid... It's terrible.

RebelRockChick

Just wondering , the black actor thats in Dawn of The Dead , is that the father in the Nickelodeon series " Kenan and Kel " ??

RebelRockChick

The original verison by the way im referring to

BrianD3

Just wondering , the black actor thats in Dawn of The Dead , is that the father in the Nickelodeon series " Kenan and Kel

That's Ken Foree you're referring to and yes he was in Kenan and Kel - his IMDB profile including filography is here:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0286010/

BrianD3

LemmingBoy

I saw Dawn of the Dead pretty good the actors act and talk to slowley though.

neXus9

Romero is actually working on a new zombie film called diamond dead. From what I read it doesn't seem like an addition to the trilogy, more of a parody. It's got the composer of rocky horror picture show, so it's gonna have a good element of atmosphere anyway.

Here's excerpts from the script

Caesar_Bojangle

I just got around to watching it last night. Its a great film but it didn't manage to stir as much suspense as Night of the living dead. I don't know if its just the directors cut but it certainly lagged in the middle

after they killed all the zombies and sealed up the entrance until the bikers attacked