A few reviews

[TM2YC]

Dawn of the Dead (1978)
It's about time for a re-watch of this classic film about a group of people isolating themselves indoors from all the infected people outside. One of the things I love most about George A. Romero's movie is the clever and systematic way the characters go about setting themselves up in the mall. They act like such real people, believable, fallible and endearing protagonists. I couldn't help comparing it to the very shallow treatment of a comparable situation in 'A Quiet Place'. On past viewings, I hadn't noticed how many little moments there are of Roger becoming paralyzed with terror in the first half. It really sets up when he finally does have his break down during the truck corral scene. Ken Foree is amazing as Peter, you'd really want him on your team in a zombie apocalypse.

I watched Dario Argento's shorter "Zombi" European Cut for the first time, via the unusual full-frame/open-mate unrestored transfer on the 4K Midnight Factory boxset (it's totally uncropped, showing the edges of the film cells). It's like watching some sort of early rough-cut version of the movie in a 35mm screening room. I absolutely adore Claudio Simonetti/Goblin's score so I liked that this cut uses more of it but sometimes it did drown out the dialogue and sound (not sure if this was the rough audio of the transfer though). Argento manages to tell the same story in 10-20 minutes less time than either of Romero's cuts but the satirical elements felt less biting, the introspective moments weren't as deep and there is much less kooky humour.