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Day Of The Dead



Sometimes it takes a DVD audio commentary to really appreciate a movie. Seriously. It's sad (?) but true. Sometimes you'll pop a flick in, watch it and at the start of the end credits scroll, turn to yourself and think: "Well, that was a good flick. That was entertaining. I enjoyed myself during that flick." and then you go on with your life, quite often never to return to that chapter. But if you're like me, even movies you think haven't changed your life you still want to plough on through all of the DVD extras bits. Sometimes you'll hit a documentary which is better than the film itself (with alarming regularity I might add). And sometimes you'll hit a commentary which almost totally smacks you in the head.

Of course, these smacks in the head are almost never from the director, writer or star of said movie. They're mostly from other filmmakers. Fans. This is a case in point. When I finished Day Of The Dead I thought: "Yeah, that was pretty good. Not as good as Dawn, probably better than Night and Land. A solid B+ Romero flick." Then I listened to the director commentary. Very solid stuff. And made me appreciate the flick a little more. Especially Bub. And then I listened to Roger Avary's commentary. Roger Avary is someone who I have not really had much time for in the past. He one an Oscar along with QT for writing Pulp Fiction and I always assumed he was a hanger-onr, y'know, talentless. The Andrew Ridgely to George Michael or the Curt Smith to Roland Orzabel (who?). And Killing Zoe and Rules Of Attraction didn't exactly twirl my skirt either. But this commentary really got to me. They'd found someone who was a true fan. Of the Dead movies. But this was his favorite. But could acknowledge the flaws, but then push them aside with asides about strong characters, amazing visuals and economical filmmaking. You know someone is a true fan if they have the boardgame.

And most importantly, he made me want to go back and watch the movie again. Its rare these days (outside of an individual's holy trinity of movies) to want to go back and watch a movie a second time, when you've barely finished watching it for a first time.

Avary talks about the original screenplay which Romero wrote but was severely cut back when they couldn't get the funding. I'm reading it at the moment and it's amazing how much it plays like a James Cameron Aliens type zombie movie. I still haven't gone back to watch it yet. I've got Simpsons, Major Dundee, All About Eve and The Grifters all sitting on my shelf. But someday soon...

Oh, and if you're wondering about the subject heading it's called out quite a few times at the start of the movie as they are searching for survivors and has a great beat behind it by composer John Harrison. And Gorillaz sampled it brilliantly on their first album.