Completion Date:
Production Time:
Number Of Discs:
Language(s):
Subtitle(s):
December 19, 2022
6 Weeks
3
English
None
Source(s):
Retail PAL VHS Tapes
Bootleg NTSC & PAL VHS Tapes
Bootleg NTSC DVDs
35mm Film Reels
YouTube Clips
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Double sided Blu-ray cover artwork - 14mm spine (click to enlarge)
This project started out as a higher quality Blu-Ray recreation of my 2013 Dawn Of The Dead 1995 BBFC Cut DVD, which contains a straight transfer of the 1995 UK Entertainment In Video VHS tape of Dawn Of The Dead, with covers & disc art, but no menus. Having newly re-transferred the original tape, I thought I could do better than another bare-bones transfer, which would leave the other 2/3 of the Blu-Ray disc empty. Another Dawn Of The Dead version I thought worth preserving was the 1981 UK Intervision pre-cert VHS, although I've never owned that myself. The project then expanded to a second disc to include more related material, and eventually a third disc.
I first saw Dawn Of The Dead on VHS around 1993 rented from a video shop; the heavily BBFC censored 4Front Video gold colour cover VHS version. I remember at having a few long conversations with a guy who worked at the college library in 1996. Being a horror fan, he'd been to a number of conventions in London where VHS bootlegs of uncut Nasties were freely available. He did say he's pick me up a copy as I was such a huge fan, but never came though unfortunately.
On February 2nd, 1997, BBC2 showed the almost-uncut Extended (AKA Cannes or Directors Cut) version at 11:30pm. This was preceded by an eight minute interview entitled George Romero And The Dawn Of The Dead. As it was listed in the Radio Times it; "...contains previously unshown additional material.". This version was over twenty-one minutes longer than the current version you could buy on VHS, plus had a lot of the previously-censored violence & gore intact. It was such a big deal to me at the time.
It was shown as part of the BBC2 Forbidden Season of films "exploring dark and disturbing areas of the imagination". On January 19th, 1997 there was an interview with David Cronenberg followed by Videodrome. The remaining movies were introduced by noteworthy commentators; February 9th; Alex Cox with Giulio Questi's bizarre western Django Kill, February 16th; Shinya Tsukamoto's Japanese body-horror Tetsuo II: Bodyhammer, February 23rd; Mark Cousins on Georges Franju's nightmarish vision Eyes Without A Face, and finally on March 22nd; Christopher Frayling on Alexandra Jodorowsky's surreal spaghetti western El Topo.
I finally tracked down an uncut version myself in 2001; the Dutch Filmworks DVD set (Cat no: DVD0925), from The Cinema Store in central London. having been a regular most weekends for a good few months prior to this, the guy in the DVD department downstairs asked if I wanted to have a look through 'the horror box', whereby out popped a box from under the counter filled with extreme uncut import DVDs, which would have been illegal to sell. Over the course of a few months I bought a pile of titles such as I Spit On Your Grave, Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, Men Behind The Sun, Naked Blood, Dr Lamb, Organ and Evil Dead Trap, all stupidly priced (£30 - £40 as I vaguely recall), but what did I know? Something untoward must have happened, as I went in one weekend and suddenly the guy "had no idea what the horror box was", and from then on, that was the end of that!
In September 2022, I had the opportunity to acquire something very special; a personally funded 35mm 5K scan of an original Dawn Of The Dead's US Theatrical version print. Costing $918 to add to this set (including print rental, scanning, a HDD and postage), it was scanned from seven film reels. It's completely open matte up to the edge of the film frame, presented as virtually square, meaning a matte to 1.85:1 removes around 45% of the frame. Zoom that in a little to neaten-up the left & right sides and you're over 50% of the frame gone on the cropped Blu-Ray releases.
Dawn Of The Dead US 1978 Theatrical Version 35mm Blu-Ray transfer screenshot gallery
For a 1970s vintage print, it was in surprisingly decent shape, although it required a fair bit of work to restore. Not only did the print have significant red-fade, but there were also variations in levels, exposure, saturation & colour balance, from section to section, and even shot-to-shot in some places. Given the low budget nature of the production and various cameras and film stock used, this would have been on the original print for the most part, but I've toned much of it down. It's still far from perfect, but it's much better than it was. You can see my very-busy Premiere timeline below.
The current Blu-Ray releases go very heavy on the colour saturation, but I found after adjusting the reds, the 35mm scan quite closely matched the more-natural-looking 1981 Intervision VHS pre-cert, so that's what I aimed for throughout. It's presented here with the original dual mono optical audio mix. You can see from the screenshots below, that the Blu-Ray was scanned from the camera negative so the frame is slightly wider than the 35mm, but looses a fair bit top & bottom once cropped.
Framing & quality comparison; Dawn Of The Dead US 35mm Open-Matte 5K Scan -Vs-
2020 UK Second Sight 1.85:1 Matted Blu-Ray
The film plays here from start to finish without any menus or extras on the disc, save a 35mm scan of the Dawn Of The Dead US theatrical trailer playing beforehand (shown below). This is for a few reasons. I've already included all the Dawn special features & extras I wanted to include on the other two discs, and at 125 minutes, I need all the disc-space I can get to give the film the best possible bitrate.
Via the same avenue, I could also get a scan a 35mm print of the Argento Italian cut of Dawn Of The Dead, along with a less desirable 16mm version of the Extended Cut. Either or both could form a future upgrade to this project.
The US 35mm trailer scan needed a similar amount of work as the main feature. The quality is a little rougher than the film, but it's a worthy inclusion non-the-less.
Dawn Of The Dead UK 1981 Intervision VHS pre-cert cover and tape
Just a little background, both VHS versions featured on the first disc of this Blu-Ray release were censored, either by the BBFC or pre-censored by the distributor. Out of the Theatrical, Argento and Extended/Cannes versions; the 1981 Intervision pre-cert seems to be a straight transfer of the original US Theatrical version of the movie (which uncut, runs at 2h 05m 25s). It was retitled Zombies and rated 'X' with 5m 05s of BBFC cuts to the violence and gore, running at 2h 00m 20s. This was first released in a cardboard box in 1981, and re-released with a clamshell box and sleeve in 1983 (both Cat no: A-A 0358).
While this VHS release wasn't among the infamous DPP list of 72 Video Nasties (known as 'Section 1' & 'Section 2'), it was part of the wider 82-title 'Section 3' list. 'Section 3' titles could not be prosecuted for obscenity, but were non-the-less liable to seizure and confiscation under a "less obscene" charge, and ultimately destroyed. This hit Alpha/Intervision; its distributor hard. Following the Video Nasties scandal and the introduction of the VRA in 1985; the company went under.
In 1989 the rights were picked up by Entertainment In Video and they re-submitted the UK 'X' rated version to the BBFC. It was passed with a further 12 seconds of cuts and released the same year (Cat no: EVV 1085). It was re-released three years later in 1992 on the Entertainment In Video Polygram 4Front label with its recognisable gold coloured VHS cover (Cat no: 086 198 3), and re-issued again in 1995 with further cuts by the distributor now running at 1h 58m 05s, with a total of around 7m 20s of cuts (Cat no: EVS 1027). These additional cuts were due to the media furore concerning screen violence in the wake of the Dunblane massacre and the killing of James Bulger. These three versions replaced the Zombies on-screen title, with a cue card reading Dawn Of The Dead. In 1997 BMG picked up the rights, submitting the Extended/Cannes version which the BBFC passed at around 139 minutes with only six seconds of cuts (Cat no: 74321 443663). It wasn't until 2003 that BMG got the full uncut Cannes version passed and released on DVD (Cat no: 74321 443600).
So, just to sum up the above as it's a little tricky to follow, this Blu-Ray set contains transfers of the least censored Dawn Of The Dead VHS release (the 1981 Intervision), and the most censored VHS release (the 1995 Entertainment In Video), sold in British retail stores prior to 1997.
Dawn Of The Dead UK 1995 Entertainment In Video VHS cover and tape
Assembling the project itself was fairly straightforward. I already owned a decent VHS copy of the UK 1995 Entertainment In Video VHS, and was able to loan a copy of the UK 1981 Intervision pre-cert VHS from Scott; a UK collector. While that tape was really quite decent quality for a fourty-year-old tape, I found two sections of tape had been chewed up; as Peter shoots the mall security guard zombie, and the last bit of the end credits. I was able to loan another copy of the same tape from another collector; Oli. That tape was a little more worn being an ex-rental, but it certainly looked better than the chewed up sections, and they were patched together to make the final version.
Dawn Of The Dead UK 1981 Intervision VHS pre-cert to SD Blu-Ray transfer screenshot gallery
Dawn Of The Dead UK 1995 Entertainment In Video VHS to SD Blu-Ray transfer screenshot gallery
Something I never noticed until seeing screenshots lined up like this, is how red the UK 1995 Entertainment In Video VHS below is, especially in comparison to the much brighter and clearer UK 1981 Intervision pre-cert VHS at the top.
UK collector Scott, also managed to hunt down a copy of the UK Zombies - Dawn Of The Dead trailer, which he found on the UK 1981 Intervision Exterminator pre-cert VHS. I loaned this tape, and between the two Intervision tapes I was able to edit together a 5-minute compilation containing trailers for Dawn Of The Dead, The Brood, Rabid, and Night Of The Living Dead. I transferred the full Exterminator tape, although as of writing I'm not sure if I'll be doing anything with this as it's a film I've only seen once, and didn't think much of. It might make a decent future double-bill Blu-Ray project with the UK 1981 Intervision VHS release of Vigilante; another similar film which I do like. I was able to track down a so-so quality copy of the Dawn Of The Dead Entertainment In Video VHS Trailer on YouTube, which was AI upscaled for inclusion here.
The Exterminator UK 1981 Intervision VHS pre-cert cover and tape
I was able to fit both main movies, and still had a fair bit of space left over on the first disc, so I added in a few extras. A couple of the entries I added are also present on the fanmade Dawn Of The Dead Ultimate Edition - Volume 2 DVD/Blu-Ray, although these versions are from better sources I've come across through trading and doing past projects over the years. You can see a list of everything included further down.
Intervision 1981 Trailer Compilation
DOTD EIV 1995 VHS Trailer
Son of ISFS - Ep6 - Romero/Savini
Forbidden Season - 1997 DOTD Trailer
Forbidden Season - 1997 George Int
Clive Barker's A - Z Of Horror - Ep3
Creepshow BTS FX Footage
Creepshow Workprint
Day Of The Dead BTS FX Footage
NOTLD90 BTS FX Footage
NOTLD90 Workprint
Two Evil Eyes BTS FX Footage
In addition to the first disc, I had some pre-existing bootleg VHS to DVD transfers which I though would have a fitting home on this set. This included Creepshow, Day Of The Dead, Night Of The Living Dead '90, and Two Evil Eyes; various workprints & behind the scenes effects footage. Just to say up front, none of this was transferred by me, and the quality isn't great. I've had copies these for years and I just authored them all together from the seven source DVD-Rs, to one BD-R disc, with new menus & disc art.
As an aside, back in March 2022, a user called Mark posted on the Facebook timeline, that he owned a number of original VHS tapes containing over seven hours of Day Of The Dead Behind The Scenes Effects Footage originally purchased from a teacher at the Savini School of Make-up. Despite making contact, he wasn't keen on sharing or trading it. So there is at least another 2-3 hours of footage which seems not to have been released in the bootleg community.
The artwork was a fairly simple choice; a double sided Blu-Ray cover with a modified version of the Intervision cover on one side, and the Entertainment In Video cover on the other. I'm sure most people will choose the Intervision side, but it's nice to have the choice. The artwork for disc one is roughly based on the Intervision tape label. Disc two is modelled on the UK 1995 Entertainment In Video VHS releases' tape label, which matches the inside reversible cover on the existing set. Disc three is modelled on a VHS home-recorded VHS tape label, with a little sketchy title drawings.
The menus were created over a few evenings. Disc 1's menu is a mock-up of the original Alpha Video ident. I created the logo animation from scratch over two evenings in After Effects. It deviates a bit from the original VHS version (plus it has different music; the Cable 83 ident music lifted from Videodrome), but it has the same 'feel' to it. You can watch that sequence above. Disc 2 plays without a menu since there is nothing else to choose from, but has chapter stops every 5 minutes. Disc 3's menu is a simple blue screen VHS style screen recycled from the Evil Dead Shorts & Trailers Blu-Ray.
Disc 3 has a PC accessible BD-ROM folder, containing high quality 600dpi scans of each source's VHS cover and tape, along with an MP3 copy of my 2014 Dawn Of The Dead - Extended Cut OST project.
One issue worth mentioning, is that while all the discs are region-free, due to the format of the source footage, disc 1 is in UK PAL format, and disc 2 & 3 in USA NTSC format. This is unlikely to be a problem for most, although many Blu-Ray players in the USA will not play PAL content, so please check this won't be a problem for you. You can see the specs for all the items included across the set below;
Disc 1 - PAL (5h 36m 14s)
Intervision Trailers; Dawn Of The Dead / The Brood / Rabid / NOTLD68 (1981 ~ 5m 27s)
Dawn Of The Dead Intervision VHS Full Movie (1981 ~ 2h 00m 31s)
Dawn Of The Dead Entertainment In Video VHS Trailer (1995 ~ 1m 59s)
Dawn Of The Dead Entertainment In Video VHS Full Movie (1995 ~ 1h 58m 08s)
Son of The Incredibly Strange Film Show - Episode 6 - Romero/Savini (Channel 4 ~ 27th October 1989 ~ 38m 16s)
The Forbidden Weekend Trailer (BBC2 ~ 27th May 1995 ~ 37s)
The Forbidden Season - Dawn Of The Dead Trailer (BBC2 ~ 1st February 1997 ~ 22s)
The Forbidden Season - George Romero & Dawn Of The Dead (BBC2 ~ 2nd February 1997 ~ 8m 28s)
Clive Barker's A - Z Of Horror - Episode 2 - Promo Only (BBC2 ~ 4th October 1997 ~ 31s)
Clive Barker's A - Z Of Horror - Episode 3 - The Kingdom Of The Dead (BBC2 ~ 18th October 1997 ~ 41m 05s)
Clive Barker's A - Z Of Horror - Episode 4 - Promo Only (BBC2 ~ 18th October 1997 ~ 31s)
Disc 2 - NTSC (02h 07m 36s)
Dawn Of The Dead 1978 US 35mm Trailer (0h 02m 44s)
Dawn Of The Dead - Theatrical Version 1978 US 35mm transfer (2h 04m 52s)
Disc 3 - NTSC (11h 18m 34s)
Creepshow Behind The Scenes Effects Footage (1h 53m 55s) (Bought from US DVD trading website in September 2004)
Creepshow Workprint (2h 10m 01s) (Bought from US DVD trading website in September 2004)
Day Of The Dead Behind The Scenes Effects Footage (4h 44m 06s) (Bought from US DVD trading website in September 2004)
Night Of The Living Dead '90 Behind The Scenes Effects Footage (34m 39s) (Bought from US DVD trading website in September 2008)
Night Of The Living Dead '90 Workprint (1h 27m 25s) (Downloaded from a now-defunct website in May 2010)
Two Evil Eyes Behind The Scenes Effects Footage (28m 25s) (Bought from US DVD trading website in September 2008)
The set is supplied in a clear 3-way Blu-Ray case, with a laser-printed reversible cover & printed disc artwork. You can see a gallery of photos from of the set below.
A gallery; the finished Blu-Ray three-disc set, with reversable cover
In July 2022, I spent a day modifying this set's Intervision UK pre-cert VHS trailer, to be included in future DVD/Blu-Ray projects as an an advertisement for this set. The modification just involved overlaying my own text; carefully tweaked to appear identical to the trailers original on-screen text. While this trailer might only get a handful people interested who would not have been otherwise, it's really just a fun side-project.
If you're interested in any of my fanmade projects, you can contact me via email at , or through the Rob's Nostalgia Projects Facebook page. Check out & 'like' that Facebook page to see the latest in-progress updates to any current projects, and check out my Wants List to see if you can assist me with any future projects or upgrades.
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