Document of the Dead (1980)

Document of the Dead: Directed by Roy Frumkes. With Susan Tyrrell, Nicole Potter, George A. Romero, Richard P. Rubinstein. A documentary about George A. Romero’s films, with a behind scenes look at Dawn of the Dead.

“Shot when u0026quot;making-ofu0026#39;su0026quot; werenu0026#39;t standard practice yet, this is a fortunate movie in that it not only provides a lot of insight into George Romerou0026#39;s working methods, but also catches him making one of his (and the horror genreu0026#39;s) best films, the original u0026quot;Dawn of the Dead.u0026quot; Thereu0026#39;s also a moderate amount of information about u0026quot;Night of the Living Deadu0026quot; and u0026quot;Martin,u0026quot; used to further detail identifiable aspects of his cinematic style. It would have been interesting if the film had gone on to describe the marketing, box-office and general commercial rewards of u0026quot;Dawn,u0026quot; rather than stopping with post-production and the decision to release without an MPAA rating.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI saw the 2nd of the documentaryu0026#39;s three versions, which adds material shot ten years later when he was shooting his part of the two-part horror feature u0026quot;Two Evil Eyes.u0026quot; That content is fine but doesnu0026#39;t really deepen the profile, beyond showing that Romero hadnu0026#39;t really profited from the horror explosion of the VCr era–perhaps because he preferred to work independently, perhaps because the increasingly franchise-driven nature of mainstream horror didnu0026#39;t appeal to him. (Even though, of course, he had his own u0026quot;Deadu0026quot; franchise–but that pretty much reinvented itself with each new entry.) In any case, he seems a bit embattled and weary of the constant struggle for funding in this shorter second section.”