Document of the Dead

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Movie
German title Document of the Dead /
George A. Romero's Document of the Dead
Original title Document of the Dead
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1979
length 66 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Roy Frumkes
script Roy Frumkes
production Roy Frumkes
cut Roy Frumkes
occupation

Document of the Dead (in German as: Document of the Dead ) is a documentary of the American filmmaker Roy Frumkes from the year 1979 , mainly during production of George A. Romero's film Dawn of the Dead was filmed. It originally appeared with a running time of 66 minutes, but was subsequently expanded twice, first in 1989 to 85 minutes and finally in 2012 to 102 minutes.

action

George A. Romero in 2009.

The documentary looks back on George A. Romero's first television commercials and sheds light on the career and stylistic techniques of the director of Dawn of the Dead .

history

In 1977, Roy Frumkes, a teacher at the New York School of Visual Arts, wanted to make an educational film about independent filmmaking. He received US $ 7,000 to produce a 25-minute feature film based on the film productions of Earl Owensby's Wolfman or George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead . Frumkes ultimately chose Dawn of the Dead as Romero was already a seasoned independent filmmaker. The film was produced on 16mm film with a running time of 66 minutes and cost $ 33,000.

Document of the Dead premiered on January 19, 1981 in Joseph Papp's Public Theater in Manhattan and then screened at numerous film festivals , where it received multiple awards. Despite this success, however, there were no offers from film distributors to exploit the film commercially. In 1988, ten years after the shooting, Frumke's former student Len Anthony offered to distribute the film through his company Off Hollywood . Frumkes agreed, and Anthony had the, in his view "somewhat antiquated" film through additional interviews with George A. Romero on the film set of Two Evil Eyes widen. This portion of the film lasted a total of 24 minutes, was shot on video , and cost an additional $ 50,000. The 85-minute film was released on VHS video in 1989.

The 85-minute version was put on video several times. In 1996, Tee Dee Gee Distributing was re-released on VHS in Great Britain, Australia, Germany and Japan. In 1995 the film was released in Japan on laser disc . In 1998 the first edition on DVD followed with an additional audio commentary , six minutes of deleted scenes and previously unpublished interviews on Two Evil Eyes. Since 1999 it has appeared as bonus material in several editions of Dawn of the Dead on DVD and Blu-ray Disc .

In 2012, the film was expanded to 102 minutes with interviews that were recorded until 2006. It was released as The Definitive Document of the Dead on DVD along with a new audio commentary. In another DVD / Blu-ray combo pack edition, the Blu-ray also contains a high-resolution digitization of the original 66-minute 16 mm film.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Roy Frumkes: A Zombie's Testament . In: Fangoria . No. 85 , August 1989 (English).
  2. ↑ a b Gregory Lamberson: Roy Frumkes: Producing Screams and Laughter . In: Cheap Scares !: Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets . McFarland & Company, Inc., ISBN 978-0-7864-3706-1 .
  3. ↑ a b Document of the Dead. In: The DAWN of the DEAD Reference Page. Retrieved November 7, 2019 .
  4. ^ Document of the Dead. In: Synapse-Films.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Eric Cotenas: The Definitive Document of the Dead. In: dvddrive-in.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019 .
  6. ^ The Definitive Document of the Dead [Synapse Website Exclusive Limited BD / DVD Combo]. In: Synapse-Films.com. Retrieved November 7, 2019 .