Designing the Dead (2002)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
When MGM announced that they were finally releasing THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD fans were finally getting what they wanted. It was followed by even better news that it was going to be a Special Edition release and that we were going to get a featurette. Sadly, when the disc was finally released there wasn't anything too special about it and this featurette didn't include any of the cast members and only features writer-director Dan O'Bannon and production designer William Stout. O'Bannon talks about coming out to Hollywood, going into film school and talks about the various bits of advice he was given. He talks about how he got involved with the film and how he thought the final product came out. Stout talks about his influences (the EC comic) and what type of designs he wanted to do and how he pulled them off with such a low budget. I'll be honest and say that the stories told are quite interesting and these two men are fun to listen to but there's still no denying that you actually learn very little about the film itself. There are so many topics that aren't discussed you really wonder if the person doing the interviews has really ever seen the film. This featurette is even weaker today since MORE BRAIN! A RETURN TO THE LIVING DEAD, a full two-hour documentary, has came out and made this here pretty much pointless.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
When MGM announced that they were finally releasing THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD fans were finally getting what they wanted. It was followed by even better news that it was going to be a Special Edition release and that we were going to get a featurette. Sadly, when the disc was finally released there wasn't anything too special about it and this featurette didn't include any of the cast members and only features writer-director Dan O'Bannon and production designer William Stout. O'Bannon talks about coming out to Hollywood, going into film school and talks about the various bits of advice he was given. He talks about how he got involved with the film and how he thought the final product came out. Stout talks about his influences (the EC comic) and what type of designs he wanted to do and how he pulled them off with such a low budget. I'll be honest and say that the stories told are quite interesting and these two men are fun to listen to but there's still no denying that you actually learn very little about the film itself. There are so many topics that aren't discussed you really wonder if the person doing the interviews has really ever seen the film. This featurette is even weaker today since MORE BRAIN! A RETURN TO THE LIVING DEAD, a full two-hour documentary, has came out and made this here pretty much pointless.
