Document of the Dead (1985)

A documentary about George A. Romero's films, with a behind scenes look at Dawn of the Dead.

Director:

Roy Frumkes

Writer:

Roy Frumkes

Stars:

George A. Romero, Susan Tyrrell, Nicole Potter

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Susan Tyrrell	...	Narrator (voice)
Nicole Potter	...	Narrator in addendum sequences (voice)
George A. Romero	...	Himself (as George Romero)
Richard P. Rubinstein	...	Himself (as Richard Rubinstein)
Michael Gornick	...	Himself
Carl Augenstein	...	Himself
Tom Savini	...	Himself
Ken Foree	...	Himself
Scott H. Reiniger	...	Himself (as Scott Reiniger)
David Emge	...	Himself
John Amplas	...	Himself
Roy Frumkes	...	Himself
Christine Forrest	...	Herself (as Christine Romero)
Gahan Wilson	...	Himself
Steve Bissette	...	Himself

Storyline

A documentary about George A. Romero's films, with a behind scenes look at Dawn of the Dead.

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Plot Keywords:

making of | independent film | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 June 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Definitive Document of the Dead

Filming Locations:

Monroeville Mall - Business Route 22, Monroeville, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min 84 min (1989 re-edit) 66 min (original cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

While editing the movie, the creators discovered that 10% of the negative from the original footage, including 66 shots, had disappeared. When the filmmakers didn't get a response from the New York school of visual arts, director Roy Frumkes resorted to contacting a psychic therapist (Nancy Orlen Weber) to see if she could help. Though she suspected most of the missing film had been maliciously destroyed, she did pick up on the fact one small roll of film had been misplaced at the Technicolor laboratory. It was not until years later a can of film resurfaced, where it had been stored under the wrong title was the film finally edited and put on the market.

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Quotes

Roy Frumkes: [about "Day of the dead] Is this the end?
George A. Romero: The zombies are developing, and I'm getting dumber by the minute.

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Crazy Credits

Footage from the George Romero movies Night of the Living Dead, Martin, and Dawn of the Dead is played as the closing credits roll.

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Alternate Versions

Originally a 66 minute feature, it has since been expanded two times. First, in 1989, when an 84 minute version was released, featuring new interviews from the set of Two Evil Eyes. Then, in 2012, it was released as The Definitive Document of the Dead, with a 102 minute runtime, featuring new footage filmed through 2006.

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Connections

Features A Night in Casablanca (1946)

User Reviews

OK documentary about George Romero, Tom Savini, and DAWN OF THE DEAD

DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD has a promising idea behind it: the making of horror classic DAWN OF THE DEAD. Yet it only features a bit of footage centering around DAWN OF THE DEAD, which is not that interesting. Other footage revolves around MARTIN, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and TWO EVIL EYES. Tom Savini is interviewed, but seems bitter in most of the footage. Romero seems like a nice, down-to-earth guy and gives valuable information about low-budget filmmaking, distribution, and ratings problems. Only three of the four DAWN leads are interviewed and not in-depth at all, which was of interest to me. Some nice bits about DOCUMENT is a Calgon soap commercial by Romero's 60s company featuring none other than NIGHT stars Russell Streiner and Karl Hardman!; also are some alternate takes of some scenes in DAWN (the scene of zombies breaking through the apartment complex barricade is longer and scarier; dialogue in the scene of subduing a black female zombie) that make me wonder if they appear in ANY cut of the finished product? I'd love to know, they really are more effective. Susan Tyrell, a personal favorite, narrates the whole thing. I love her voice, so it's nice to hear her. Select scenes from NOTLD and MARTIN are featured, but what are they doing here? It's as if director Roy Frumkes ran out of DAWN material and improvised in the editing room! Overall, DOCUMENT is recommended only to hardcore Romero and Savini fans; then again, I'm a hardcore fan myself and I STILL didn't like this. Oh well, give it a try, but don't expect a masterpiece.