Movies
Argento and Refn Intro Restored Version of ‘Dawn of the Dead’ at Venice!
A newly restored version of George A. Romero’s Dawn Of The Dead is to receive its world premiere at Venice Film Festival (Aug 31-Sept 10), reports ScreenDaily.
The European cut of the 1978 zombie classsic will be presented in high definition 4K at midnight screen on Sept 2, introduced by Dario Argento (who was the film’s producer) and Nicolas Winding Refn.
The 115-minute version was edited and curated by Argento for the European market with music by Goblin.
The film, which will play in Venice Classics, was restored by Koch Media in collaboration with Norton Trust and Antonello Cuomo.
Dawn of the Dead is the second chapter in the four-part series created by Romero in 1968 with Night of the Living Dead, later followed by Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead. Romero would eventually continue the franchise.
Italian filmmaker Argento, also known for directing horror features such as Suspiria (1977), recalled working on the zombie classic titled Zombi in Italy.
“I am particularly pleased that Zombi is being re-released after so many years,” Argento told the site.
“Titanus, the distributor at the time, considered it a very strange film with too much action: the music was too extreme, they thought it would not be well received and I was a little scared myself by this terrible prophecy.
“I didn’t know what to do so I said: ‘Ok, let’s screen the world premiere in Turin, a city I love because that is where I filmed Deep Red; if it doesn’t do well there, we can do away with it.’
“It was a Friday afternoon and I was rather terrified as I went to the theatre; but I remember seeing a lot of people as I walked over from the hotel and thought: so it can’t be going that bad!.. and in fact when I got there it was packed; I went in and thanked everyone for coming.
“The film was being shown after a lengthy series of mishaps in Italy: the censors made me cut out a lot of scenes, and as a result I withdrew it.
“They were asking me to cut far too much; I remember even thinking that the editing would no longer be comprehensible, so I made a series of small cuts, fixed it up a little, and was able to swing an emergency procedure (usually the censors take up to six months to review a film again).
“When the film was finally released it was forbidden to minors under the age of 18 which, in my mind, was fairly serious, because we had conceived it for an audience of young people…
“I have great memories of Zombi because it was so important for my career and for George’s as well.”
After pulling in $28 million at the worldwide box office this month, director (and star) Dev Patel’s critically acclaimed action-thriller Monkey Man is now available to watch at home.
You can rent Monkey Man for $19.99 or digitally purchase the film for $24.99!
Monkey Man is currently 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Bloody Disgusting’s head critic Meagan Navarro awarding the film 4.5/5 stars in her review out of SXSW back in March.
Meagan raves, “While the violence onscreen is palpable and painful, it’s not just the exquisite fight choreography and thrilling action set pieces that set Monkey Man apart but also its political consciousness, unique narrative structure, and myth-making scale.”
“While Monkey Man pays tribute to all of the action genre’s greats, from the Indonesian action classics to Korean revenge cinema and even a John Wick joke or two, Dev Patel’s cultural spin and unique narrative structure leave behind all influences in the dust for new terrain,” Meagan’s review continues.
She adds, “Monkey Man presents Dev Patel as a new action hero, a tenacious underdog with a penetrating stare who bites, bludgeons, and stabs his way through bodies to gloriously bloody excess. More excitingly, the film introduces Patel as a strong visionary right out of the gate.”
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, Monkey Man stars Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
Monkey Man is produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions.
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