Dawn of the Dead (1978) - OUT OF PRINT

[fred25_Ca]

Day has easily the best female character of the trilogy. Barbara is a atrocious character, Francine was definitely an upgrade but still the frail woman of the group. Sarah is on another level, she is by and far the best and strongest character in Day, which was a nice change. Her and the doc are easily the better humans characters (Bub is still the best character, obviously ).

[rocknblues81]

I do think a number of the limitations are related to the budget that maybe reduced the scope of the movie soon.

Which is unfortunate.

Dawn has some cartoonist elements that bother me more now than when I was a kid, but some of the characters have arc. How Flyboy goes from inept to earning the respect of Roger and Peter.

How Roger's seemingly cool exterior gives way to what is almost a breakdown as he is finally forced to accept the gravity of the situation he is in.

Obviously the character arc's in the film aren't the most complex things ever, but there is a little bit to chew on at least.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

Day has easily the best female character of the trilogy. Barbara is a atrocious character, Francine was definitely an upgrade but still the frail woman of the group. Sarah is on another level, she is by and far the best and strongest character in Day, which was a nice change. Her and the doc are easily the better humans characters (Bub is still the best character, obviously ).

Sarah might be promoted as the strongest woman of the trilogy at a superficial level, but my memory is that she is who she is from the start. Not much of an arc. Still better than Barbara who just becomes useless once at the farmhouse.

[fred25_Ca]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

Sarah might be promoted as the strongest woman of the trilogy at a superficial level, but my memory is that she is who she is from the start. Not much of an arc. Still better than Barbara who just becomes useless once at the farmhouse.

What's so wrong about a character starting already strong? Ripley was strong from the start, i'm not sure how that's a detriment to the character. :/

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

What's so wrong about a character starting already strong? Ripley was strong from the start, i'm not sure how that's a detriment to the character. :/

I didnt say it was wrong, but she isn't all that interesting beyond the basic "strong woman" trope. It wasn't like she had this commanding screen presence or something.
But she was good enough for what was required for the role..

[BladeRunner2007]

Day might have the strongest female character, but I feel Dawn has the most realistic characters and they have a nice and believable arc to them.

[Mister_Kidd]

We got this man, we got this by the ass.

[AstroChicken]

Originally Posted by jstxanothrxstory

It's still in print:
https://secondsightfilms.co.uk/produ...he-dead-4k-uhd

thanks, although for some reason it says my addresses (both work and home) cannot be delivered to (Montreal). weird since the "about" section mentions international shipping.

[koberulz]

SS ship internationally but DotD specifically can only ship to the UK.

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by AstroChicken

thanks, although for some reason it says my addresses (both work and home) cannot be delivered to (Montreal). weird since the "about" section mentions international shipping.

Second Sight typically ship internationally, but they're contractually forbidden from shipping Dawn of the Dead outside of the UK.

[hanshotfirst1138]

I have it. I don’t remember where I got mine, maybe Amazon UK or eBay? I’d assume you can at least get it in the latter place?

[jstxanothrxstory]

Originally Posted by hanshotfirst1138

I have it. I don’t remember where I got mine, maybe Amazon UK or eBay? I’d assume you can at least get it in the latter place?

I ordered mine from Zavvi.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

What's so wrong about a character starting already strong? Ripley was strong from the start, i'm not sure how that's a detriment to the character. :/

There's nothing WRONG with it, it just can make the character boring if there's not much of an arc. Ripley starts off strong and ends strong but she has a lot of character development she goes through, primarily the formation of the improvised family unit with Newt and Hicks, but also things like her overcoming her loathing for androids and grappling with the fact everyone she knew is now dead, including her daughter. She has a character arc and that movie generally has strong character writing for a genre flick.

Sarah...uh...loses her boyfriend? Other than that she's basically at the same point character-developmentwise at the end as she is at the beginning. She has the same conflicts with the same people (well, until they're dead) from start to end. She's not a terrible character or anything but she's not given much to do. There are a few moments of vulnerability she's given but it really isn't explored. The movie feels like it exists primarily as a vehicle for gore. Which, given the fact Romero took a greatly reduced budget at least partly so the gore could be grosser, it sort of was.

I still like her more than the hamfisted attempt at a Ripley that is the 1990 version of Barbara.

Fran is a more interesting character in some respects cause of how she's got the controlling, insecure boyfriend who doesn't want her to do anything, yet she relents and gets out from under his thumb and eventually becomes kind of a badass. She's not "likable" and I don't think Gaylen Ross is a particularly good actress, but her character is more interesting to me than that of Sarah.

[Mister_Kidd]

Originally Posted by cakefactory

Sarah...uh...loses her boyfriend? Other than that she's basically at the same point character-developmentwise at the end as she is at the beginning. She has the same conflicts with the same people (well, until they're dead) from start to end. She's not a terrible character or anything but she's not given much to do. There are a few moments of vulnerability she's given but it really isn't explored. The movie feels like it exists primarily as a vehicle for gore. Which, given the fact Romero took a greatly reduced budget at least partly so the gore could be grosser, it sort of was.

In the beginning of the film she is trying to cure and treat the illness and by the end she has adopted John and McDermott's more nihilistic viewpoint. That's a progression of sorts.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by Mister_Kidd

In the beginning of the film she is trying to cure and treat the illness and by the end she has adopted John and McDermott's more nihilistic viewpoint. That's a progression of sorts.

Ah, good point. It's been a while since I watched it.

[Egons Ghost]

Why is it a requirement that all characters go through some sort of arc.

[rocknblues81]

Originally Posted by Egons Ghost

Why is it a requirement that all characters go through some sort of arc.

It's not as much of an issue if the character is interesting in the first place. Which Sarah isn't.

Peter doesn't really change that much in the 2nd film, but Ken had a good presence and so not much arc was needed.

[cakefactory]

Originally Posted by rocknblues81

It's not as much of an issue if the character is interesting in the first place. Which Sarah isn't.

Peter doesn't really change that much in the 2nd film, but Ken had a good presence and so not much arc was needed.

Exactly. You have to give us SOMETHING. I'm fine with entertaining 1-dimensional characters (again, look at most of the characters in Aliens for good examples of those). Or I'm fine with characters that all suck if the movie isn't dependent on good characters to be good. Day of the Dead is kind of character-driven, you spend a lot of time with characters just sitting around talking. Thus I'm going to care a lot more about whether the characters are any good than I care with a movie like say, Suspiria, where the audio and visuals are most of the point.

[fred25_Ca]

I don't know, i'd say the audio and the visuals in Day of the dead are pretty incredible (even better than Suspiria, imo). That soundtrack is so damn atmospheric.

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by fred25_Ca

I don't know, i'd say the audio and the visuals in Day of the dead are pretty incredible (even better than Suspiria, imo). That soundtrack is so damn atmospheric.

I love both films but I am definitely on the other side. Suspiria IS the sum of its baroque visuals and sound. I was actually shocked when hearing the 4.0 track on the Synapse disc, how entirely different things in the music happen on the fronts and rears. It's like a prog rock music video with a (somewhat) story.

Day of the Dead has an absorbing downbeat narrative, but is quite dowdy and tamped down - it is of course appropriate since the characters are in an underground vault most of the time.