Argento’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ To Get 4K Restoration and Venice Showing

Nearly 40 years after its release, George Romero’s ‘Dawn of the Dead’ is getting a 4K restoration and a special showing in Venice. Bring on the undead.

When there’s no more in standard definition, the 4K restorations will walk the earth!

According to ScreenDaily, George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead will be getting that snazzy 4K upgrade. So, get ready for Romero’s immortal zombie classic in crystal clear definition, with the blue zombies bluer than ever.

The move comes as the Venice Film Festival (Aug 31- Sept 10) is getting ready for its festivities. The restored Dawn of the Dead is being screen on Sept. 2, as part of the Venice Classic portion of the event. Nicholas Winding Rern and horror legend Dario Argento, who produced Dawn, will introduce the film.

“I am particularly pleased that Zombi is being re-released after so many years,” Argento told the site.

The Suspiria filmmaker went on to add:

“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.’

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“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.”

While the news is amazing, as we could eventually be seeing the presentation on Blu-ray, the 4K cut is the 115-minute European version. If you’ve seen the cut, you’ll remember the European edition is quilt different than Romero’s theatrical cut.

In a long celebrated history, its well documented Dario Argento produced Dawn of the Dead and cut the film for international release. Thus, the big changes between the two cuts. Personally, I’ve never cared for Argento’s European version nearly as much as the Romero Cut. Though both use Goblin for score, Romero’s cut features the best music. Then again, maybe I haven’t seen the Euro cut enough.Either way, Dario produced so what can you do.

Next: Wes Craven Week: ‘The People Under The Stairs’ (Day 1)

So, will you be making the trip to Venice for the special event? The 4K Dawn of the Dead event takes place Sept.2.

Love Dawn of the Dead? Fond of Argento’s cut? Let the other dead heads know what you think in the comment section below and let’s survive the apocalypse together.