Dawn: which version is the most gorey? Theatrical cut or Expanded?

[The Alive Man]

I know the Expanded version is 12 minutes longer, basically. 139 minutes. What are the gorey scenes of the Expanded version scrapped in the Theatrical one? And why? To get a "viable" rating, I guess. Many thanks to everyone.

[Adolf Kitler]

I have both versions (yeah, I grabbed the four disc set as soon as it came out) and as far as the gore goes, I didn't notice any difference. The scene at the police docks is longer, and a few more of the 'quiet' scenes are expanded. Slightly off topic, but not too much: I wish the extra footage that made it to the European cut (Zombi) would be inserted for a definitive cut. I loved the whole "would you cut her head off" scene, and the additional line from Peter at the remote airplane hanger (Where are WE going?) I never could figure why such a short line was cut out of GAR's versions.

[The Alive Man]

Mmmmm so does 'Zombi' feature additional gore? (it's enough in-topic, Adolf... thanks!)

[coma]

Expanded. Theres a whole bunch of gunshots during the biker invasion and a zombies hand gets torn off in the mall doors (at the end of the taking of the mall scens). Theres some extra gore and gunshots in the trucks scene outdoors. After seeing DOTD thatrical about 50 times I saw the cannes (extended/directers) cut I noticed lots of little shots and dialouge snippets as well as many new gore shots. I could've detailed in better back then, Now they kiknda all blend together. I saw just stop being lazy and see them all It's well worth yout time. The Cannes cut is notable more for the fully formed charcterizations through bits of additional dialouge. ANd the cool Pilato docks scene additions. BTW,The argento cut had waaay more guts in the Project 107 basement scene.

[The Alive Man]

Oh GOD! Why didn't Romero insert the Expanded extra gore scenes in the Theatrical one, thus making a brand new Director's cut? And I wanna see those additional guts as well! GORE apart... Is the THEATRICAL edition the best version of the movie, as Romero often claims?

[capncnut]

I prefer the theatrical cut over the extended version but both are worth owning in their own right. The extended version has added scenes of isolation, more gore and a different soundtrack which makes it a worthy purchase. The thing with the theatrical cut is that it's so damn well-paced. The Italian version is the 'worst' one by far (barring the Japanese version) and is only redeemable with its 14 mins of extra scenes. If you like the movie then I would just order the 4 disc Ultimate Edition and then you can see all three versions for yourself.

[The Alive Man]

I prefer the theatrical cut over the extended version but both are worth owning in their own right. The extended version has added scenes of isolation, more gore and a different soundtrack which makes it a worthy purchase. The thing with the theatrical cut is that it's so damn well-paced. The Italian version is the 'worst' one by far (barring the Japanese version) and is only redeemable with its 14 mins of extra scenes. If you like the movie then I would just order the 4 disc Ultimate Edition and then you can see all three versions for yourself. Great account... what can I say? Many thanks...

[Philly_SWAT]

The_Alive_Man, by posing the question "which has more gore" is just more evidence of how you dont "get" the movie, as you have only seen the Argento version. Dont get me wrong, I like gore in a horror movie, and I want gore in a Romero movie, but that is not the point of Dawn. If my memory serves, there is more gore in the Argento version than the other two. If all you want is gore, then dont bother to watch the Theatrical or Extended cuts, you have already seen the gore. What are the gorey scenes of the Expanded version scrapped in the Theatrical one? And why? To get a "viable" rating, I guess. There arent many gory scenes that were cut for the theatrical, maybe only a few sceonds here and there. Romero was not trying to get a "viable rating", Dawn was released unrated. At the time, there was no NC-17 rating, so the ratings board was going to give Dawn an X rating. The X rating had such a stigma as being a porn movie they didnt want that rating, and GAR didnt want to cut the gore to get a R rating, so it was released with no rating, with just a disclaimer that there was no explicit sex in the movie, but no one under 17 would be admitted. He cut some scenes that to him were not crucial to give the movie beter pacing, and to try to cut the time, which still came in pretty long. I do agree with Adolph Kitler when he says I loved the whole "would you cut her head off" scene, and the additional line from Peter at the remote airplane hanger (Where are WE going?) I never could figure why such a short line was cut out of GAR's versions. I love those scenes too. The thing that I like about the Argento cut is the extra scenes of dialogue that are not in either of the other versions. It does suck that GAR cut them out, but like I said, he was under pressure to not have the movie be so long, he was already releasing it unrated. As far as this question goes Is the THEATRICAL edition the best version of the movie, as Romero often claims? I would say that it is the best, because of the better pacing, and more effectical background score. The Extended version was rushed to be done in time for the Cannes film festival, and while good, the Theatrical was after GAR had time to edit it the way he wanted. I too miss the extra scenes in the extended version that were not included in the Theatrical, and wish GAR had left them in, but then again, I am biased and a HUGE Dawn fan. The casual movie fan would not know or recognize the difference. One scene in particular that was cut helps makes a lot more sense of a later scene. In the theatrical cut, when Roger and Peter first leave the office and go into the hallway leading to the mall, they just run around the corner without looking and see a bunch of zombies there, and have to duck back, which maked you wonder "why did they haul ass arond the corner like that withour even taking a peek? They may have been a horder right there, ready to grab them!" Well, the answer lies in a scene in the extended version which was cut. In that scene, they do sneak out into the mall, and look down at the zombies below. They see no zombies upstairs. Then they say "Lets go back and get those keys" or soemthing like that. They go get the keys, and hit the switches, turning the escalators on, enabling the zombies to get upstairs (for some reason the zeds werent using the stairs at that point, even though later we see them using the stairs.) So when they come running back out, they were just there a few minutes ago and there was no zombies, which explains why they run right out without looking. But there was so much brilliant footage, GAR had to cut something.

[The Alive Man]

Philly, I'm not saying that GORE does a better Romero's Dead movie, please, don't be so quick to misunderstand I'm just wondering if some cinematic "IMPACT" was left out from the theatrical DAWN. You would argue that gore is good to give a skin-deep impact that works as background for a more visceral, in-deep impact given by the story and the interplay of the characters. Anyway, according to you, ONLY seconds of gore were cut-out, isn't it?

[Brubaker]

Philly, I'm not saying that GORE does a better Romero's Dead movie, please, don't be so quick to misunderstand I'm just wondering if some cinematic "IMPACT" was left out from the theatrical DAWN. You would argue that gore is good to give a skin-deep impact that works as background for a more visceral, in-deep impact given by the story and the interplay of the characters. Anyway, according to you, ONLY seconds of gore were cut-out, isn't it? Yeah, nothing is missing that actually affects the outcome of the movie. Some of the extra dialogue or gore involves characters who are only on screen for that instant and never seen again in the film. Joe Pilato, anyone? Somebody would have to be crazy to not enjoy the theatrical version and that one is good enough for me, even though I have the three most notable versions.

[Kylefuller88]

thanks for that i guess its al come clear now, for what everyone has said and i do recall that in land of the dead, the big daddy does show one of them to cut though wodden boards and now to shoot etc plus how to go under water lol that was funny but way cool. cant wait for another one to be remade hopefully there be alot better and more exciting even tho the rest where, like in dawn of the dead where the big woman got up and ran that was funny but cool at the same time

[coma]

What are the gorey scenes of the Expanded version scrapped in the Theatrical one? And why? To get a "viable" rating, I guess. Dawn is not rated in the US. and Films dont get banned, so if you have no rating you can already do what you want. The xtended was a rushed rough cut with temp music (for the cannes festival hence the "cannes cut") and Theatrical is tighter/finished. You sometimes have to edit for length to get a certain number of thatre viewing in a day. Being unrated m it was already in a bad position.

[HLS]

I never saw the extended but I would assume the extended.

[suicide22]

If you had the only ultimate longest uncut version of Romero's 1978 Dawn Of The Dead in english, then sold it not knowing it was the rarest edition availble how would you feel!???

[coma]

If you had the only ultimate longest uncut version of Romero's 1978 Dawn Of The Dead in english, then sold it not knowing it was the rarest edition availble how would you feel!??? Like a Lamer