Calling French film student, Nicolas Garreau just a fan of Romero Zombie series would be an insult. Garreau is obsessed and to prove it he sets on a journey across the Atlantic to dig deep into the world of classic zombie films. Basing his trip around the Pittsburgh Comic Con, Nicolas embarks on a mission to visit key
locations of filming from the three films. This includes the farm house from Night Of The Living Dead, the Missile Base from Day Of The Dead, the cemeteries from both the original and remake of NOTLD, and the Monroeville Mall, which is the main setting for Dawn Of The Dead. While on his excursion he also snags a few interviews from other fans and from cast members themselves. This film is truly for the super fans of the series.
When I first opened my box of officially the first batch of DVD's I was getting to review, this one jumped out at me immediately. I mean, come on, what fan of horror isn't a fan of the first three Romero zombie films? Figuring I had a lot in common with this Frenchie, I put this film on the top of the pile and was really looking forward to viewing it.
Now that I've completed viewing all 60 minutes of this documentary I must admit that I'm a bit let down. The entire film is done on a home video camera, which is all well and good, but leaves the viewer feeling like this is nothing more than someone's home video footage of their vacation. Aside from the more interesting aspects, which I'll get to later, there are a lot of awkward parts of Nicholas and some of the people he met just hanging out talking about how excited they are to meet some of the actors or there are scenes of him just driving to a location talking about how he almost got lost. Instead of being fascinating the entire 60 minutes, the documentary constantly was broken up with these clumsy scenes. To add to the awkwardness, instead of subtitling the French speaking parts, a very bad voice actor was hired to dubbed the English translation. It made the entire 60 minutes very frustrating.
When Nicolas wasn't showing off how amateur his skills were he did find time to deliver on his promises of showing the viewer some of the locations in their current state. What I never knew was that the basement from the original Night was located in the basement of the office building that Romero worked out of. Nor was I aware that it was also the setting for the apartment scenes in Dawn. Having been to the cemetery from the original it was neat to see the remake's cemetery, which I actually confused as the same location. I think pretty much everyone who is more than your average fan of the series has seen the Monroeville Mall so seeing the outside shots of that wasn't too impressive. Nicolas was able to land an invite into the Farmhouse, so getting to see the inside of what it looks like today was a real treat for fans. Lastly, it was very interesting seeing what the Missile Base from the outside and the inside looked like, which are actually two different locations. The inside is nearly unrecognizable and without the tour from one of the workers, who also served as an extra in the film, you would never be able to spot key locations from the film.
While seeing the filming locations in their current state was engaging, the real prize of this documentary was the interviews from the cast of the films. I've been to a few of the conventions myself but never found it rather important to meet certain zombies from the film. I felt their roles were so insignificant that they weren't worth a $20 8x10. Nicholas, however, is a superfan and he talked to pretty much everyone. Little facts (like finding out that the zombie that gets his head cut off by the helicopter blade was omitted from the European release of the film) were cool to find out but its when stars like Ken Forree and David Emge lead a tour through the Monroeville Mall and tell stories about filming specific scenes. If it wasn't for this part of the film I would have chalked this documentary up as a waste of time.
Overall this film is really only meant for the truly obsessed with this film. It lacks the grace of most other documentaries and looks like nothing more than your average fans personal video diary. It's obvious that Garreau had the best intentions when it came to filming this but his execution left a lot to be desired. I take it for what it's worth. It's a film students first real shot at doing something on his own. The film seems to be mildy successful as it has been released in multiple countries. I guess if you are as obsessed with these films as Nicholas Garreau is, then try to track this down. In the US it's being released by Cheezy Flicks.
July 19, 2010
