Zombi is Argento's European version of Romero's Dawn of the Dead
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Zombi is the European edit of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. The original had a significant impact on the horror genre and on American audiences, and Argento took the show on the European road with an equally powerful effect.
Review by The Zombie Master Lee Roberts
August 25, 2006
European Title: Zombi
Release: 1979
Written and Directed by: George A. Romero
Edited by: Dario Argento
Starring:
Scott Reiniger as Roger
Ken Foree as Peter
Gaylen Ross as Fran
David Emge as Stephen
In 1978, Dario Argento, best known for such horror classics as Suspiria, Deep Red, and Tenebre, was the script consultant for Dawn of the Dead. Argento wanted to release Dawn in Europe and was given the ok from George Romero to re-edit it for a different audience.
Argento did not change the story. Zombi is still about four people who, while trying to keep from being overcome by the zombies that seem to be everywhere, find a shopping mall that at first is viewed as a God send full of both their needs and their wants, but ends up being a prison with zombies always on the outside trying to get in.
For more information on the story please see the review for Dawn of the Dead.
What Argento did was change the overall atmosphere. Knowing his audience, Argento re-edited Dawn to have a gloomier feel than the American version. Gone is the “humor” of the American version, replaced by the more intense action in Zombi specifically meant for the European audience. He also replaced the light hearted “muzak” soundtrack with a more savage score by Goblin, the same group that scored both Suspiria and Deep Red. Ironically though, Argento’s Zombi has less gore than Romero’s and is subsequently about 10 minutes shorter as well.
Both versions are good, though the American version is still the better of the two. What I recommend is watching both. We have been given a rare opportunity to look into the minds of two legends in horror and witness each one offer there different visions of the same exact film.
NOTE: The release of Zombi led Lucio Fulci to release Zombi 2 hoping to cash in on Argento’s success. Though not a sequel, it did help to introduce the world to another master of the art of zombie film making. Questions or comments about Zombi? Contact us!
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