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For years now I knew of this cut of Dawn of the Dead,but never saw it. Sure I had seen the US theatrical cut. Seen the Cannes cut and the Argento cut. But this super long cut,which uses all the footage from those 3 cuts plus stuff never seen,was one I could never track down. Well never track down and not have to pay 40 bucks. Sure I've seen a few SumGuys selling copies at cons. But I wasn't going pay 40 bucks for a dvd-r. And could never talk any of the "collectors" dvd dealers down to 20 bucks. Never thought to look for it on Youtube until the other day.
Of course this film is a sequel to George Romero's Night of the Living Dead.While we are never told it appears to happen a few weeks after the end of Night. Starting off in a news station,where we meet Flyboy and his girl. We see how society has started to collapse already. After this we are taken to a big ass apartment building. This is where we meet our other two leads. They are cops who are invading the building.
Eventually our four leads all meet up and take off in a helicopter. After a stop to get gas,and this scene is amazing,they end up landing on the roof of a shopping mall. The mall has everything they need so they make this into their new home.
The four clear all the zombies out of the mall. Use 18 wheelers to block all the entrances. And it seems like they are going to be OK.
But a gang of roving bikers spots the mall and invades it. After this invasion of course the mall isn't safe anymore. And we are down to two of our leads,Flyboy got bit and became a zombie and one of the cops had got bit earlier. Our two living leads manage to make it up to the roof get in the helicopter and take off. Knowing they are low on fuel and having no idea what will happen next.
I had first seen Night of the Living Dead in about 1980,thanks to an airing one Halloween night. Not sure how but I had learned there was a sequel. It took me a few years to find a copy for rent at a local video store. Thanks to Fangoria magazine I knew there was at least 2 cuts. What I found to rent was the US theatrical cut. During the late 90s I managed to get the Cannes cut on VHS. A local K-mart was closing and had it for 5 bucks. The Argento cut I didn't get to see until I got that Anchor Bay DVD set that had all three cuts.
The quality of the Extended Mall Hours cut on Youtube is pretty good. It lists that it can be viewed in 1080p,I watched it in 720p. You can tell when it goes to footage that isn't from the US theatrical cut cause the picture quality drops a bit. But never is the picture or sound horrible.
For a long time this was my favorite of Romero's Living Dead series of films. But as I got older I started to enjoy Night even more. Dawn is a close second.
Now that I have seen every cut that is out there. I still prefer the Cannes cut. But this extended Mall Hours cut is pretty damn good. Just the film runs a bit long.
Dawn of the Dead Extended Mall Hours Cut gets a B+.
