Document of the Dead

Dir. Roy Frumkes, 1985, 83 min.

Filmed in 1978 during the shooting of George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" (1979), the documentary "Document of the Dead" was originally intended as a teaching aid for a film school class taught by filmmaker Roy Frumkes. However, a decade later Frumkes commercially released "Document of the Dead" after returning to shoot extra footage of George Romero making "Two Evil Eyes" (1990). "Document of the Dead" serves as a fascinating profile of Romero, covering not only "Dawn of the Dead" and "Two Evil Eyes", but also "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) and to a lesser extent "Martin" (1976). The film offers many fascinating glimpses into the quiet-spoken and at times shy Romero and the process whereby he works. It covers the myriad problems that were presented by shooting "Dawn of the Dead" in a mall. Romero discusses the problems of funding and distributing his films and offers some interesting reflections on the indie film since "Dawn of the Dead". We also get to watch cult makeup effects artist Tom Savini at work.

Director Roy Frumkes in attendance