From what I know, there are a few different cuts and edits of this movie, like a European edit, and a US, and some shortened ones. They have different music editing and everything. Which one is the best?
Limit of the Willing Suspension of Disbelief: directly proportional to its awesomeness.
I prefer the Dario Argento European version with the Goblin soundtrack. The only problem with it is that they edited out the scene of the zombie losing his head from the swirling helicopter blades at the gas station.
shareI also prefer the Argento cut, mostly because of the pumping soundtrack. That Goblin music is amazing! When I first saw the U.S. theatrical cut, years after I had fallen in love with the European version, I realised how much that music contributed to the effect that the movie has on me.
shareGeorge Romero's version. I just finished watching the Dario Argento cut and it is astonishing how much of a different movie it is with basically the same footage and different music cues. Different but not in a good way. I was quite surprised.
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The European version is an interesting curiosity if you're a fan of Dawn, but it's not scored as well. I love the Goblin score but they only recorded 30 minutes of music for a 2 hour movie so Argento reuses the same tracks over and over for every scene. It's very repetitive, whereas the US theatrical cut uses a blend of Goblin and library stock music so that each scene has a unique music cue for a specific mood.
shareArgento didn't understand the social commentary and message that Romero was trying to make with Dawn. In his cut, he edited out all the humor, and all the digs at consumerism Romero was crafty at conveying. Argento's version is basically one of a European not understanding American culture at that time in the 1970s, so his cut of Dawn plays like a standard horror/action flick with no depth to it.
With that, I'd go with the Extended Cut. I like the segments later in the movie when Peter, Stephen and Fran are getting sick of each other in the mall. It shows just ho much the appeal of having the mall all to themselves started to wear off after a while, especially after Roger dying. Romero's theatrical cut glossed over a lot of that characterization.
Argento's cut (european edit) is the one you should go for. The other two especially the extended one have serious pacing issues. Plus the music used in Argento's cut (goblin music) suits the film better.
But if you're a hardcore horror fan and want to get the most you can also see the extended one but i must say, i'm really not a fan of it.
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