As many of you know, Dawn of the Dead exists in several versions. Some of these have only minor differences whereas others have an entirely different social narrative. On this page you will find a breakdown of the three most common versions - the US THEATRICAL CUT , the DIRECTORS CUT and the EUROPEAN ARGENTO CUT .

TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT SCENES ARGENTO CUT AND ADDED TO HIS VERSION, VISIT THE ARGENTO vs ROMERO SECTION:

This is without doubt the definitive cut of Dawn. A fantastic blend of effective editing and awesome music carries the viewer through the story with ease.

This cut runs for 126 minutes and is largely horror-orientated. And, while you could easily be fooled into thinking that this is basically the same version of Romero's Directors Cut with the not-so-important scenes cut, it could not be more different in reality.

The most notable difference is the music, with Romero introducing a far more appropriate score. This works particularly well during the arrival at the mall - the low key, eerie, thumping bass beats instantly give the four a false sense of security, whereas in the Directors Cut the atmosphere is completely different. The impression with the Directors Cut is that they have got to a place where they can have whatever they want - end of story. No danger, no catches.

Another difference is the audio mix - in the Theatrical Cut we get to hear the zombies groaning in certain close-ups, more realistic gun shot effects and generally better sound effects.

So, for the ultimate Dawn of the Dead experience look no further than my favourite - the US Theatrical Cut

Better known as the Directors Cut, this was the first complete edit of Dawn and was hastily put together by Romero in time for the Cannes Film Festival. And note the word 'hastily'. Romero, although he states this is his favourite, claims that the Theatrical Cut is best, so we can only guess that the 'Directors Cut' tag is simply a marketing ploy.

The film restores approximately 13 minutes of footage and includes a more action-orientated music score. I must express my dislike for this version as, although still incredibly exciting, much of the music feels like it belongs somewhere else. As mentioned in the Theatrical Cut section, the audio mix for this edit is pretty poor as many of the sound effects have been toned down or completely removed. This includes sounds of the zombies groaning and other minor things.

The most obvious additional scenes are:

At the dock scene, Stephen has a run in with the ex-Police men who subsequently question his identity - 'GON traffic watch, Steve Andrews... yeah, no shit!'.

When Peter and Roger go on their first run through the mall, they first check the office in the basement. In the Theatrical Cut, they continue to identify the keys for certain stores. In the Directors Cut however, they go to the office, then run to the mall shops before Peter says 'Let's check those keys'. We then cut back to the office. Although an extra scene, it serves no purpose whatsoever and makes far more sense in the Theatrical Version.

To conclude - do not let the music score deter you. This is still a great edit and beats the pants off Dario Argento's lame European Cut.

The weakest of the three versions is also the shortest (approximately 115 minutes), although strangely enough contains scenes not found in either of Romero's edits. The most prominent is a lengthly dialogue scene centering on Stephen, where shortly after the trio's first run through the mall, they go back to the little room on the roof. It occurs when Peter is talking about the helicopter giving their position away. Normally we cut to Roger saying how Fran looks sick, however Stephen, in an act of frustration, complains about the way GON have handled the situation. 'I can't believe they let it get this bad... those things can be stopped so easily!'. Peter reacts by asking him if he could chop Fran's head off were she to turn into a zombie. Ultimately unneccessary, it does give us an extra insight into Peter and Stephen's relationship.

Argento also adds many minor scenes - an alternative angle of the helicopter landing at the mall, a few extra close ups of gun shot wounds to the head and various other scene extensions. Another example is when Peter has made dinner for Fran and Stephen - whereas he normally just opens his hand with the rings, here Stephen jokes by saying 'Pick a hand!'.

I must question why Argento has added so many tiny scenes, I suppose it is to give, in his opinion, a better look at Dawn of the Dead. It doesn't. While interesting enough, much is unneccessary and sometimes spoils scenes. Take the sequence where Roger and Peter have parked the first truck in front of the mall - we normally get a shot of Peter shouting 'Three more!'. Here you can vaguely see a white van driving in the background, and so sensibly, Romero cut the scene down as much as he could to eliminate it. Argento instead lengthens the scene, giving full view to the van. Another goof pops up where a zombie is shot in the head - this certain scene was not in Romero's cuts because the blood tubing fell out of the actors hair, but Mr Dario thought 'What the hell, it's a different shot' and edited it in.

The choice of music in the Argento cut is also very poor. Argento relies souley on Goblin's score and, due to the lack of it, was forced to use many of the same tunes time after time. This really works against the film, and also transforms it into a more action-orientated movie, which was obviously not Romero's original intention.

Finally, the European version as it is also known as blacks out all of the end credit sequence, showing the zombies walking around the mall. Instead, Argento simply placed the credits over a black background to the sound of a rock-type soundtrack. This again gives the film a totally different feel.

Basically, this version is not a good one. And while it is fun to see all of the different cuts of Dawn, Argento's extensive editing ruins much of the magic Romero created. Definately woth checking out, but be warned - if you've already seen the two previous edits, prepare to be slightly disappointed.

For information on cuts made to the film in various countries, check out the Memorabilia section which details all differences.