The thing that intrigues me the most about Romero is aside from his down-to-earth attitudes when it comes to film-making and the film-making process, he has pretty much no ego. This is a man who has directed four of the most popular horror films ever made- Night of the Living Dead and its sequels Dawn (my favorite), Day, and now Land, and he doesn't seem to take as much credit for it as he should or a lessor director would. What's also fascinating about the documentary here is that it focuses on two things- Romero's style in his films (here shown as Night, Dawn, and the great vampire film Martin), and the making of 'Dawn', and in the making of Dawn one realizes why he has not much to be very big about- a lot of what goes into the film is improvisation, the work of the actors, and Tom Savini's masterpiece of comic-book/over-stylized violence and zombies. The director of this documentary goes in depth with the style that swarms over Night and Martin, and Romero goes into detail in interviews about his own process, how he writes, directs, and edits, and what seems complicated on the screen really is not.
Basically, if you love the horror genre, or even just Romero's films, it's very worthwhile to check this out, even when some of the narration becomes obvious (or if you would rather watch the films instead of hearing exposition on them). The history of Dawn is fascinating if only as a time capsule, of when malls were in their beginning stages, when make-up wasn't as sophisticated (though maybe not as unique) as today, and when the level of violence in his films was almost unfathomable in those days of post-Vietnam America. It's sort of sad in a way to hear about Romero's problems with making the films he wants to make, as he talks of the problems being a "maverick" in the Hollywood system, but that's how it might always be. But just to see these images, and to see the process and how it unfolds (especially a behind-the-scenes look at one special effect and its length and depth in Two Evil Eyes) is enough to recommend it- it's available with the Dawn of the Dead box-set on DVD, but it also is on TV every now and again. Grade: A