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For those of us that have a sick obsession with George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, this documentary is a must have for any completist. The film documents the adventures of one DOTD superfan as he makes a pilgrimage to the Mecca of the horror world, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to get a look at some of the environments that were immortalized in Romero’s Dead films… and even the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead.

Director/superfan Nicolas Garreau travels from France with a handheld camera, an itinerary, and an over the top fascination with the world that Romero first lovingly created over forty years ago. Garreau’s exploits take him to the basement used in the original Night of the Living Dead, the underground storage facility used in Day of the Dead, and the pièce de résistance… a guided tour of the Monroeville Mall by Ken “Peter” Foree himself. Garreau meets many actors and visits several more locations throughout the film, but those are easily the highlights.

Garreau makes a wonderful narrator as he travels around awestuck at the sights that he beholds. His utter joy and reverence for something like an elevator in a JC Penney’s department store is something akin to a religious experience. His reactions are resemble what a fervent Christian’s reaction might be were he to meet God personally… that is, if God actually existed.

His reverent treatment and attention to what can only be described as ancillary actors in the Dead trilogy is amusing and earnest. Who else but a superfan would devote camera time to listening to Leonard A. Lies tell the story of his thrilling role in Dawn of the Dead as the “machete zombie.” Who else would look at a humble streetlight in a dated suburban shopping mall parking lot and utter the profound phrase, “Here is the most famous streetlamp in the world!”

For the majority of people Fan of the Dead is a sick love-letter, a disgusting display of fanboy obsession; but for those of us, myself included, Fan of the Dead is an enlightening documentary that captures an experience that we can only dream about. Seriously… a guided tour of the mall by Ken Foree… I think I’d shit myself.

And for those of you that think this documentary and Garreau’s fascination is odd or extreme… I must admit that yours truly has made this pilgrimage as well, traveling well over 3,000 miles and standing in the very same mall that is pictured in Dawn of the Dead and this documentary… of course, you’d have to be a fan to understand the draw of the Monroeville Mall and the documentary as well. If this all sounds mystifying, oddly disturbing, or extremely pathetic… then this doc. isn’t for you.

Final Synopsis: Fan of the Dead is for true fans of Romero’s zombie flicks. All others need not apply. As a straight up documentary, I’d probably give it a 4… as a companion piece to some of the greatest movies ever made… I give it a nine.

Points Lost: -1 for the terrible American translation of Nicolas Garreau’s dialogue… some subtitles would have been the way to go.

Lesson Learned: If you get the chance to slide down the escalator in JC Penney’s in the Monroeville Mall… just do it. I still regret it.

Burning Question: Who doesn’t love the dead movies this much?

Special Thanks to Nicolas Garreau for sharing this documentary with me. Do him a solid and buy the film here

Fan of the Dead
9/10

Tags: 2008, dawn of the dead, day of the dead, documentary, ken foree, latest movie reviews, nicolas garreau, night of the living dead, recent, the dead movies, zombie, zombies