Having just reviewed Zombi, the movie not quite the same as Dawn of the Dead, I decided it was also time for a post I've meant to do for a lot longer. Back in 2017, I made an acquisition I would have sworn I didn't read till a lot more recently, which would be pretty close to par for me. It is apparently the official and contemporary novelization of the epic zombie movie, credited to George Romero "and" one Susanna Sparrow. Anyone who would follow this blog this far will know the story, but as we have already seen, novels based on the movie tend to go in quite different directions. To begin with, whoever originally published the novel apparently decided to package it to look like a romance novel, as witnessed by the vintage cover. That font looks like it belongs on the cover of one of the works of Paul Sheldon. (And that reminds me, I have got to find a way to work in a review of Misery.)
Moving on, the first thing that stands out about the novel is that it's unusually faithful to the movie, which we've already seen with Dragonslayer isn't the same as being good. In fact, it stays strong as it goes through the opening scenes in the chaotic TV studio and the infested tenement. As in any reasonably competent novelization, the setting and characters are fleshed out more than onscreen, albeit with writing that's subpar even for this sort of thing. We see Fran in her element, actually competent and sympathetic, which can charitably credited to the role of a woman in writing it. Then things get downright freaky as we follow Roger down to the basement. The book gives a tactical explanation for the barricaded room and the soldiers' retreat. It's further specified that the "feeding" zombies Roger and Peter dispatched are the crippled and/ or partially eaten from the same group, left behind in the onslaught. I honestly thought before reading the book that the dialogue about "Wooley" was supposed to be an earlier and otherwise unknown event, where a little review of the credits confirmed it is indeed the spectacular psychotic cop. I also always figured that the crippled padre who shows up is the leader of the tenement dwellers identified as Martinez, which is contradicted by his dialogue in the book. I'm still not completely satisfied, but it's a minor thing to object to even by OCD-fandom standards.
Moving forward, the novel gets most interesting with the episode at the dock, which I commented on in the Zombi review. As in the Argento cut, it's confirmed that Stephen doesn't kill anyone, but the book states that the operator is dead by a shot from behind rather than suicide. That leads to a much more tense scene when they meet the nameless looter played by Joe Pilato (later cast as Rhodes in Day of the Dead) in the Romero cut. It turns out the full scene is included in the 140 minute "Director's cut", which I didn't know I hadn't seen until I viewed it in parallel with my review of the European version. In the book, it's strongly implied that the looters are the killers, and not really cops (which offers a lot more questions if one accepts the character as Rhodes!). It feels a bit bizarre that we still have the comical dialogue between Stephen and the looter, personally among my favorite line in the movie. "Any island!"
Alas, the novel starts to go downhill by the time the group gets to the mall. There's still good added moments, including the discovery of the owner of the mall, revealed as a self-made man who tried to turn his shopping center into something like a paramilitary compound. (One could just about harmonize and allow that he prepared the on-site generators and fuel supplies that would really be needed to keep the mall running as long as it does in the movie.) On the downside, a lot of pages go by in play-by-plays of the action that rarely make it interesting. More problematically, the pacing gets wonky, which is admittedly a big problem in the movie. It shows most in the finale, which the book crams into the last 32 of its 304 pages. I will admit I had only gotten a little past 200 when I started this post.
All in all, this has all the usual problems of a novelization, further hindered by mediocre writing. The silver lining is that the story is too good to take too much harm, and it is at least clear Romero was able to supply the final script in good enough time. It remains well worth reading, though it would have been better to read at the library or in snatches at the bookstore than bought online or as an ebook. I can also attest that it's more genuine fun than the novels of Romero's original collaborator John Russo, which I will definitely get to when I can stomach it. To round things out, here's the back cover of my copy.
And while I'm at it, a first-edition paperback, proving that someone was paying enough attention to figure out this was indeed a horror movie.
That's all for now, more to come!
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