In 2004, Zack Snyder released the remake of Dawn of the Dead, giving Romero's original a makeover with a lot of action and better effects. The movie was praised by critics as well as the audience and was able to gross more than 4 times the movie's budget.

In the USA the movie was rated R (for pervasive strong horror violence and gore, language and sexuality) and was also released on DVD with an R-Rating. Additionally, they released an unrated Director's Cut that extended the movie with some more plot scenes as well as some more effects. So much about this (nowadays) standard operating procedure for movie releases. But for Dawn of the Dead, something's different: even the unrated version is not uncensored!

There's a scene early into the movie where a topless woman was censored. While in the German version of the Director's Cut you can see her naked breasts, the US version offers an additional pool of blood to cover her up. This is a very paradoxical example of the fact that in America it's okay to show guts 'n' gore, but bare skin is just too much to show. Also, they were very inconsistent with censoring nudity (in the closing credits there's a short sequence of a young woman taking off her top), making the whole affair even more questionable.


This is a comparison between the German uncut Director's Cut DVD and the German censored Director's Cut Blu-Ray (that is based on the American version of the Director's Cut), both were released by Universal.


1 retouched scene = No difference in time

0:09:40
So this is the scene I was already talking about. After Ana passes the exploding gas station with her car, you see an infected naked woman through the windshield - she walks around, seemingly confused and disoriented. Plus, she's topless. In the US version of the Director's Cut the breast is covered by an additional pool of blood on the windshield.
No difference in time.

German Director's Cut	US Director's Cut