Jeanie’s Face Exploded Blu Ray Review (SRS Cinema)

Jeanie’s Face Exploded is a 2024 horror documentary written, produced, shot, edited, and directed by Chad M. Campbell (Chillermania! The Story of Michigan and American Chillers, Amityverse, Last Day for Videos, and Behind the Scenes of Grand Rapids Comic-Con). It had an interesting estimated budget of $1,500. From being hired to assist with makeup to becoming an iconic zombie, Jeanie’s time on the original Dawn of the Dead has become legend. Now Jeanie Jefferies (Dawn of the Dead, Knightriders, The Spore, Chasing Zombies: A George Romero Tribute, The Lost Dog, and Dead Friends Forever) is ready to tell all about her time with George Romero, Tom Savini, and having her face blow off in an iconic production. After leading makeup on Knightriders, she vanished from the industry out of nowhere. Hear her story for the first time!!!! Jeanie’s Face Exploded feels more like a bonus feature on a home video release rather than an actual documentary. It’s really short but it gets straight to the point of everything. Director Chad M. Campbell is mainly known for doing these behind the scenes types of short films. She goes over her difficult childhood and early history. Jeanie Jefferies was one of most memorable background zombies for 1978’s Dawn of the Dead. If you experienced the horror classic, you’ll never forget the blonde zombie. Jeanie started out as a model in the Pittsburgh area for Iron City Beer. Special fx legend Tom Savini liked something about her look when it came to her makeup at a contest. He found out she’s the one that did it so she got an opportunity from that interaction. She worked behind the scenes for the iconic Dawn of the Dead. She got a role as a zombie since she was already on location for it. The rest is history. She will forever be recognized as that character. Small role or not, it’s still a fan favorite among the dedicated fans of the horror franchise. Jeanie Jefferies ended up getting a makeup gig for George A. Romero next film Knightriders because of that previous experience. She tells some funny inside stories about it. The talented Ed Harris that’s been in everything at this point didn’t want to have any makeup added to him before filming. She ended up getting very close to Tom Savini after being his assistant for a few projects. She goes over why she left the business after working on some high quality productions. She didn’t realize how popular these older films were for a long time. Her life story is complicated and it’s a little sad at times but she’s always real about it all. She’s actually made some cameos in independent features after doing this so she’s kinda back in the world in small doses. This mainly aimed at hardcore George A. Romero and Dawn of the Dead fanatics but it’s an interesting watch no matter what!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from SRS Cinema! This 1080p (1.85:1) transfer looks solid for what it is. It’s a single shot setup in one location for the most part besides additional clips or photos. I’ve always liked a collection of movies in the background, they made sure to highlight various Dawn of the Dead releases in it. It has an English: Dolby Digital 2.0 track on the disc. Jeanie’s Face Exploded is just a conversation so that’s the only thing that happens in it so the audio is good for hearing the chat. All of the interview is crystal clear, the stories are elevated, and the additional music has a decent boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with Chad M. Campbell and Roger Schwartz. It has the little over 86 minute “Full Raw Interview” with Jeanie Jefferies. It’s completely unedited and it’s basically the entire session for this project. I am honestly a little shocked more of this material wasn’t included in the actual documentary. It has the almost 4 minute “Roger’s Nest”. It’s basically a tour of the home that they shot Jeanie’s Face Exploded at. It’s a look at a collector’s place. It has a “Trailer” for Jeanie’s Face Exploded. It has the almost 9 minute short film “Last Day for Videos” directed by Chad M. Campbell. Troma’s own Lloyd Kaufman shows up in the intro. He is always entertaining when it comes to stuff like this. He brings up the fact that the Family Video chain actually carried his work unlike the bigger Blockbuster Video. This short focuses on a location in Michigan that was shutting down. It makes you miss the days of renting movies in the past. It has the little over 7 minute “Last Day for Videos: Acoustic Cut”. It’s a slightly shorter and alternate version of the mini film about a rental store shutting down. It has an additional “Audio Commentary” with Chad M. Campbell for it. It has the little over 17 minute short film “Halloween Movie Marathon XX” directed by Chad M. Campbell. It’s about a tradition of people getting together for horror movies that happens every year. They share their personal favorite films and memories from these events. It has the little over 6 minute short “A Week of Kaiju: Godzilla vs. Music Box” directed by Chad M. Campbell. This dedicated to a Chicago film festival that specializes in monster features. Fans gather together to share their passion for the sub-genre. It’s a fun inside look into this film community. As you can see, most of the bonus material doesn’t have much to do with the main subject but I think it’s awesome that director Chad M. Campbell included some of his other work that’s not easily available to everyone. It’s a professionally made on demand BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!