Review - Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Director: George A. Romero

Made In: USA

Released: 1978

Plot: 2^nd in the series of “Dead” movies by director George A Romero, after “Night of the Living Dead”(1968) and before “Day of the Dead”(1985). The movie is set in the early stages of a post-apocalyptic America after the majority of the population has either been killed by zombies or have become zombies themselves. The streets are deserted, supplies are scattered and it is unlikely that help is coming. Two news reporters, and two SWAT team members steal a news chopper and flea for higher ground. They end up landing on top of a relatively abandoned shopping mall, where they immediately start barricading the doors and sweeping the corridors of zombies. The mall is well stocked with food and equipment – including guns – so the only problem they have is overcoming boredom and coming to grips with the grim reality of living in this oasis surrounded by crowds of zombies. Eventually, more humans and a gang of bikers invade the mall, letting hundreds of zombies in with them. Only two characters, Peter (SWAT team member) and Francine (female reporter) escape by fleeing in the helicopter with an unknown amount of fuel.

Review:

This is my all time favourite Zombie movie and definitely the best of Romero’s “Dead” series. There are a lot of zombies in this movie. For most of the time they are directed towards anything that moves that isn’t a zombie, so when there aren’t any screaming women or gunfire, they tend to just drag themselves around aimlessly. This movie suggests that the zombies still have some human inclinations, so the zombies end up in the mall only because it was part of who they were when they were alive. There is a classic 80s montage in the movie that scans the mall, with cliché mall elevator music, with scenes of zombies walking aimlessly up and down the mall corridors and through shops, some even walking on the ice-skating rink.

All the zombies featured in the film walk around in a way that has now become the standard zombie motion. Slow, but still determined, with 1000 yard stares, mutilated appearances, half-eaten body parts, and the classis “errrrr….” groan that has become the stereotype for zombies in the majority of zombie movies to follow. The difference between these zombies and those from other movies, like “28 days later” for example, is that the humans can run between the zombies without too much trouble because the zombies are so slow. However, the sheer number of them make the opportunity for a zombie-frolic less appealing. Also, as with most zombie movies, the only way to kill the zombie is to “Shoot em in the head” or “destroy the brain”. Which always makes for great gory special effects and bloody scenes.

The make-up and effects used seems pretty basic compared to most modern zombie flicks. There were hundreds of volunteers and zombie-movie fans who offered to dress-up like corpses for this movie, as the director George A Romero had already developed a huge cult following. Most of the background zombies only had some grey face paint and ripped clothes. And the zombies that featured in close-up shops didn’t look that much more detailed. Maybe a bit more blood.

However, its not the effects – although there are some great gore and blood scenes – that make this movie great. It is the originality combined with satire and the late 70s charm that make it great.

Great scenes: When the zombie that walks into the helicopter blades -- When the car plows down like 500 zombies at high speed inside the mall -- When the black SWAT team member Peter slaps the hysterical woman news reporter -- The classic montage showing everyone living it up in the abandoned mall -- Every scene in the movie with a zombie in it. (so basically every scene in the movie)

Overall Rating: Not for everyone, but for those who love zombie movies, this is a must see. 5/5