Dawn of the Dead

Romero’s distinctly Pittsburghian sensibilities can’t be underestimated when explaining Dawn’s appeal; the Monroeville Mall perfectly evokes the feel of a hollow monument standing at the center of a community that couldn’t be bothered to define itself any more distinctively than could be represented by their choice between Florsheim or Kinney’s shoes. The mall, in essence, shoulders the burden of their identity.

Undoubtedly the zombie movie to end 'em all... The horror/suspense content is brilliant enough to satisfy the most demanding fan, and the film uses superb locations like a huge shopping mall to further its Bosch-like vision of a society consumed by its own appetites. But take no munchies.

Dawn of the Dead is one of the best horror films ever made -- and, as an inescapable result, one of the most horrifying. It is gruesome, sickening, disgusting, violent, brutal and appalling. It is also (excuse me for a second while I find my other list) brilliantly crafted, funny, droll, and savagely merciless in its satiric view of the American consumer society. Nobody ever said art had to be in good taste.

Celebrated Italian horror maestro Dario Argento (SUSPIRIA, DEEP RED) co-produced and provided the lively rock score with his band, Goblin. Though all of the performances are at least adequate, this is not an actor's movie. Believe it or not, this is a film about ideas as well as gore. Nonetheless, this is strong medicine and not for all tastes.

As tempting as it may be to herald Romero as the Swift of schlock, his shopping-mall metaphor is really little more than a clever gag. The director's technique has been refined since his "Living Dead" days, but his grasp of characters is still pretty crude, and he reveals himself to be an all-too-predictable liberal moralists when he singles out the woman and the black as the true heroes. These objections should not-and won't-keep Romero loyalists away. For blood, guts and chuckles, most horror fans will undoubtedly find Dawn of the Dead finger-lickin' good. [7 May 1979, p.90]

You're supposed to need a strong stomach to sit through this one, but it's so stupefyingly obvious and repetitive that you begin to laugh with relief that you're not being emotionally affected; it's just a gross-out.

Dawn pummels the viewer with a series of ever-more-grisly events - decapitations, shootings, knifings, flesh tearings - that make Romero's special effects man, Tom Savini, the real 'star' of the film - the actors are as woodenly uninteresting as the characters they play. Romero's script is banal when not incoherent - those who haven't seen Night of the Living Dead may have some difficulty deciphering exactly what's going on at the outset of Dawn.

This the best movie by George A. Romero. Or let's say at least, this is the Romero's movie I like the most, and definitely one of the best zombie movies ever made. I suggest you to watch it because you won't be disappointed. A lot of horror and action here under Romero's directing.

It has its moments, but sadly pales in comparison to the remake due to some its more dated aspects. And my goodness, some of the cast is just terrible. Romero is great when his cast can act, otherwise some of the performances with the weaker performers turns into parody.

Start had me giggling more than it made me scared, but the more the film went along the better it got, and while the horror never became particularly scary, the actual subtext did. The sheer chaos and lack of control sets up the film, as our four main characters get together by chance. All the commotion mixed with zombies that might have looked good in 78, but now look very dated, with the extremely blue makeup that actually makes them quite funny didn't hook me at all. Once the plot comes around to the shopping mall this is where the film truly starts for me. Zombies walk around there, subconsciously remembering the malls as the places where they loved to spend time, that offered them joy. They are clearly a reflection of us, as consumers mindlessly walking around, buying material items we worked our ass the whole week to get. Being so invested in material, that even after our death we can't fully let go of it. As the characters spend more time in the mall, they become more like zombies themselves, using the resources to live seemingly carefree, but the more they use, the less satisfied they become, coming to question if there is any point to any of this. Of course, that material is a source for fighting for humans, and even though there is a zombie apocalypse, humans are still each other's bigger enemies. Greed has no boundaries, it only grows in the face of crises. At a certain point, zombies became heroes, bringing to death those poisoned by greed and unwillingness to share the resources. By the end of it, the film leaves you with a lot to think about on how humans react faced with crises, and what we actually value in life. Some campy performances, outdated makeup, and the lack of scary zombies make this not rise to the ranks as well as it could. Still, for its time, it's an impressive effort and one that has a strong subtext working under all the zombie killing.

"Dawn of the Dead" is a complete and utter waste of time. The acting is wooden, the special effects are laughable, and the story is about as original as a broken record. I'm not sure who thought it was a good idea to make a movie about zombies, but they should probably stick to their day job. The only thing this film has going for it is its ability to put me to sleep faster than a warm glass of milk. Save yourself the agony and skip this cinematic disaster.

Maybe it's just a result of 70's culture as this movie has just not withstood the test of time. Stupid cliches about **** and other social aspects of society in an attempt to be cool really fall flat. When directors of films realise films are audio/visual stories rather than a platform for social comment we might get good movies.