Dawn of the Dead (1978) (Movie Review)

     Last year, I kicked off a series of October themed posts with a review of the 1968 horror classic “Night of the Living Dead”. It only seemed fitting that I followed-up this Halloween season with a review of its equally classic sequel from 1978 titled “Dawn of the Dead”. Often placed among the greatest horror movie sequels ever made, “Dawn of the Dead” stands apart as a 70’s horror classic, and there’s even been debates on whether it’s even superior to the original. While I personally wouldn’t call this one of my favorite movies, like many other horror fans have, I will say that it earns its reputation as a winning sequel, and it’s absolutely one of the best of the whole zombie genera. Screenwriter George A. Romero returns to direct this sequel, just as he did with the first, but instead of replicating it, he instead takes the basic outline of his own zombie format, and gives this film a personality, tone and look that’s all its own.

   As the movies tag line states … “When there’s no more room in Hell … the dead will walk the Earth!” Picking-up after the events in “Night of the Living Dead”, we see that the humans have gotten less resourceful in taking action against this pandemic, and now the zombies are outnumbering the living. Two SWAT officers pair-up with a young couple, and they search for safety in a helicopter. After several intense encounters with the undead, the four finally find a safe haven in a secluded shopping mall. They work together to clear out the zombies, they set-up barricades, and they form close friendships in the process. At first, things seem perfect, the mall gives them everything they need, and their protected from the dangers outside. However, as the months drag on, it becomes apparent that help isn’t coming, this epidemic is showing no sign of getting better, and our survivors come to the horrifying conclusion that they really have nothing to live for. It all builds to an effectively awkward dinner scene, in which everyone is thinking the same thing, yet are sitting in silence, and finally one of them asks the obvious question … “What have we become?” The unfortunate answer is that even the living have figuratively become zombies of their own making.

    The overarching themes of prolonged exposure to a situation, and how it changes who you are will carry over into several other zombie media. The film also touches on the difficulty of fighting them, as it’s not about the ease in which you can take one out, it’s about killing someone you knew before they became a walking corpse. While this film obviously gathered a huge fan base, “Dawn of the Dead” is frequently regarded by critics as something special that surpassed its basic gory genera conventions. 

The legendary movie critic Roger Ebert gave the film a perfect four star out of four-star rating, and stated … "Nobody ever said art had to be in good taste." Of course, most of this movie’s praise goes to the film’s social commentary on material society. While the film is clearly an allegory on how a crowd of mall shoppers aimlessly walking about could be interpreted as zombies, it never the less works without feeling too preachy on its statements. It’s honestly kind of poetic that “consumerism” would be the main focus in a film where the main threat literally tries to eat you. Another underlining theme is that of greed rapidly leading to death, which is also handled well. The one downside is that, in the time sense this movie, shopping malls have become less popular, making its commentary ever so slightly dated. I honestly think the 2004 parody “Shaun of the Dead” holds-up even better, as it focused directly on everyday people aimlessly living out their lives, and how they in turn can be viewed as figurative zombies.    

   This movie also marked the very first colored zombie film, and it certainly doesn’t hold back with the carnage that can be displayed in bright colors. For its time, it was considered the nastiest and bloodiest horror movie ever made, and received an X ratting as a result. I for one have never really been a big fan of gory violence, but this movie didn’t bother me too much, as the violence on display isn’t trying to be realistic, and is very “comic-bookish”. The blood is almost neon bright, and doesn’t look at all real, which makes it feel more like a visual style. 

Tom Savini was the films make-up and effects artist, and also appears in the film as a machete-wielding raider. His designs for the zombies are crude, yet effective, as they’re basically ordinary looking people, but with bright-grey skin tones, which deliberately contrasts with the bright red. Like I said, “comic-bookish” violence of this nature doesn’t really bother me, but I’d still recommend anyone with either a sensitive mind or stomach to view with caution. It does still have some sickening moments, namely during the opening, in which a swat team is trapped in a building full of zombies. The very first zombie we see on screen has its head explode, which sets the tone for what you’re going to see. Again, I’m not a gore hound, but I have to say … there is this one awesome effect in which a zombie slowly walks toured a helicopter, and the spinning blades swipe off the top of its head. The most disturbing moment of all is when one of our lead survivors is attacked by two zombie kids, and is forced to gun them down. Upon my first viewing, this scene almost kept me from finishing the film. Truthfully, the opening twenty-five minuets do very little for me, but as soon as the characters touch down in the shopping mall … the movie officially begins, and I find myself enjoying this film for what it is.

    Even with all the violence on display, “Dawn of the Dead” still remains one of the lightest entries in the zombie genera, as there’s a lot of levity, it isn’t consistently downbeat, and the characters are infectiously lovable. While these aren’t the most compelling or layered characters to populate a zombie film, they are still exceptionally charismatic, they work of each other with witty quotable lines, and there’s a real sense of joy watching them come together as a family. Usually, the survivors in a zombie film will always be arguing, and getting into heated fights, but in this movie, they have each other’s back, and work together to make the shopping mall their new home. 

There’s a number of lengthy strategy scenes, which could have gotten boring and repetitive, but these characters remain so engaging that I’m consistently on board with them. I love when they have to turn on all the music and sounds in the mall to distract the zombies, so they can stealthily sneak past them to grab supplies. Ken Foree is our leading star, and plays the SWAT member named Peter. Straight to the point, he’s cool as Hell, delivering some of the best lines in the film, and his personality can perfectly segue between witty and fun to stoic and tough as nails. Gaylen Ross plays the female lead referred to as “Flygirl”, and she goes through her own arc of going from useless stand-in to someone who can take charge and be a rational thinker. The mall setting becomes a character in of itself, and offers a number of set-pieces for both action sequences, and for the characters to just have fun. There’s a lengthy montage of our four leads just going around the mall, playing around with whatever they find, and mentally becoming kids all over again. It gives the movie more of a fun factor over other films in the genera. Granted, there are zombie comedies, which are deliberately silly in tone. However, “Dawn of the Dead” is different, as it’s still a pure horror film … but it just happens to have a fun factor going for it, and isn’t as consistently dark as other films in the genera.                  

    I love when they take a display car and drive it through the interiors of the mall. Another one of my favorite set-pieces is when our team work together to retrieve trucks in the parking lot, and use them as barricades. It’s very exciting, with some well-paced tension spread throughout. As the movie comes to a close, we get a big action-packed climax in which the mall is raided by bandits, and it becomes a three-way battle between the invaders, the survivors, and the undead. 

Once again, the movies sense of comedy and fun factor is on full display, with characters swinging on ropes, and all kinds of silly details. It still contains some nasty carnage, but it’s properly balanced out with the silly antics on display. In one moment, flesh gets chewed up, and in another, zombies are getting pies thrown in their faces. There’s also an effective moment in which our lead hero contemplates suicide, but chooses life over death. While the whole sequence ends the film on a high note, I’m not a fan of how the movie abruptly ends. After spending so much time with these characters, I would have liked more of an epilogue revolving around where they go next. Instead, the final thing spoken is a statement that their short on fuel, and we quickly cut to credits … I hate that.     

    There’s a number of different cuts of this film, including an extended directors cut that’s almost three hours in length. I’d recommend just sticking with the original US theatrical cut, which runs at a proper two hours. Although, there are some noteworthy details in the extended cut, like some welcome character bonding scenes, and an encounter with a police officer played by Joseph Pilato, who would later be casted as the main villain in Romero’s third zombie movie titled “Day of the Dead”. Just as a side note, while the third entry isn’t branded a classic like the first two, it’s never the less regarded as a worthy sequel, and compete what is referred to as “The Trilogy of the Dead”. Romero would continue to make more zombie movies in the decades to follow, but it’s the first three that are considered the best, and most influential. 

When all is said and done, I’m still not the biggest fan of zombie movies in general, and thus, “Dawn of the Dead” will never really stick with me as one of my personal favorites of the horror genera. Yet, with that said, this is without question one of the greatest films that the zombie genera has to offer, and has more than enough great things going for it that I’ve enjoyed watching it more than once. The one thing that’s lacking is the chilling atmosphere and tension that characterized the original “Night of the Living Dead”, but then again, it’s good that the sequel can stand apart with its own strengths. This one is far more entertaining, with great characters, quotable lines, comedic highlights, clever social commentary, and a terrific mall-shop setting. While I can’t say it’s 100% better than the first film, it is undeniably the movie I’d rather watch. If your new to the genera, and lost in a sea of too many zombie flicks, I’d say that the original “Dawn of the Dead” is the best one to start with.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1978 Horror movie classic “Dawn of the Dead” … and be sure to treat yourself to one good scare this October!