DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)
THRILL SCALE 1-10
8
HAVE I SEEN IT BEFORE?
Yes, once before, and just like Night of the Living Dead, the first time was only a couple of years ago
BEST SEQUENCE
An early sequence in which a SWAT team raids an apartment building full of both zombies and living people - the living are refusing to deliver their dead to the National Guard. It's gory and gruesome, and probably the scariest part of the movie. Runner-up is the sequence in which the SWAT guys use transport trucks to block the entrances to the mall, and one of them gets a little too reckless
BEST LINE
"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth." - Spoken in the movie, and also the tagline on the poster
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE
94%
ROTTEN TOMATOES CRITICS CONSENSUS
"One of the most compelling and entertaining zombie films ever, Dawn of the Dead perfectly blends pure horror and gore with social commentary on material society."
IMDB SYNOPSIS
"Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia S.W.A.T. team members, a traffic reporter, and his television executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall."
THOUGHTS
- As a sequel to the previous movie, made by the same director, comparisons are going to be inevitable, even though it could be argued that this is not really a direct sequel. None of the characters are the same, and it's not even made clear that this story does in fact follow the events of Night of the Living Dead or even deals with the same zombie uprising - there's no mention of the previous movie's explanation of mysterious outer space radiation being the culprit. In fact, unless I missed it, they don't even bother trying to explain this uprising at all (which I like)
- While I really enjoyed Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead certainly improves upon it in many ways. The dialogue and acting is way better, and I appreciated seeing the expanded scale of this zombie apocalypse. While the first movie was effectively claustrophobic, in this one we're not confined to a single farmhouse with a handful of people - the effect is widespread, and society is actively crumbling as we watch. As well, the primary setting of a suburban shopping mall was inspired, and places the commentary on consumerism and materialism front and centre
- Most importantly for me, though, the special effects were 10 times better. Blood splatters frequently, we watch the zombies take gory bites out of their victims, and people get literally ripped apart. The makeup is also greatly improved, as long as you're ready to see a lot of very blue zombies. Special effects maestro Tom Savini even said they were meant to look more grey than they ended up appearing on screen, and the colouring was a mistake
- Despite all these positives, though, I personally find Night of the Living Dead to be more exciting and more compelling than Dawn of the Dead. And really, I think this just comes down to how much more capable the survivors are in Dawn, the SWAT guys especially. In the first movie, the survivors were terrified of the zombies because they just weren't equipped to deal with them and they had no idea how to cope or get out of their situation. In this movie, however, the zombies barely pose a threat once the main characters get to the mall. The main quartet casually runs around the mall, shooting zombies easily, dodging their attacks, and sometimes just shoving and punching them to get out of a jam. They come up with a logical plan to seal off the mall entrances, making themselves even more secure. The only zombie-related disasters really only happen because the characters get too cocky and take too many chances. Interesting from a character standpoint, but less terrifying for the viewer
- And while the movie does end with disaster, this comes about due to human-on-human violence. The zombies are there too, but they're not the main threat. And to take it further, things ultimately go sour because of materialism - one of the main protagonists starts a conflict because he just wants to protect his possessions, in the form of the mall to which they've staked their claim
- I almost gave Dawn of the Dead a lower score than Night of the Living Dead. I decided to tie them on the strength of the special effects and the other positives I mentioned above. I checked a few lists of the best zombie movies of all time, and critical consensus generally seems to put Dawn higher than Night. But hey, don't take my word for it! Watch both of them and tell me what you think!
- Finally, the best zombie kill in this movie: screwdriver in the ear
- Runner-up: top of zombie's head lopped off by helicopter blade
MINI REVIEW: DAY OF THE DEAD (1985)
First time seeing it. If Dawn of the Dead is the critical consensus for the best of Romero's original zombie trilogy, Day of the Dead is the critical consensus for the least successful of the three (83% on Rotten Tomatoes). Because of this, I was prepared to be underwhelmed. But I loved it! In this one, the zombie apocalypse has taken over the entire world, and one character estimates that the ratio of zombies to people is now 400 000:1. We spend most of our time in an underground bunker where scientists are trying to solve the zombie pandemic, and soldiers are there for security (there are maybe only twenty people in this whole group, if even that many). Inevitably, conflict arises between the scientists' hope to study the zombies and find a solution, and the soldiers' desire to save their own asses. The plot and the characters aren't really going to stick with me, but the gore and the action absolutely will. As much as Dawn of the Dead improved over Night of the Living Dead, I'd say Day of the Dead matches that level of improvement in terms of amazing special effects. One of the most sickeningly gruesome movies I've ever seen, and I mean that in a loving way. If you're a fan of The Walking Dead, this is the closest to that show's vibe. It's also the first movie I can think of in which we see a survivor get bitten, and then the limb gets amputated to prevent the infection from spreading (if you know of any earlier examples, please let me know). We do meet a zombie who is more sentient than the others, even capable of using a gun, and this may have rubbed some zombie purists the wrong way. There's also some silliness, especially in the ways some of the zombies are clothed (I'm talking ballerina zombie, clown zombie, and football player zombie). And it has a very '80s action/horror movie feel, in the sense that half the characters don't contribute anything at all to the plot of the movie, they're really just there to get disgustingly killed. But hey, sometimes that's all you want from a zombie movie, and I was not disappointed!
Up next: OK, enough with the gross zombies, time for some SEX. Body Heat from 1981.
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