{"id":3991,"date":"2024-09-13T03:24:05","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T03:24:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=3991"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:27:13","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T22:27:13","slug":"dawn-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/13\/dawn-of-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Dawn of the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Dawn of the Dead <\/strong>(1978)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Film Distribution Company\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 139 minutes (Extended Cut)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA rating (strong bloody violence and graphic gore, frightening images, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: George A. Romero\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: George A. Romero\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Music: Dario Argento and Goblin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Gornick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 20, 1979 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $40M (US)\/$55M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0In my not-so-humble opinion, Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> is the Gone with the Wind of zombie movies. It\u2019s my all-time favorite zombie flick. George A. Romero\u2019s sequel to his classic 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead is a total gorefest. It came out when I was 11 and what I remember most is the cool tagline \u201cWhen there\u2019s no more room in HELL, the dead will walk the Earth.\u201d Obviously, I didn\u2019t get to see it at the movies. In lieu of the X rating awarded by the MPAA, Romero opted to release it without one which meant it would automatically carry a \u201cNo One Under 17 Admitted\u201d policy. I just recall being in awe of the tagline and freaked out by a zombie-in-decomp still I saw in a Newsweek article. I didn\u2019t get to see Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> in its entirety until I was in my 20s and it blew my mind.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Romero had more money to work with this time; the budget was $1.5 million enabling him to shoot it in color this time. He filmed Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> at the Monroeville Mall (Monroeville, PA) from November 1977 to February 1978, shutting down for three weeks during the Christmas shopping season. Filming took place nightly while the mall was closed. It would end each day at 7am because that\u2019s when the automated Muzak system came on and nobody knew how to shut it off. Romero was unable to secure any domestic investors for Dawn of the Dead<\/strong>; that\u2019s when Italian giallo filmmaker Dario Argento (Suspiria) stepped in and helped him get financing in exchange for international distribution rights.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While technically a sequel, Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> contains no characters from its predecessor. Why would it, they all died at the end? They don\u2019t even return in zombie form. This time the story follows four characters who hole up in a huge shopping mall while looking for a safe place to wait out the worsening zombie situation. Steve (Emge) and his girlfriend Francine (Ross) work at a TV station in Philadelphia. His plan is to steal the station\u2019s helicopter and fly them to safety. Peter (Foree) and Roger (Reiniger) are members of the SWAT team raiding a housing project that\u2019s overrun with zombies. While they\u2019ve managed to somewhat contain the situation in rural areas, the cities are in complete chaos. Roger is a friend of Steve\u2019s and invites Peter to fly away with them to the wild blue yonder.<\/p>\n

\u00a0They land on the roof of the mall and decide to make it their new home. After blocking the entrances with big trucks and clearing the mall of those pesky zombies, they set themselves up in a very comfortable living situation with access to everything they could possibly need (including guns and ammo, this mall really does have everything). This lasts until a motorcycle gang, aware of their presence in the mall, shows up to loot the place. In doing so, they let in hundreds of zombies. Between the bikers and zombies, it\u2019s going to be one hell of a fight for survival.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ve already established that Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> is a rockin\u2019, kick-ass horror flick. It has generous amounts of gore. There are decapitations, disembowelments, dismemberments, shootings, stabbings and bodies torn apart. In one scene, a man\u2019s head is blown up by a shotgun blast. That\u2019s on top of the cannibalism. This movie is neck-deep in blood and guts. I believe the death toll, both humans and zombies, is about 97. In short, Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> is crazy violent and blood nuts. It\u2019s a gorehound\u2019s dream come true.<\/p>\n

\u00a0However, there\u2019s more to Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> than gore. It\u2019s also a satiric look at American consumerism. One character comments that the zombies came to the mall purely on instinct. They wander aimlessly through the place with blank expressions. It gives one pause to wonder how really different they are from human shoppers. Romero also incorporates slapstick and silliness into the mix. The bikers instigate a pie fight with the zombies at one point. Admittedly, that\u2019s a bit much, but it gives the movie a sense of fun. The only stupid thing in Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> is this biker who decides to test his blood pressure at one of those machines in the middle of the mayhem. I mean, who does that?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Tom Savini was supposed to do the makeup for Night of the Living Dead, but he got drafted into Vietnam. Romero gave him a second chance with Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> and he knocks it out of the park. Savini is a makeup genius. I love everything he does, but this movie is his finest work. The zombies have a gray coloring to them, something that makes them both realistic and comical. The zombies themselves are an interesting bunch; there\u2019s a nun zombie, a nurse zombie and a Hare Krishna zombie. They ride the escalators and play in the fountains where shoppers toss coins. The gore effects are absolutely amazing. Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> is the ultimate splatter movie!<\/p>\n

\u00a0The acting in Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> is decent. One of the movie\u2019s most interesting aspects is showing humanity\u2019s darker side by way of the human characters. The four main characters go from survivalist to materialistic in a short span of time. Watch how they fight with the bikers over their <\/em>mall. At the same time, they display courage, mercy (when one of their own is bitten) and even humor. The movie seems to be asking who\u2019s more depraved, the zombies or the humans.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Dawn of the Dead<\/strong> is a lot of things: gruesome, violent, disgusting, sickening, hilarious, exciting, scary and brilliant. Even though it depicts a societal collapse, it\u2019s a great deal of fun. I would love to see this one on a big screen. It really is one of the best horror films ever made.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dawn of the Dead (1978)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Film Distribution Company\/Horror\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 139 minutes (Extended Cut)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No MPAA rating (strong bloody violence and graphic gore, frightening images, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: George A. Romero\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: George A. Romero\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Music: Dario Argento and Goblin\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Michael Gornick\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 20, 1979 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-these-are-some-classic-flicks","category-scary-gory-wild-i-love-it"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Dawn-of-the-Dead-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3991"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4798,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3991\/revisions\/4798"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}