Dawn of the Dead review.
A decade after George A. Romero unleashed Night of the Living Dead on the world he returned with a bigger, bolder, arguably better sequel. Dawn of the Dead changes the scope of the story and the size of the setting…but retains the core feeling of the classic original.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
Dawn of the Dead
Directed by George A. Romero
Written by George A. Romero
Starring David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger and Gaylen Ross
Dawn of the Dead Review
Ten years after moviegoers watched a doomed group in an abandoned farmhouse, director George A. Romero took the struggle for survival to an abandoned mall. Dawn of the Dead is the bigger, brighter, bolder younger brother to Romero’s classic original. Better? Well, that is in the eye of the beholder.
The zombie outbreak has grown, and society has begun to break down. A small group of survivors take up residence in an abandoned shopping mall. With everything they need to live, and the ability to keep the zombies at bay, the group enjoys their consumer paradise. Of course, it’s too good to last. A biker gang sieges the mall letting the zombies in. The fight to survive has begun again.
Dawn of the Dead is one of the greatest sequels in film history. Not only because it’s a damn great movie on its own merits…but also because of how it takes what the original movie did and builds on it so perfectly. No characters made it out of Night of the Living Dead, so we follow a new group of people in basically the same situation.
It boasts a fantastic main cast. The bulk of the movie focuses on four people. Traffic reporter Stephen (David Emge) and his pregnant producer girlfriend Fran (Gaylen Ros) are joined on their stolen news copter journey by deserter SWAT team members Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger). The interplay between the four is a highlight. We see Stephen and Fran slowly driven apart by time and situation. The camaraderie of Roger and Peter tested when the former is bitten by a zombie. So much of Dawn of the Dead depends on liking these four characters and they hit a home run.
Despite only a ten-year difference between films, Dawn of the Dead feels fifty years more modern than Night of the Living Dead. Night’s characters were trapped in a confined space with torches and planks of wood. Dawn’s crew has a full arsenal at its disposable. Being shot in color does some of the lifting as well.
There are any number of things that connect the two films. The Zombies still shamble along trying to eat flesh. Strangers still must work together. People are more dangerous and destructive than zombies. What makes Dawn of the Dead such a perfect sequel is that it both expands the scope and retains the charm and focus of the original. It also adds a lot more fun.
Night of the Living Dead never had the space to add fun into the mix. It’s a very small, contained story of a group of strangers forced to coexist over one night as the dead try to get in. Dawn of the Dead takes place over a far longer period. No one in Night cracks so much as a smile let alone a joke. Dawn has moments of levity and takes the time to let these characters have good days. The bigger setting also allows brightness to shine through where it couldn’t in a boarded-up farmhouse.
Time also allows the characters to develop relationships far beyond what was possible in the first one. Those relationships are important to Dawn. Because this is a zombie apocalypse…and they’re not all going to make it. Roger succumbs to his zombie bite and must be put down by his friend Peter. Stephen suffers the same fate to the same result. Peter wrestles with suicidal thoughts but overcomes them to fight another day.
On top of the added character depth Romero and Tom Savini unleash a lot more gore. The practical effects are terrific in Dawn of the Dead. Savini works his magic (and plays a biker) to some of the best effects of his storied career. Zombies sink their teeth into necks and arms and rip away to bloody results. Intestines are torn out. Heads are blown up and cut off. Everything that they couldn’t do in Night they do to glorious excess in Dawn.
It wouldn’t be a Romero zombie movie without some pointed social commentary. And it wouldn’t be a Scare Value Dawn of the Dead review if we didn’t leave covering it until the end. This time his target is consumer culture. Romero claimed to have had the idea for Dawn after seeing the new mall in Pennsylvania. He was friends with the owners and thought it would be an ideal setting for a zombie invasion. It also allows him to clown people as mindless zombies wandering up and down aisles looking at things they don’t need.
Even our heroes aren’t immune. They are separated from hell by some plexiglass and parked trucks…yet they see the bounty of manufactured goods and deduce they have everything they need. They even gleefully pocket wads of cash despite every infrastructure in the country crumbling around them in real time. That money has lost its value. But they still value it.
Unlike Night, Dawn even ends with an almost optimistic ending. Two of our heroes have managed to make it out of the mall and fly off into the day in a helicopter. Night ends on an extremely dower note. Dawn gives you the glimmer of hope that although society has crumbled, humanity may find a way to live on. While we never find out what becomes of these characters…with 4 more sequels in Romero’s future…we know that humanity perseveres against all odds. Even if just barely.
Scare Value
To some Dawn of the Dead is the peak of not just Romero’s zombie universe but the zombie sub-genre in general. It’s a lot more fun than Night of the Living Dead. Great practical gore effects and more interesting character relationships certainly aid the argument. Dawn’s greatest trick, however, is how much it still feels like Night. Bright colors, bigger effects and a larger horde of zombies ensure that it also feels like a fresh take…but deep down it’s building off of the DNA of its predecessor in a very natural way. Dawn of the Dead is on such a larger scale that it’s almost unfair to compare the two. As far as this Dawn of the Dead review is concerned…it’s basically a draw. At least until we have to do the series rankings.
5/5
Dawn of the Dead Links
Dawn of the Dead Trailer
If you enjoyed this review of Dawn of the Dead, you may as well continue the series with Day of the Dead or take a detour with Messiah of Evil
