This is both a fine straight-up horror and an archly sly comment on consumer society.
Comment
09/24/07
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
97 %
Reviews Counted: 36 Fresh: 35 Rotten:1 Average Rating: 8.6/10
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 bourgeois society.
Runtime: 2 hrs 19 mins
Synopsis: Picking up where NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD left off, and still offering no explanation of why the dead are walking the earth, DAWN OF THE DEAD plunges headlong into one of the most violent and original horror films ever made. After securing an apartment building overcome with flesh-eating... [More]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, Tom Savini
Director: George A. Romero
Screenwriter: George A. Romero
Producer: Richard P. Rubinstein
Composer: Goblin
Screenwriter: George A. Romero
Producer: Richard P. Rubinstein
Composer: Goblin
Reviews
Top Critic Top Critic
Grim, gruelling but beautifully shot, this is intelligent, sophisticated horror.
11/10/04
Top Critic
As a blend of horror, action, tension, and humour, it stands in a class of its own.
04/17/01
Top Critic
This sequel to Night of the Living Dead (1968) abandoned the shadowy black-and-white creepiness of its progenitor in favor of a brightly lit color canvas that was bigger, broader, and bloodier.
07/23/08
Romero's framing of social ills via his rotting, walking metaphors is ingenious but it's the more subtle, unspoken statements that register with the greatest force.
10/29/07
Romero, who was his own editor this time out, keeps the scenes clipped and purposeful.
07/29/07
In a rare league of ingenious horror films that are utterly timeless...
07/10/07
Dawn of the Dead abandons easy scare tactics in favor of a darkly satirical assault on bourgeois culture, traditional notions of masculinity, and rampant consumerism.
03/29/07
Top Critic
Romero's sensibility approaches the Swiftian in its wit, accuracy, excess, and profound misanthropy.
03/29/07
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.
10/23/04
Top Critic
Dawn of the Dead’s most unsettling aspect is in how it shows us how little we’ve changed as a culture.
08/30/04
Upon a second viewing, Dawn of the Dead is still just as scary and just as relevant (more so than the remake).
03/29/04
For my money, John Carpenter's Halloween, released the same year, is smarter, sharper, and more influential.
03/18/04
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