This is both a fine straight-up horror and an archly sly comment on consumer society.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
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... 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 zombies, two Philadelphia area SWAT team members, Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger), flee to a television station, where they escape in the station's helicopter with Francine (Gaylen Ross) and Stephen (David Emge), two station employees. Seeking refuge from the zombies and the ensuing hysteria, they land on top of a Pittsburgh area shopping mall, despite the fact that the undead seem to be flocking there. What begins as a stop for supplies becomes a longer stay as the four become embroiled in a futile war within the mall to keep their flesh to themselves and remain alive. The film's relentlessly disturbing and innovative gore effects are one reason to see DAWN OF THE DEAD, but those who can stomach the endless barrage of blood and gnarled zombie faces will be rewarded--and possibly surprised--by what the film says about human nature and life within a consumer-based culture. Any aficionado of horror is likely to place the film high on their list of revered cinema. [More]
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, Tom Savini
Screenwriter: George A. Romero
Producer: Richard P. Rubinstein
Composer: Goblin
DVD Info
Release:
Aug 10, 2008
Blu-ray Disc Features:
- Widescreen
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
- Dolby Digital Mono - English
Additional Release Material:
- Audio Commentary - George A. Romero - Director/Writer; Tom Savini - Special Make-up Effects Artist; Chirs Romero - Assistant Director; Perry Martin - DVD Producer
- Featurette - 1. THE DEAD WILL WALK
- 2. MONROEVILLE MALL TOUR
- 3. On-set Home Movies
- Radio Spots
- Trailer
- TV Spots
Text/Photo Galleries:
- Fast Film Facts
Reviews
Grim, gruelling but beautifully shot, this is intelligent, sophisticated horror.
As a blend of horror, action, tension, and humour, it stands in a class of its own.
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.
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.
Romero, who was his own editor this time out, keeps the scenes clipped and purposeful.
In a rare league of ingenious horror films that are utterly timeless...
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.
Romero's sensibility approaches the Swiftian in its wit, accuracy, excess, and profound misanthropy.
Romero's apocalyptic vision looks more like prophecy than fiction.
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.
Dawn of the Dead’s most unsettling aspect is in how it shows us how little we’ve changed as a culture.
Upon a second viewing, Dawn of the Dead is still just as scary and just as relevant (more so than the remake).
For my money, John Carpenter's Halloween, released the same year, is smarter, sharper, and more influential.
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