Talk us through itThe living dead have expanded their horizons from attacking isolated farm houses to rampaging through cities and apparently shopping malls. In Philadelphia two television station workers, Stephen and Francine, decide to take the company helicopter and get out of Dodge as the situation worsens. Joining our intrepid duo are SWAT team members Roger and Peter, who after a fire fight in an apartment building also realise things are going to hell in a hand basket. After some adventures in the countryside, our four desperados land on top of a shopping mall somewhere in middle America. They fortify the structure, cull the zombies trapped inside the mall, and settle in to wait things out. As cabin fever sets in – just how long can you stay at a mall anyways? – one of them succumbs to the zombie virus, and everyone else starts getting on each other’s nerves. Thankfully a heavily-armed marauding biker gang shows up to get everyone back on track with the whole surviving the zombie plague thing. One hell of a good horror movie with a few things to say ensues. Can our heroes survive a hungry zombie horde, a biker gang with antisocial leanings, and Tom Savini doing his very best Jason Voorhees impersonation?
Review“Some kind of instinct. Memory, of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives.” – StephenAfter almost a decade, and an unsuccessful side step into mainstream movie making, Romero turned back to what he knows best, the zombie movie. With the help of Italian maestro Dario Argento, Romero concocted a tale with some real venom in it aimed squarely at the rampant consumerism that was then engulfing the United States and by proxy the rest of the Western World. God was out and that new colour television set was in. With a much larger budget than used in his previous zombie outing (Night Of The Living Dead), the indie film maker also went with a much larger scope than he was able to do with the previous movie in the series. Like his worsening zombie outbreak, Romero was aiming to infect a much larger audience with his vision. Dawn follows some time after the events in Night. The isolated outbreak of “ghouls” in rural America has worsened, with the infected now roaming the streets of major cities. The authorities seem unable to cope with the outbreak and society is accelerating down the path to total chaos. Romero takes time out of his busy schedule to aim a boot squarely at the arse of corporate television. A station manager wants a list of rescue stations to continue to be displayed for viewers even though the list is hopelessly out of date and will lead people to particularly gory deaths. All about ratings, folks, and yes I could see Rupert Murdoch throwing a tantrum if the list was removed from a Fox broadcast today. Our four heroes, and no they don’t represent any particular stereotypes, do the one thing you seldom see in a horror movie, they get out of Dodge in the quickest way possible. Naturally, and the audience are already aware of this, the situation is not improved by going rural as Johnny and Barbara discovered in the previous film. The only sanctuary available in a bleak landscape – Romero goes out of his way to fill the frames with a sort of overall greyness – is a mega-mall that appears to have been built in the middle of nowhere. We assume there are townships near by as for sure there are one hell of a lot of zombies lumbering around the place. I leave it to the reader to interpret zombies and mindless consuming in any way they feel like doing. Initially the survivors fall into a sort of rest and recuperation mode as they take stock of their surroundings. The lure of material goods proves too much and it’s almost this one motivation that leads Peter to devise ways of fortifying the mall and killing off any zombies trapped inside. Romero almost drops into comedy mode for the middle part of his film as his characters take full advantage of their surroundings. End of day, however, the Director/Writer points out that material comfort isn’t enough and has nothing to do with survival. It’s almost a relief when the Tom Savini-lead biker gang arrives to pull down the false structures of civilisation our survivors have erected. For sure Peter is quickly back into his SWAT overalls and is getting down to business as his comfort zone is removed. One feels Romero considers this a particularly good thing. Whether or not you want to dive into the whole house of cards thing Romero has going down here is up to you. The director isn’t pushing his political ideology overly, and Dawn of the Dead can be viewed as simply another zombie movie, albeit of a vastly superior quality to the normal run of the mill guff the subgenre tends to attract. Numerous other themes could of course be read into the movie; Romero still referencing the Vietnam War, a whole us and them thing going down (note that in both of Romero’s zombie movies thus far covered the survivors barricade themselves in and by definition everyone else out). Dawn remains as one of those few movies where you can take exactly what you want from it to whatever degree you are comfortable with. Insanely good moviemaking for mine. 
As usual Romero has collected together a cast of little know actors to complement his vision. David Emge (Stephen) does excellent work as the somewhat naive helicopter pilot who is simply unequipped to handle the situation he finds himself in. Ken Foree (Peter) is a revelation; this dude can act, was loving his performance throughout the movie. Scott H. Reiniger (Roger) plays it slightly insane and gives good value as the group member who is simply caught up in events with no idea of where to go next. Notably Roger is the one with all the knowledge but who formulates exactly zero ideas. And finally Gaylen Ross (Francine) adds some well needed feminine touches to an otherwise testosterone-fuelled horror outing. Ross is able to match the boys and doesn’t disappear into the background. As is normal with a Romero flick, no one is being cast to add the eye candy. Special mention of Tom Savini who does excellent work as a machete wielding biker. Romero is having nothing naughty going down on his watch and you are not going to miss it in the slightest. Interesting mix of zombies though to make up for things. Goblin is another Argento link as he uses the band on a whole bunch of his own movies. The score is exactly right for the visuals, some nice eerie touches as needed, and some fun times as Romero slyly winks to the audience in parts of the movie.
Summary ExecutionDawn of the Dead is a classic horror movie and for once an excellent sequel to a previous film. Romero had me onboard his soul train from first frame to last frame. I appreciated the themes on show and applaud the director for not neon signposting them. For sure they are easy to pick up on but they don’t compromise the actual movie flow. One of the things I thought Romero could have included was an examination of how organised religion would react to the dead returning to a semblance of life. But hey that’s just me and Romero clearly had other fish to fry. As the dust settled and the end credits rolled I was up for a repeat viewing.Dawn of the Dead was the second movie in what has become known as Romero’s “dead universe”. To date there are five movies by the director in the franchise and any number of remakes, re-imaginings, or whatever else you want to call them. As noted Night of the Living Dead preceded Dawn ten years prior. Romero has followed up Dawn with Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, and recently Diary of the Dead. I wasn’t aware zombies kept journals but there you go. Currently Romero is working on a new movie simply known as of the Dead at time of writing. Dawn is a roller coaster of a ride but be warned Savini outdoes himself with applying the gore Romero required. If one of those who doesn’t like blood and guts in their horror diet then give this one a miss. For once I can report on a horror movie that works as an actual movie, surprisingly a very hard thing to find. Recommended film to horror fans, those who like the occasional dark outing, and anyone wondering exactly why people like this sort of thing. Be warned, Romero has laid down a movie with bite.
ScaryMinds Rates this movie as ... Romero keeps the energy of the previous Dead movie flowing.
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