Dawn of the Dead (1978) Reviews
Dawn of the Dead (1978) review
Posted : 4 years, 6 months ago on 10 October 2019 06:30Once holed up in a shopping mall after eradicating the interior undead and blocking off the entrance, one of the SWAT team members becomes reckless and ends up bitten, leading the gang to fulfil their consumerist fantasies and end up corrupted by hedonism and materialism. In adding exposition and potency to the proceedings, Romero's follow-up to his lo-fi zombie allegory of the previous decade has still not been surpassed. Taking refuge in a shopping mall is exactly what rational survivors would do, but in doing so, the characters are infiltrated by the mindless consumerist values affecting the zombie plague who return instinctively to the place they know best. It is testament to Romero's vision that the indoor mall, even replete with the walking dead, actually resembles the reality of shopping centres in any part of the developing world. In being provided with endless convenience and epicurean enjoyment until the world ends, the film's characters are rendered as brainless as the corpses they view as inferior. Operating on the surface as an indictment of capitalism at large, and how it effectively turns us all into zombies, the pessimistic allegorical elements of "Dawn of the Dead" elevate the film into the annals of cinema history, beyond the usual intelligent, more sophisticated horror classics afforded such reverence; Romero's prescient sophomore zombie outing has lost none of its ability to shock, and is perhaps as damning and scathing of modern society (alive or dead) than any other film of its ilk. By developing the script's themes with explicit satirical subtext applied to the living under siege context, interesting (but still wooden) characters and uniformly more proficient (and gory) special effects, Romero's game-changing revision of his weak debut is broader, infinitely more compelling and in turn, the far superior work of prophetic, deliriously grisly satire.
0 comments, Reply to this entry
Monsters Mash #42 Dawn of the Dead
Posted : 11 years, 6 months ago on 26 October 2012 02:240 comments, Reply to this entry
A classic
Posted : 12 years, 11 months ago on 26 May 2011 12:52I already saw this movie but since it was a while back and since I had it on DVD, I was really eager to check it out again. Well, to be honest, pretty much like with 'Night of the Living Dead', even though I did like the damned thing, I can't say I thought it was really great though. Sure, I did like how it was sharp with a nice combination of horror, humor and satirical critic on our consumerist society. The main issue was that the acting was rather weak and the directing, with all respect to Romero, was nothing really amazing either. In my opinion, both were actually better in the recent remake. As a matter of fact, I can't actually say which one was better between this original version directed by George A. Romero and the remake directed by Zack Snyder. Indeed, the remake did look better but it still turned out to be a rather standard action flick, lacking the wit and originality of this first version. I guess, pretty much like when 'Night of the Living Dead', came out, it must have been quite a shock for the audience because they never had seen anything like this before. However, I’m afraid it has actually lost most of its impact nowadays. Anyway, to conclude, even if I don’t think it is really such a masterpiece, it still a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.
PS : I first saw the US original version and, then, many years later, I saw the European version edited by Dario Argento
0 comments, Reply to this entry
When There's No More Room In Hell...
Posted : 16 years, 4 months ago on 19 December 2007 04:370 comments, Reply to this entry