Warning: this review contains spoilers and gushing fan boy love. If you haven’t seen Dawn then proceed to your nearest video store and secure a copy immediately. Seriously guys, this one’s a no-brainer.

Set in an undetermined amount of time after Night Of The Living Dead, Dawn Of The Dead follows the exploits of a helicopter pilot, his reporter girlfriend, and two Swat team members as they escape the city and take refuge in an abandoned mall. The mall is full of untouched goods - goods guarded by a mass of mindless zombies. Can the four friends defeat the zombies and claim the malls treasures for themselves? And if they can, do they really want to?

It is my intention to make any and all of you reading this feel the love and affection I have for this horror classic. I dare say that Dawn Of The Dead is one of the very best movies our beloved genre has ever birthed, right up there with The Shining, Halloween, and John Carpenter’s The Thing. Like those movies, Dawn is a story masterfully told, combining dynamite thrills with a contemporary message that is still relevant today, if not more so.

What makes Dawn such a great movie is that it works perfectly both as a horror movie and as a condemnation of consumer culture. The two elements combine to form a superior movie, a horror movie that feels that much more real because what it’s saying is actually true.

As more and more space is filled with ads, and with more and more products to buy and ways to buy them emerging, I think George’s message in Dawn is continuing to be realized. What is that point? It’s simple. People do not care. About anything. As long as people have a working television, some food to eat, and the latest designer clothing, they don’t really give a damn about what’s happening in the world. That’s what the films title represents; not only is it referring to the literal rise of the dead, but it’s signaling the beginning of an age where people are brain dead, where they just don’t care.

Such an age marks the beginning of the end of civilization, because if people only care about what they eat and what they’re wearing, then society’s going to fall apart. This is a message that is beautifully illustrated with Dawn’s final scenes. As the last escaping humans flee the scene, the once exiled zombies reclaim their now war-torn mall. As bodies and destruction lay about, the zombies grimly muddle about, thoughtlessly inhabiting their shattered environment.

But enough about symbolism, a movies message can only get it so far. People watch movies to be entertained, and it is on this front that Dawn also triumphs. The movie, from the opening scene in the newsroom, until the finale on the roof of the mall, is very compelling because of its realism. The way people act in this movie, especially the main characters, is very believable. One of the things that ruined the 2004 remake for me was the way the characters interacted. The remakes inhabitants more closely resembled the contestants on a reality TV show than a group of people stuck inside of a nightmare.

When Francine and Stephen argue about her right to carry a gun, or whether or not to get married, these conversations are not manipulated in such a way as to make them feel sensational. What results is believable sounding dialogue, the kind you might actually hear people utter were zombies ever to rise up.

Special effects wise Dawn is impressive for its time, with satisfying Savini gore and action that leaves nothing desired. Probably the film’s one flaw is the zombies themselves, as the vast majority of them have bland, unexceptional blue makeup. A cast of extras painted blue could work disastrously in another picture, but in Dawn they serve as a minor distraction.

For any horror fan that has not yet seen Dawn and is still reading this I have only one thing to say, and that is: GO! Go out immediately and buy (trust me) or rent Dawn Of The Dead and watch it at an appropriate time. If this movie doesn’t move you or make you excited to be a horror fan then it’ll probably dawn on you that you are dead, dead to one of the crowning jewels of horror filmmaking.

Remade in 2004 and followed by Day Of The Dead. (Vhs Caveman, 3/22/06)

Directed By: George A. Romero.
Written By: George A. Romero.

Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross.