Review LXXV
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
I'm sorry I vanished for so long. It's not even like I had an excuse as this semester has been ridiculously quiet. I've also been watching films, but, well, we'll see if I get around to those. Anyway, I'm continuing with another zombie film, this time a classic from George A. Romero, the original Dawn of the Dead. I felt like I should be reviewing more Christmas-ish films, but then I realised that, given this is the season of commercialism and the film deals with such subject matter, I guess I'm not completely off with reviewing with Dawn of the Dead. The film stars David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott J. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, and the ever-wonderful Tom Savini (I don't care if he's super minor in the movie - he's so beast!). We got this, man! We got this by the ass!
The United States is in a mass panic with the growing epidemic of the dead returning to life with one goal in mind: eating human flesh. Francine, a television executive for a news station, tries to control her crew, but everyone has gone mad, with society having gone to ruins due to the plague. With no hope of survival in this part of the country, Francine and Stephen, her lover and traffic reporter, decide to steal a traffic helicopter in hopes of finding better lands. Meanwhile, a S.W.A.T. team raids an apartment building housing mostly immigrants, only to find that many rooms are filled with flesh-eating monsters. Roger, a S.W.A.T. member, meets another S.W.A.T. team associate, Peter, and they bond while destroying monsters. Roger explains that his friend Stephen has offered him an escape, inviting Peter to tag along. That night, the four escape in the helicopter and eventually seek refuge in a mall. This place has survival kits and any merchandise the group might need; however, this sanctuary might not be all it's cracked up to be...
I watched Night of the Living Dead the other day as I decided I had been missing out on that bit of culture for too long. Now, while I will compliment it on its strong black male character (great job, Duane Jones!) and its innovation for being the first zombie film of its kind, I found the film a bit slow. Again, I know it was going into the psychological horror of the individuals and it did spawn the zombie-horro sub-genre, so I can't do anything less than bow to it, but I think I had hyped myself up a bit too much for it. It was gory for the time (just as Psycho was gory as well), and I thought the gore was pretty well done, but the plot itself was not fully there. Maybe it's because the film was short, but either way, while it did have great bits, I think some parts could have been shortened or modified to be a bit more interesting. Dawn of the Dead? This one had everything I wanted. Let's take a look, shall we?
The plot really captures the zombie metaphor. The group stay in a mall where we often seen them growing ecstatic at taking commercial goods they probably wouldn't have been able to afford before, "stealing" money from a bank, and playing about like children. The zombies, of course, walk about the mall, staying somewhere they see as familiar to them. Not to mention the masculinity aspect this film has. Thankfully, Francine stands up for herself. If she would have gone into shock like Barbra (Judith O'Dea) did in Night of the Living Dead, I would have been a bit disappointed. The premise of the film was interesting, and the fact that they take refuge in a mall really made it interesting. There was so much the whole crew of the film could do with it, and they do. I suppose the end where the biker-survival gang comes in might be a bit rushed for some, but I enjoyed it and glad they included it in the film.
The gore is, well, hilarious. The blood is not dark and realistic - it's hyper-red, especially against the blu-ish white faces of the zombies. The iconic scene of the man's head exploding at the beginning of the film had me cracking up. I thought it was brilliant. The zombies themselves were grand, in my opinion. They were simple, but they worked with a certain campiness. The flesh-ripping, flesh-chewing was iconic to Night of the Living Dead, but in colour and more vividly shot. It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Thank you, Tom Savini, for being so awesome.
Dawn of the Dead is worth watching. It may be from 1978, but it really holds up. I have yet to see the remake, but honestly, watch the original - I'm sure it's probably better. It's an inventive zombie film with great characters, interesting lines, and phenomenal gore.
