31 Days of Halloween Films #23: Dawn of the Dead
The Lowdown: The zombie apocalypse has happened, and a lone group of survivors find themselves holed up in a shopping mall, making the best of things and finding ways to live their lives.
The Breakdown: It’s tough to argue that Dawn of the Dead is the Citizen Kane of zombie films. No one before or since had so perfectly put together a film with as much social commentary, dark humor, brutal gore and sadistic fun. Romero’s penchant for exploring society’s breakdown in the face of its’ own demise has, at this point, overstayed its’ welcome. In 1978, however, it was fresh and innovative, which fortunately hasn’t changed since then.
Romero does a lot right here, mainly conveying the sense of relief and morbid fun one might have under these conditions. When our team of heroes gets to the mall and starts picking off zombies, there’s a level of satisfaction seen in some of the characters, almost relishing that they are in control of a situation for once. The concurrent scenes featuring the leads making a home for themselves in the mall also show a certain contentment and comfort in material goods despite the hell that’s been unleashed outside of the mall. The symbolism gets laid on thick here, but it mostly works to the films’ advantage.
The film is chock full of great gore. We get machetes through the head, exploding limbs and plenty of dismemberment. One of the great things about this film is how it doesn’t hold back. In an early scene, Ken Foree’s character is forced to kill a zombie child, a scene that Romero boldly leaves in the film. It’s clear that this film was a labor of love for Romero, and it shows in reference to choices like this. It helps elevate Dawn above similar fare of the era, and also greatly extends its’ legacy.
The Comedown: There are certain staples when it comes to horror, and zombies are close to the top of that list. Especially with things like The Walking Dead gaining popularity in recent years, as well as every other video game out there integrating some sort of zombie mode into their gameplay, zombies are the kind of the movie monster. That legacy’s value is most effectively proven with Dawn of the Dead. Easily my favorite straight zombie flick, and one of the greatest Halloween-time films you can find out there.