Zombie Film Review:

Dawn of the Dead

Director: George A. Romero

Year: 1978

Tagline: When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth...

Review: There is no messing about with a subtle build up or long winded and unbelievable scientific explanations, it starts with the panicked TV studio, a full report on the situation and then a huge zombie massacre/shoot out with the police. This is the zombie film that all others deem to be, due to the advances in media technology, a remake capturing the time of ‘Night of the Living Dead' would fall flat, so this has become the Excaliber of zombie films. It is now dated, but the emotive quality and characterisation make this an exceptional film in its own right.

Zombie Quality: ***

Pale and Wounded… not exceptionally decayed, heavily made up or shaded for hours on end, but there are literally tonnes of them and this film does have exceptionally good use of loads of extras.

Zombie Behaviour: ****

In a pure sense these zombies are excellent, they move slowly, eat the flesh of the living, the only thing that stops them getting 5 stars is the fear of flares and the minor bits of tool usage that George threw in for no good reason…

Zombie Threat: ****

All of North America is overwhelmed if the news stories and negative atmosphere covered by this film are to believed, possibly the world, but nothing is confirmed… It seems that everyone apart from people in shopping malls and bikers with too much facial hair have fallen foul of the undead menace.

Gore Content: ***

Nothing here matches the eye scene from Zombie Flesh Eaters, but there is plenty of flesh chomping fun for all, loads of Savini's bullet hits and head shots, decapitations, beatings, machete action and of course someones head being removed by a helicopter… Very strangely shaped head though…

Overall Quality: *****

Strong performances, an excellent script focusing not just on zombies but the meaning of survival and the morals of commercialism, alongside good production values and a decent budget, an entire mall, helicopters and big rigs make this a visual feast. I personally think the film has been too over analysed, yes it may be an ironic look at consumer culture in America, BUT, it's simply among the top three zombie films ever made and so it should be enjoyed as such, unless you're a film student.