Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Building on the zombie scenario introduced in his 1968 classic, Night of the Living Dead, writer/director George A. Romero did something truly special with the follow-up. 1978’s Dawn of the Dead is one of those rare sequels that is just as good — if not better — than the original. While technically a sequel, one can watch the second installment in Romero’s hexalogy of zombie movies without seeing the first.

The film begins in a Philadelphia TV station struggling to deliver information about the zombie plague that’s overrunning the United States. Conflicting ideologies about how to handle the situation have the crew in chaos. One of the station’s producers, Fran (Gaylen Ross,) teams up with her traffic reporter boyfriend, Stephen (David Emge,) to steal the station’s helicopter to escape the city. They plan to pick up Stephen’s friend, Roger (Scott Reiniger,) a SWAT team member, and fly to Canada. Roger brings along Peter (Ken Foree,) a fellow SWAT member.

After flying across the state of Pennsylvania and in need of fuel and supplies, the four find refuge at a shopping mall outside Pittsburgh. It’s full of food, clothing, and other goods that can sustain the group for quite a while. However, a large swarm of zombies surrounds the outside of the mall and a smaller number inhabit the inside. To reduce the zombies’ grip on the place, Roger and Peter hot-wire delivery trucks and block the mall entrances to prevent any more from entering. Once the entrances are blocked, it’s just a matter of picking off the stragglers who remain inside. Then, they can live the high life with all the guns, appliances, jewelry, and money they can handle available for the taking. Unfortunately, things don’t quite work out as planned as a gang of raiders discovers their cozy oasis amongst the chaos.

Like Night of the Living Dead before it, Dawn of the Dead applies a layer of social commentary to the proceedings. Members of a society toppled by hoards of mindless zombies use their wits to escape, only to fall victim to consumerism themselves. The movie also captures the irony of the zombies’ returning to a mall to aimlessly shuffle around, not looking that much different than they did when they were living human beings.

But, fear not, as this is not a heavy-handed criticism of humanity. It’s a horror movie and a delightfully gory one at that. Romero and uncredited co-writer Dario Argento find plenty of morbid humor in the collapse of society. Tom Savini’s makeup effects take the moderately gruesome carnage of Night of the Living Dead to the next level. All manner of viscera are used to depict the demise of both humans and zombies. And while the film isn’t full of jump scares, it masterfully creates an increasingly claustrophobic atmosphere. Add in the oddball soundtrack by Goblin and appropriately grim performances and you’ve got a bonafide horror classic.

If its predecessor introduced the world to the idea of the zombie apocalypse, Dawn of the Dead refined it into its modern form. Almost all modern zombie lore can trace its roots back to the first two George A. Romero zombie movies. While it’s not a perfect movie, it has more brains (literal and figurative) than most horror films. A definite must see.