Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Director: George A Romero
Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H Reiniger

Synopsis:
A reporter, a helicopter pilot and two police officers take refuge in an abandoned mall as society breaks down in a zombie outbreak.

Impressions:
I rather like Night of the Living Dead, but I would argue this is a stronger movie, bolstered by a bigger scope, a bigger budget, and less pointless squabbling among the survivors. It does have its faults, though. The political subtext of the first film was allegedly entirely unintentional, but here there is more of an explicit political message and it's about as subtle as a brick to the head. One trend you'll notice is that Romero becomes increasingly unsubtle and clumsy with the message with each film. How well you take it is mostly a matter of personal taste. I can roll my eyes and move on. The European cut eliminates most of this but in exchange you lose a lot of the rest of the story (and the editing is rather choppy to boot). Another complaint I have is that while the gore effects are quite good, the bluish-grey skin of the zombies tends to look rather silly. Speaking of silly, there are some hijinks that are a touch on the ridiculous side and at several points the music makes you wonder if you're supposed to take any of it seriously.

I do like the character dynamics here. Ken Foree as Peter stands out as my favorite character. Francine is a better female lead than Barbra was, but she does have her moments of being the neutral female, which I'm not a fan of. (It's not the fundamental principle I oppose as it is the execution, especially since she tends to be fairly competent most of the time.) Making the mall a sort of paradise prison is rather effective.

In conclusion, it's by no means a perfect movie, but it's got a lot going for it and improves on its predecessor in a lot of ways. I haven't seen the director's cut and I only watched a little of the European cut, but based on what I know, I'd recommend the theatrical cut. Give this one a watch.

Rating:
Watch It