Dawn of the Dead (Divimax Edition)

Dawn of the Dead (Divimax Edition)
by George A. Romero

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Movie Reviews of Dawn of the Dead (Divimax Edition)

Movie Review: More Zombies
Summary: 5 Stars

Although they are very different, the basic plots to the first 2 films of Romero's trilogy are more or less the same: there's a zombie apocalypse, which forces small group of survivors to hideout in and barricade a building in hopes of simply waiting it out. Now, however, the small farmhouse is replaced with a huge mall, and we are given an even smaller group of 4 survivors. Overall the acting is pretty good, especially considering the budget it had. The characters are generally fairly appealing, so long as they are intended to be, and they have a realistic ordinariness to them, much like they did in NotLD. Despite the emphasis on violence and action through out the film they're some fairly powerful scenes just between the main characters. There's a great scene of them hanging out in their nicely furnished apartment, listening to some sad Spanish/classical sounding guitar while they kill time by gambling with their worthless money. It gives a great sense of desolation. There's also an even somewhat touching scene involving the one character visiting someone's grave.(In fact, I think pretty much all the scenes involving that characters death are very effective, though I won't go into that so as not to give too much away.) It's effective, as are pretty much all the best conventionally dramatic scenes in the film, because it's so simple and un-theatrical.

In my review of NotLD I urged new viewers to discard their expectations form modern horror films. This is perhaps even more necessary for Dawn of the Dead. Frankly, it mainly classifies as a horror film out of convenience, as it blends and shifts from horror to action to adventure to satire to straight drama.(It's rather reminiscent of the much newer and equally excellent 28 Days Later in this way.) As for the classic complaint to all horror films, "It's not scary." well, this one isn't even trying to be scary, for the most part. (And if you doubt this assertion, just listen to the commentary. Romero pretty much says this is the case.) Still, it does have a few remarkably powerful and eerie scenes. The raid on the projects is genuinely horrific, (if not scary in the conventional sense), particularly the slow extermination of the zombies in the basement. There are some good scenes in the mall too, particularly when the guys go off to clear it out, and one zombie just stares at Fran through the glass and later, when the mall has been cleared out, but they all still hear the zombies rubbing and scratching against the glass, trying to get in. These scenes are particularly effective as they come towards the middle, where it becomes more action/adventure/satire oriented, so they provide good contrast.

Much is made of the violence in this film,(done by gore legend Tom Savini) and not without good reason. Despite the fact that it was released about 25 years ago, the sheer volume of gore shown in this film outdoes anything I've seen released by a major studio up to this day.(Kill Bill Vol. 1 is the only one that comes close that I've seen) Admittedly most of it is fairly dated, largely because of the blood (which is too orange and the texture doesn't seem right) but it still has a pretty strong impact a lot of the time. There are something like 70 graphically portrayed gunshot wounds in the film along with plenty of melee violence and the requisite cannibalism. The scenes of flesh eating are always pretty gross, particularly the zombie-man taking chunks out of his still living wife and the montage of mutilation and gut-eating towards the end. It's also got a very nice and very sudden shotgun-induced head explosion. (If you really want gore, though, you need to check out the sequel, Day of the Dead. Actually, you should check that out either way)
Obviously, if you are disturbed or offended by graphic violence you oughta pass this up, though you probably already knew that.

Much is made of the satire in humor in this film, and while it is pretty effective, it isn't the emphasis of the film the some people would like to pretend it is. That is to say, the film isn't simply a vehicle for Romero's thoughts on modern society and consumerism and whatnot. That element certainly is there, but as a whole he mostly wanted to make an enjoyable film. (Once again, if you doubt this listen to Romero in the commentary.) Still, the satire is very important in that it provides a great contrast to the other elements of the picture. This matters because these bizarre tone changes are one of the main things that make the film so good.

There seem to be some conflicting opinions about the conclusion where the film kinda tears apart, with an invasion of weird bikers and particularly graphic violence mixed with some odd physical comedy. Personally, I think it works, and the humor and violence aren't just mixed randomly; it starts out more weird and lighthearted and steadily becomes more dark and gruesome.

This is a pretty bare-bones DVD, but it looks and sounds excellent. Apparently there's gonna be a special addition later this year with a different cut (which is NOT a directors cut, by the way, just an earlier, formative one.) as well, and it'll presumably have more extra features. So if you care about that sort of stuff you oughta hold off til then.(I think it's coming out in October.) If you haven't seen it, check this version out.

Summary of Dawn of the Dead (Divimax Edition)