robfla-38664 I got to see this when it was originally released, I was 15. I remember being truly terrified. It was the first time a bite was shown. Tom Savini did a great job on the special FX. Seeing it now it may seem tame but in 1978 this film was groundbreaking. Still one of my top 5 all time even all these years later. The second film in the original trilogy outshines Night and sets up Day perfectly.

Tweetienator Dawn of the Dead is for me the best one out of the three original The Dead series by Romero. Ofc I also like Night of the Living Dead (which was released before I was born) and Day of the Dead (the first one of those 3 movies I watched). After watching Day of the Dead, I just had to watch the 2 older ones (in "best" copy-copied VHS-quality) and of course such epics like Zombi Holocaust, City of the Living Dead and so on.Dawn of the Dead is everything that defines the genre of zombie movies and it is a masterpiece of horror that belongs to the hall of fame of "modern" horror like Evil Dead, The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Shining, Psycho and a few other masterpieces.After experiencing Romero's first zombie movies and the two first Evil Dead movies I was bound to be a connoisseur of horror in this incarnation to my last day.Also, I like the Remake by Zack Snyder from 2004. Sadly the remake of Day of the Dead (2008) directed by Steve Miner is a rather poor one.

Ivan Lalic Accumulating more money and technological resources, George Romero created the sequel to his zombie horror story with ease and productional lavish. The script picked up where the first flick stopped, making the phenomena of the dead eating the flesh of living more global and massive. Sets are grandious for the genre itself, and there are some really great mass scenes. There are more characters, subplots and the action scenes are more attractive. However, the show is being stolen by the phenomenal script, just overflowing with irony of the modern US society and mass media. Tacky, but hilarious lines will follow the overall fast pace of the movie up until the very end with great success. „The dawn of the dead" is a must see for the zombie horror lovers.

Leofwine_draca George A. Romero's follow-up to his cult classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD arrived some ten years later and featured a greatly expanded budget. While DAWN OF THE DEAD is a direct continuation of where the previous one left off (it's a few weeks later, the zombie virus is spreading rapidly, the rescue stations are closing down), the style of the two films couldn't be more different. While NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was a basically a low-budget movie, filmed on just one set, DAWN OF THE DEAD in comparison feels like an epic; a huge setting, tons of zombies and plenty of special effects. We can only be grateful that Romero finally got the budget to do his zombie movies justice.This time around the film doesn't really concentrate on the conflict between the band of survivors (everybody gets along). Romero injects many of his own political views on feminism, society, etc., and also puts the film on multiple levels. In the first instance it's an action/horror movie, in the second it's a scathing satire on consumerism. Thankfully all this subtext don't detract from the main story, and once again the film succeeds in giving us characters to care about. While some might complain that the film might be a little long, cutting would have resulted in us perhaps losing some sympathy with the characters, losing their little ticks and habits, their expressions, their mentalities.To a mainstream viewer, the cast is completely obscure and unknown. However, Romero picks his actors well and everybody fits their role like a glove. Scott H. Reiniger plays probably the most one-dimensional character of the bunch, a SWAT man who gradually loses his grip with reality and suffers the consequences. David Emge is charismatic as an atypical action man with a conscience, who starts off as a novice and learns how to fend for himself throughout the course of the film. Gaylen Ross is the realist of the group, always in touch with the situation, excluded because of her gender, seeing that the mall they occupy isn't a play area but a prison. However it's Ken Foree who excels as the action man who's also intelligent, quick thinking and kind. The only other notable cast members are Tom Savini, SFX master, cameoing as a biker, and a small role for Joe Pilato, who went on to play Captain Rhodes in the next dead film, DAY OF THE DEAD.The special effects are emphasised as the real star of this film, and much is made of the high gore content. Not five minutes go by without zombies getting shot in the head and blood splattering, although all the real cannibalistic gore is saved until the finale and immediately follows some light relief, Romero cruelly playing with our feelings. Arms are torn off, sockets spraying gore, flesh is ripped from legs and necks. It's all pretty horrible and gruesome, and in some ways depressing too. So many zombies and people get killed in this film that you'll need a strong stomach to watch the prolonged bloodshed. It's most horrible when characters we care about get bitten, and Romero works up a lot of suspense from putting them in danger; the truck driving scene being a prime example, plus the lift bit at the end.The music is by Goblin, and is excellent; simplistic, yes, but catchy and downbeat. There are many comedic moments in the film to counter the horror (Romero obviously believed that comic relief should be included intentionally, so that rather than having viewers laugh at a film, they laugh with it instead), such as a zombie getting the top of his head sliced off by a helicopter rotor blade, or zombies falling off balconies and stumbling on escalators. However these silly bits never get in the way of the violence or true horror of the situation, and some bits are painful to watch, especially one scene where a sympathetic character is due to come back from the dead. The wait is unbearable. It is in these moments that we see the genius of Romero's film, as he explores all possibilities and facets of life in a world full of monsters. It's a huge film, it requires a concentrated effort to get through, but will reward on many levels depending on how you watch it.