DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)

Dawn of the Dead represents a huge step forward in filming technology and budget for director George A Romero. I have to admit that revisiting "Night of the Living Dead" as an adult gore-fiend left me a little underwhelmed, I do love the movie and I know it was a groundbreaking film for its time but really its hard going from the visually spectacular horror films we have today back to the rudimentary execution of NOTLD.

Mr Romero's second venture into the world of the undead, this one from 1978 still holds up remarkably well against the zombie flicks of today. despite being over 2 hours long this one holds the viewers interest, of course being shot in colour played no small part in this.  The film allowed Romero to go a little wild on the gore, rendering it one of the more graphic american films to have been released at the time. The VHS copy I have shows it to have an "R" rating (restricted to adults) but by todays standards it would most likely have earned the 15 year old rating which to me makes it good wholesome family fun that you can let your older kids watch without the exploitational nudity and sex that other european films being released at the same time were saturated in.

Plot wise it doesn't have anything really to do with "Night of the Living Dead" save the fact that zombies have risen from the dead and are devouring anything and everything in their path. This time round much of country seems to have been overrun with the reanimated corpses. The story itself revolves around a small group of survivors who have taken refuge in a shopping mall and attempt to survive off the supplies within the mall for months while civilization around them (presumably) collapses and the undead around the mall attempt to break in and consume them. There is some cool interpersonal play within the characters and its a film that keeps the viewers interest the whole way through, and the gore effects would have been second to none at the time, and still hold up reasonably well today I have to say!

Also be sure to check out our reviews on Night of the Living Dead and Day of the Dead

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