Review #142: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Cast/Notable Credits:
George Romero (Director)

Ken Foree (Peter): Halloween

Scott Reininger (Roger): Dawn of the Dead

Gaylen Ross (Francine): Madmen (1982), Creepshow (1982)

David Emge (Stephen "Flyboy")

Trailer:

Plot:

Following the events from the previous movie, NOTLD, Dawn of the Dead picks up in the city of Philadelphia. The U.S. has been engulfed with the epidemic of zombies across the land. The government and armed civilian have formed hunting parties in an attempt to distinguish the zombies. Marshal Law and government curfews restrict remaining survivors to close quarters in the major cities.

Two survivors (Stephan and his girlfriend Francine) working at a Philadelphia T.V. station devise their own plan for escaping the zombies as they have their eyes set on stealing the stations traffic helicopter. Along with two of the city’s SWAT members, Roger and Peter, Stephen and Francine steal the helicopter and take off for the wilderness of Canada...eh.

The group ransacks an abandoned airstrip for fuel and half of the group almost gets bitten by rouge zombies. They escape the landing strip after a quick refueling of the helicopter and continue on in the air.

While looking for a place to set down and rest for the night, they spot a mall in a small town. They land the helicopter on the roof and work their way down into the Monroeville Mall. Once in the mall, they realize that the mall is pretty much free from zombies. There are a few zombies hanging around in the mall, but the group thinks that they can take care of them if needed.

After finding some food, the group stays the night in a hidden storage room located near the roof of the mall. In the morning, Peter and Roger head back into the mall to scavenge for supplies. Peter thinks that if they barricaded the doors and take out the zombies inside the mall, they could possibly hold up there for quite a while. He convinces the group that they could take shelter in the mall.

Stephen flies Roger and Peter over to a local truck yard via helicopter. Roger and Peter both drive a few big rigs over to the mall and park them in front of the entrances, reinforcing the doors. After they complete their task, the group then “cleans up” the remaining zombies in the mall and the four take refuge in the mall while zombies pile up outside.

Villain:

Zombies in color! Slow moving and flesh cravin’ bluish dead people populate the bad guys in the film. Still, there is very little explanation on how the world became infested by zombies or what caused the dead to be re-animated. I guess the film just banks off the theory from the first movie that radiation from a returning probe from Venus caused the dead to come back to life.

Cast:

It’s the best cast out of all of Romero’s zombie movies. The cast is the glue that keeps the movie together. Once again Romero creates a cast that the audience can feel and relate to. His movies are about zombies, but Romero specializes in making the cast into the everyday people the audience can relate to.

There are four main characters in Dawn. Gaylen Ross plays the role of Francine, the film’s featured female. Francine was one of the employees at the T.V. station. For the first part of the film it seems that her character is nothing important and she is just tagging along for the ride. Even during an early zombie encounter, Francine plays a frightened helpless girl.

We discover that she is pregnant with Stephen’s child during the course of the film and her character steadily grows stronger in strength. She becomes more vocal in the groups plans and shows the initiative to want to learn how to shoot a gun and fly the helicopter.

Francine’s boyfriend, Stephen “Flyboy” Andrews was the least likable of the main characters. His character started off as a tightly wound over bearing man. Stephen wanted to be treated as the man of the household. Early on he bossed Francine around and was a little skeptical of Peter and Roger’s ideas and leadership.

Stephen’s character started to loosen up tremendously as he became involved in wiping out the mall zombies. It’s like he started having fun killing them off. Stephen also came down a notch of his high horse as Francine grew stronger in her role and stood up to him. I admit that I hated his character at the get go, but Stephen wore on me as the film went on.

Scott Reininger played Roger, a cocky Philadelphia SWAT team member. Roger and Peter formed a special friendship in Dawn. The film starts off where the two don’t know each other they are just parts of two different SWAT teams that converge during a mission. They quickly earn trust with each other and quickly become friends after that.

Roger was a little crazy and reckless, but in a fun way. I liked Roger’s character, and was a little disappointed when his recklessness got him in trouble and bitten by a zombie. It was sad to see Roger get blindsided by a zombie and then slowly deteriorate in physical condition as he changes into a zombie.

My favorite character of the film was Peter, played by Ken Foree (pictured right). I admit…I’m a big fan of Ken Foree and it probably stems from his role in this film. Peter plays a calm, smooth leader of the bunch. He clearly sees the big picture before anyone else in the film does.

SFX/Gore:

Special effects king and wizard, Tom Savini, joins Romero’s crew to deliver some of the goriest and bloodiest effects in movie history. With all that said...maybe the effects weren't TOP notch, but they were pretty creative and gory. After all, that's what Savini does. Savini creates his own image on how zombies decay once they've turned. The zombies are a bluish color in nature.

T.Gun’s Take:

Dawn of the Dead is the film that has inspired my fascination with survival situations and zombies. The film pretty much "hit it on the head" on what to do in case of a zombie holocaust. First of all...you need to escape. Secondly, barricade yourself in a place with limited access and a whole bunch of supplies. Thirdly, wipe out the limited zombies still occupying the area. Finally...enjoy the life style!

Well...basically. I have a more in depth plan thought out...but that's for another day. I'll give you a hint: it involves a home improvement store and a nearby retail store.

Once again Romero strikes gold in his character development. The greatest thing about Dawn (besides zombies) is the film's characters. I truly fell in love with them by the end of the film. It was even sad when Roger had turned and needed to be put down by his best friend. Sniffle.

Dawn is the second best zombie movie on the market...stay tuned for the best. Despite some cheesy and gory effects, the heartbeat of the movie is its storyline and characters. Definitely a movie to check out.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Filmed opened on May 24, 1979
-Filmed at Monroeville Mall in Pennsylvania between the hours of 10 pm to 6 am; the mall actually opened at 9 am, but apparently no one knew how to turn off the mall’s Muzak radio and it interfered with the filming
-SFX expert Tom Savini played a zombie in the film
-Extras were reportedly given $20, a lunch box and a Dawn of the Dead T-shirt