Dawn of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, and Zombi internationally) is a 1978 American independent horror film, written and directed by George A. Romero. The film featured David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, and Gaylen Ross. It is the second in Romero's Living Dead series, preceded by Night of the Living Dead (1968). The film centres around a plague which reanimates the dead, who prey on human flesh. Several survivors of the outbreak barricade themselves inside a suburban shopping mall. Dawn of the Dead distances itself from the predecessor, this film is more of a polemic, exploring the apocalyptic effects a "zombie epidemic" would have on society, than a straightforward horror film.
The gore, courtesy of make-up impresario Tom Savini, is of the comic-book kind, where it's all very real and horrifying until you realize the color is off on the blood and the color on the faces of the un-dead is off.I could go on and on about this film, but the key thing is to see it, even just once. You may find it out-dated trash, or time-less beauty. Either way, it's likely Romero's best film, or at least his most ambitious (though I've yet to see Knightriders to comment fully). Energy, humor, sadness, excitement, love, loss, it's everything a movie should be (plus the origin of Sex Machine)! By turns horrific, hilarious, disgusting and absurd Dawn of the Dead is the work of a director truly on top of his game. Given almost total control (something which was to be denied Romero in later years) George Romero gives us his unique and vivid view of a world in absolute turmoil.
Not just a mockery of the hedonistic and empty America of the late 70's Dawn is also a parable or warning if you like of the brittle structure of society and how easily it can be disintegrated. Many have criticised the film for being too over the top and questioned the quality of the acting. This for me is one of the joys of the film, Romero uses gaudy sets and effects and combines this with comic book hero dialogue to lull us into a false sense of security. Then masterfully Romero pulls the rug out from under us and brings the reality of the situation crashing in on our heads.
Dawn stands alone well but really comes into its own as part of the trilogy to which it belongs. One theory of mine is that the Alien trilogy (forgetting the miserable fourth installment) takes a lot from the dead trilogy namely the pace and claustrophobia of the two which book-end the mass hysteria and over the top horror and violence of the middle film.
IMDB Info :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077402/
No comments:
Post a Comment