Horror Origins: Dawn of the Dead

            Do you consider George A. Romero’s breakout film, Night of the Living Dead, to be the true ‘Part 1’ of the series or do you see it as a prelude film?  I see it as a prelude, similar to how The Hobbit isn’t considered ‘Book 1’ of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy yet is important to the story.  Night of the Living Dead explored the opening days of the zombie outbreak in a very small scale.  It was also cinematically and culturally significant. 

            However, I honestly don’t think it follows the same arc as Romero’s future films.  Dawn/Day/Land etc. of the Dead all have a larger sense of scale. 

            So with that justification, here’s my ‘Horror Origins’ take on Dawn of the Dead.

            On to the review!

            It’s 1978 and thankfully there aren’t too many bellbottoms running around set, because the only thing worse than a zombie outbreak is one in which over 25% of the zombies are dressed as hippies.  Nobody likes a hippy zombie, not even other zombies.

            For those of you more familiar with the 2004 remake, 1978’s original Dawn of the Dead is a more exploratory film.  They both have the whole ‘people trying to survive in the mall’ storyline, but the original is far less claustrophobic.

            In the original, two SWAT team members, Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott H. Reineger), are getting a little sick of their coworkers’ actions.  Not wanting to deal with the ever-increasing insanity, they hitch a ride with reporter Fran (Gaylen Ross) and helicopter pilot Stephen (David Emge).  Destination: Anywhere but here.

            At first, they wander around a bit aimlessly, only concerned about food, water, and fuel.  After a few close calls, they come across a shopping mall.  Deciding it would be a good place to stay for awhile (what with all the food, guns, and defensible locations) they set up camp.  This is where the movie becomes a little less about man vs. zombie and a little bit more about man vs. man.

            There is a whole lot of romping around, playing around, and generally taking advantage of the situation.  In fact, the only times they have to fight zombies are when Peter keeps deliberately seeking out danger when he gets bored.  This will eventually leads to a little less Peter in everyone’s lives.

            Eventually, their moderately idyllic time in the mall is cut short not by zombies but by a roving gang of bikers who decide that it’s not right for the mall survivors to horde all the goods.  So naturally they break in and, being friendly bikers, try to kill every zombie and person they encounter.

            Yeah, being attacked by zombies and bikers usually ruins my day too.

            The best thing about Dawn of the Dead is how it revels in the everyday.  Sure, there are zombies that need to be killed or neutralized, but Romero’s characters are just as likely to worry about where they’re going to get food or figure out what they need from a department store as they are to care about the undead. 

At one point the film shows a bunch of hunters palling around and shooting any undead that come out of the trees.  It's as if people don't care about the outbreak itself, focusing instead on the fun to be had from lawlessness.  Heck, even the bikers that show up near the end of the film don’t really care about the zombies.  They’re there to get their hands on what the mall has to offer, be it food, clothes, or jewelry.

I’d say that’s the best part of the original Dawn of the Dead.  While most every zombie film to come after will focus on the zombies—even the remake—this one often pushes the zombies to the background so that they can concentrate on other, even more harrowing, problems.

As much as I prefer this plot and the characters over the remake, I’m really glad that both special effects and music have come a long way.  There is absolutely nothing about this soundtrack to suggest anything other than the 70’s, and the zombies are hilariously made-up.  It may have had a slightly bigger budget than Night of the Living Dead, but that doesn’t mean that the effects were in any way good.  It would be another decade before we could really start to look forward to zombies that actually look creepy.

If you’ve seen the remake of Dawn of the Dead but not the original, give it a try.  Aside from the sometimes-cheesy effects, it’s a far superior film.  It spawned many, many imitators.  Many other directors also tried to add social commentary to their horror films (though usually not nearly as well).  In fact, I’m going to go out on a limb here and claim that only Fido manages nearly as good of a job at being a zombie movie and something more.