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DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) (****)

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Hands down the DEAD series is the best horror franchise in the history of cinema. You'd have to go back to the original FRANKENSTEIN to find any real competition. Director George A. Romero takes the genre establishing conventions of his classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and expands on it. While there is definitely gallons of gore to be found here, Romero uses it with purpose, creating a horrifying world where there is more ways than one to become a mindless zombie.

In the beginning, we meet TV producer Francine Parker (Gaylen Ross, CREEPSHOW) as she is dealing with an out-of-control studio in a panic over an epidemic sized invasion of zombies. Her boyfriend Stephen Andrews (David Emge, BASKET CASE 2), a helicopter pilot, advises her that they need to get out of the city as soon as possible. Then we meet cops Roger DeMarco (Scott H. Reiniger, 2004's DAWN OF THE DEAD) and Peter Washington (Ken Foree, THE DENTIST), who have been sent into the ghetto to deal with the zombie problem. The four characters flee together, finding refuge at an abandoned shopping mall.

Like Romero's other films in the series, he mixes horror with social commentary and a dose of humor. In this film, he looks at racism, consumerism and our need to force normality into our lives in unusual situations. The film tells this tale in a straightforward manner as if the events were really happening. Romero is really observant about human nature. I love the scenes of the rednecks hunting zombies like it’s a turkey shoot. Trapped in their mini-society, the four survivors become lethargic as cabin fever begins to set in. Surrounded by all the possible comforts of modern society, do these four humans begin to operate their lives as mindlessly as the zombies? Equally as frightening as the zombies is the biker gang that invades the mall toward the end.

Defining how gruesome and chilling the film is, one of the best sequences follows Roger and Peter as they go outside the mall to move tracker trailers in front of the doors. The editing, pacing and writing is perfect. Making the sequence even better is that we know the characters by now and care about them. Knowing how reckless Roger can be just helps heighten the tension.

Also produced by Italian horror legend Dario Argento, DAWN OF THE DEAD is writer/director Romero's masterpiece. Everything about this film is done wonderfully. This is one of the best horror films of all time.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
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