First appeared on Blogcritics.
I remember first seeing this film in the theater and people going wild. After all, we had waited ten years since Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead. Despite that film’s simplistic power, the “sequel” (if you can call it that because no one from the first film is present) has a bit of an edge on the original.
Landing on the roof of the mall to give pilot Stephen a chance to rest, Peter and Roger (both AWOL guardsmen) see the benefits of staying put for a while and doing some shopping – lots and lots of shopping. Besides having all the amenities they could possibly want, the mall also provides a secure location – if only they can get rid of all the zombies roaming the place. I won’t spoil the fun for you if you have never seen this film, but there is plenty of action and zombie kills. Romero spoofs the original in the sense that these survivors taunt the zombies with punches, karate chops, and even pies in the face. There is also a wry commentary on our nature as consumers, with the zombies being the ultimate all-night shoppers. Fran asks, “Why do they come here?” Stephen replies, “This was an important place in their lives,” and apparently in their deaths as well.
While all the blood and gore should satisfy the horror purists, what makes this movie a cut above the usual slasher-pics is that we have four main characters that are fully developed. We actually care about them, get to understand their motivations, and we really don’t want to see any of them die. When Roger and Peter go out on a mission (to take tractor trailers and block the entrances of the mall), there is a palpable sense of foreboding that something will go wrong.
The Walking Dead is a fine successor to Romero’s work, but he got it right first and is still the master. If we like that show because of the human interactions more than the zombie kills, it is because they learned from Romero that you have to care about the survivors in order to make the whole thing count. When Jason and Michael are dispatching hapless victims, we almost cheer the killers because each one is as expendable as the last. Not so in Romero’s world, which is why his films (particularly Dawn) are still the gold standard of horror.
Do yourself a favor this Halloween (or any other time of the year), and go rent George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead. I guarantee you it will have some tricks but a good deal more treats for your viewing pleasure.
Photo credits: poster-wikipedia, gun scene-basementrejects.com; zombies-studentarchive.com
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