 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. So this is for the 1978 classic film Dawn of the Dead Yes, George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead. This is actually the first time I've seen this film I know some people seeing this now are just gonna be like in disbelief. Just like how is this the first time? It's I have so many movies on my list that I needed to get to I finally got to this because this one was also Hard to find so big shout out to Rich Smith my good friend who hooked me up with the Blu-ray for Dawn of the Dead. So that is where I watch it. This is the anchor Bay release. I know there are a lot of different versions of the film so this one was a bit over two hours and I do have to say that for being over two hours it sure doesn't feel like it's over two hours. Main reason being because it's a fun-ass movie. It is a super fun movie. It's a very endearing and engaging and fun movie too which seems weird to say considering that it's you know not nice material you know it's supposed to be horror it's supposed to be bleak you know things aren't happy in this film you get some happy parts but you know so anyway this might be one of my longer reviews because I have a good amount to say and it's a long film written and directed by George Aramiro as we all know I'm not going to go into everything he's done we all know that but one of the cool things I want to hit up front is that I like his writing because especially with the of the living dead films that he's done you know night of the living dead dawn of the dead day of the dead which I am going to do review on as well um because at watching this film maybe you want to watch day of the dead he he moves the story along with the zombies themselves you know in the first one they're just there to gut munch they're just where did they come from they're just there to kill in the second one dawn of the dead this one there's a little more humanity to them because they're gravitating towards this mall I know it's this big you know um thing about consumerism which I'll talk about later and I'm sure people have heard about ad nauseam with this film but that's a little bit more of a human element to it that like there's still something human about their brain that they remember that they're consumers that they want to go to a mall they want to consume products and then in day of the dead which I'll eventually do a review on that's the one where they have a zombie who they try to kind of humanize in a way and that does work he actually starts to feel like some human type of emotions so I just love the fact that Romero doesn't just show more zombies it's just more zombies more zombies more zombies he's moving the narrative forward he's changing things he's evolving the zombies he's getting deeper into what they actually are and what they can be and and that's what I love so great writer so oh and it's worth noting that Shutter is going to end up getting his like lost film the amusement park so I'm interested to see that Tom Savini actually you know he did the practical effects for this film he actually regrets having used the gray paint that he did did they went with that because none of the living dead was in black and white so they wanted to kind of match that so they decided to just go gray with the zombies and he regrets doing that though because it obviously ended up looking blue on film but you know it's nobody's going to complain about that now it was from so long ago so many people just love this film anyway so it's it's water under the bridge but Savini regrets that also I'm going to give you a little bit of information there is an unreal amount of information on like the behind the scenes stuff and stories having to do with the making of this film including documentaries so just go look for it if you want like an insane amount of information just go hit the internet you know IMDb trivia wikipedia all that type of stuff I'm going to give you just a few things that I found particularly interesting so Dario Argento was in a girl in the making of this film I think he was a producer on it but one of the other things is that Argento had Romero come stay with him like he hosted him in Italy so that he could have him secluded for the creation of the dawn of the dead script Argento loved night living dead so much that he really wanted the follow-up film dawn of the dead to be something special as well and that's why he was just like Romero you know come here you can stay here be secluded no distractions write a masterpiece and I really think he wrote a pretty masterpiece of a of a follow-up for night of the living dead and I know a lot of people would agree with that oh by the way it took him three weeks to write that script that's pretty fast in my opinion all filming was done between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at the Monroeville mall which I have visited and they do have a bust there of George a Romero they also have some areas where they have photos from the filming from the set of the film which is really cool shooting was so just so you know between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. is when they had to shoot because that's when the mall was closed basically that's when they were able to you know set everything up not have people around obviously the shooting actually ended up being suspended around Christmas time though because there were so many Christmas decorations up in order to shoot during that time they would have to take them all down do all their shooting and then put them all back up before the mall opened so they were just like let's just take a hiatus on this that's going to be way too much work we won't get all that much done for the money we'd be spending for it Romero made the film intentionally comedic because he wanted it to have a comic book style now obviously that scene and his proclivity for comic book type stuff is seen most in the creep show film the first creep show film where he really wanted to pay homage to the ec comics it's no surprise to anyone that he was a big fan of that so it ended up in his filmmaking and he cited that as an inspiration for the comedic aspects of dawn of the dead which worked really well in my opinion Romero did not give direction to the zombie extras by the way the reason he said is because if he gives direction to all these zombie zombie extras of which they were in there were an insane amount that they would all act that one way and that's not how it would really be with zombies you don't want to see just all the zombies acting one way at the same time they would do their own things like they have their own kind of you know mannerisms and motivations and minds and you know depleted as they are so I found that interesting because that makes a lot of sense that he wouldn't you know be like this is how you all have to do it um so getting into the events of the actual film I think the chaos that they start with at the tv station as they're trying to broadcast about the zombie apocalypse that's going on is a really good setup because it first of all starts with this air of just craziness and chaos like I was saying and of all places for it to be at the tv station where people who are watching it are seeing some of the crazy stuff going on there hearing people like yelling um walking out you know there's a range of responses to it some people are trying to still do their job be very serious about it take it seriously some people are like I'm out of here I'm looking out for me some people are just in disbelief it's a range of things going on and it's nuts and people look at especially like newscasters as the people who are always professional and always just going to take news of disaster and um deliver it in a very professional calm manner so for it to have been as chaotic as it is really shows you how crazy things are um so I really like that intro and by the way Georgia Romero himself is in it in the beginning he's like working one of the boards at the uh at the tv station the siege on the apartment complex immediately is insanely intense that was a really crazy moment and you could also see you know people reacting in different ways at that point you know you have that one police officer who just goes off the rails and just starts killing people I guess it's more like kind of like a swat team type thing he just starts killing anyone you know he's not just going after zombies at that point so yeah you see the range of people people are trying to do good people who are doing bad just it's all over the place and it's chaos once again chaos I like the range of human responses oh yeah I already talked about that sorry notice there's the like a distorted audio when Peter Kenfori's character Peter finds that grouping of all the zombies in the basement of the apartment complex the audio changes and it kind of sounds like a little bit echoey a little bit kind of like disconnected and like other realm type sound which I think was supposed to be this moment of like showing his inner feelings Peter's inner feelings of this kind of surreal moment of like shock and terror and knowing that he just has to shoot all these zombies that obviously are people at the same time so I thought that was a cool kind of auditory cue about what was going on with Peter's emotions and his feeling and his thoughts at that point showing the hunting groups basically having a ball killing zombies is pretty disgusting it shows kind of humans finding a way to like have fun with a terrible situation which is why it's kind of like a sick situation I mean when you're watching the film it's it's fine you know you're not disturbed by it or anything but when you think about what's going on there it's like this is a zombie epidemic people are just being killed and eaten and here they're there these people just like drinking having fun listening to music and shooting these zombies like it's sport you see that in the end towards the end of the film also in the attitudes of the bikers who end up busting into the mall they're the exact same way like they've been dealing with fighting the zombies so long that it's just become fun to them and you know maybe part of that is a survival thing that for their own brains they need to turn it into something engaging and fun uh in order to just cope honestly because that'll happen the helicopter helicopter head chop scene of that one zombie iconic everyone knows it's iconic really cool looking that was a great idea the idea to turn everything on in the mall once Peter and Steven and Francine and Roger get there uh to kind of their their idea to turn everything on in the mall including the music and the fountains and everything in order to deaden any of the the sound that they be maybe making when they're going around the mall was very very smart I love that and that's one of the things like there's a lot of detail that goes into the plans that these people have which speaks to the writing of Romero when he was thinking out the story it's a nice comedic moment when the music comes on and you just end up seeing zombies kind of like shuffling around falling about and it's like a fun music too so that's that kind of like comedic aspect to it that also happens later in the film too when there are scenes where they're you know fighting zombies it adds that element of fun to uh and and comedy to the film even Peter and Roger succumb to consumerism as they run around the department store taking things and they're joyful about it when they first get into the department store then there's the montage that comes in actually much later as well where everyone's starting to grab stuff that's when all four of them are starting to you know create their new life there at the mall because they've finally gotten all the zombies out and secured the mall basically so that's at that point they're feeling like oh you know maybe we can put something together that's very normal a normal life and we can live here and they're going around like joyfully grabbing all this food and clothing and you know what have you I like that montage by the way it's very well done it initially seems like there are sparse amount of zombies but then the numbers kind of steadily grow until they finally take care of the issue and secure things like I was talking about a lot of interest ends up being driven by wondering where they'll go within the mall and how they'll end up choosing to deal with each individual zombie situation it gives it this really interesting kind of adventurous feeling to it you truly never know where the script is going to end up going and you don't know where these characters are going to end up in the end and the fact that you lose Roger that you lose Steven aka flyboy it hits home because you didn't see it coming like you have a an inkling that someone's probably not going to make it or maybe that none of them are going to make it but you end up spending so much time with the characters and you see the relationships that are forged amongst those characters that you feel it like I felt it I felt you know a bit of emotion when Roger um died well actually mainly mainly when he gets bitten I didn't really care that much when he was bitten because his character wasn't that sympathetic at that point but they did a really good job of after he's bitten or Romero did after he's bitten making you see him as more of a nice person as more of like a relatable character and then when um Peter eventually has to shoot him it gives it so much more impact and then obviously the scene in the elevator when Steven flyboy uh gets bitten and you just know it's not going to be good and then he comes back as a zombie and there's still that kind of human part of him that goes back to the little home that they created he Peter and Francine um like he's returning home from his normal day and then that's when Peter has to shoot him so there's a lot of gravity in that one too because at that point you love Peter as a character and you love the love between Steven and Francine and the friendship between Steven and Peter it's it's emotionally very well developed in my opinion you might not think with the concept going into it but yeah when Steven's trying to consult Francine in the very beginning uh the look on her face shows that she's thinking further than just kind of living at the mall for whenever she's thinking past you know what do we do with our lives how do we secure things and part of the reason being that she was pregnant at that point but I also love her response of basically you're going to treat me like everyone else here you know she steps up and she's like you're not going to take care of me basically you're going to teach me to do everything that you guys are going to be doing here I'm going to contribute you're not going to hide things from me this is all four of us in this together equally I love that aspect of it because with a lot of films especially older films the women were just characters to be protected characters to get in harm's way and not do a whole lot about it so the fact that she was like a good strong character but also being you know sensitive and relatable it was nice you have to respect oh I literally just talked about my apologies Roger is annoying at first I didn't like Roger at all he seemed like an ass he was running around like hooping and hollering a lot which was like super annoying especially when they were out running around getting those uh trucks to bring them to the mall but like I said after he's bitten is when he starts to endear himself to people he's you know more subdued uh I think he becomes a better person kind of because he's trying to experience the last portions of his life because he knows his time is running out I mean they all do basically there's an odd satisfaction in watching the trucks plow the zombies over can we all agree on that I don't know there's just something about watching those scenes where they're driving the trucks into the zombies there's something satisfying about seeing them the moment you see Roger get bit you know it's going to be bad uh it's then up to the others to properly deal with the situation and that that is just that situation that's coming that everyone knows is coming the viewers the characters it just hangs over everything until the moment when Peter does have to shoot Roger and by the way when that happens in the film note that uh Steven and Francine are watching tv watching the news where the doctor on there is basically saying that people need to be making the logical choices in this situation with the zombies and that's when Peter shoots Roger in the head and that is the logical choice at that point you know it's emotional it's tough to do because yes that was his friend but that's the logical thing to do he's a zombie at that point you got to shoot him in the brain and be done with it so I like that kind of mirroring of what was going on you know the film was about to hit the next level when Peter and Steven are stocking up on guns and ammo that is a fun montage as well Romero did a great job with like the montage type stuff in this just real fun uh the use of the car in the mall another moment of a lot of fun he put so many like fun moments into the film which I think is part of the reason that I found it so charismatic and such a charming film I I just found it so charming I just I want to watch it again the way they draw out rogers decline does help with getting the situation and the sympathy to sink in for the audience so that goes back to kind of what I was talking about but this it was good that they took time with it when the doctor on tv oh I literally just went over that a little bit ago my apologies just when life was looking good other people show up to mess it all up it figures the people are awful that is something that I believe Romero started with his films especially in night of the living dead he got it out there in the very beginning I know most people associate the within zombie films the element of the people being the worst of it I know they associate the walking dead with that but dawn of the dead dawn of the dead clearly pointed that out it was definitely pointed out in night of the living dead with the hunting party at the end who killed Doug Jones's character but it's very clearly shown in dawn of the dead once the bikers finally show up because why are they coming because they want what Francine's and Stephen at that point it's just Francine Stephen and Peter they want what they have they want the life that they've secured they want the resources that they have and that's one of the things is that humans will always mess it up for themselves because people will always fight over things they were always fight over ideologies or resources the bigger thing being resources actually there will always be conflict and when you have something like a zombie invasion or a zombie epidemic you can get that under control but once to a degree it's under control which is what's going on there you know Francine Stephen and Peter have gotten their situation under control the bikers obviously have gotten their situation under control because they know how to deal with them to fight them I mean at that point they're having fun killing them then they start thinking about now what and the bikers obviously wanted more they needed more they needed more resources they see them all they're saying great place for shelter great place to get resources to get whatever we're looking for food clothes whatever and then that becomes oh you don't want to share with me necessarily I'm just gonna take it by force the bikers hitting the zombies with pies and seltzer I think is really funny but it also does show that element that they're not really taking the situation seriously anymore and that kind of goes back to what I was talking about before where maybe mentally they just need that they have to get in that mode to cope otherwise if you're just you know taking everything super seriously all the time you're just gonna be super depressed about it so I like that sequence though the mall went from serene to chaos super fast in this it's like the establishment of any civilization those who organize it hit a good calm period but it never lasts because people will always fight each other for whatever reasons like I was talking about consumerism drives the zombies to the mall but it also ends up driving the bikers to the mall there's no difference humans are will always fight over resources yeah that's one of the big things this film is usually talked about in the context of the zombies come to the mall because they're so they're so indoctrinated when they were alive humans with marketing and advertising and saying you need these products and you need these products be a good consumer and that's legitimate that is there that is definitely there like when they say it's basically all they know it's all that's left of their human brain is how conditioned they are to go to the mall to get products but the bikers are the same way you know the bikers show up there I help Roger Peter Francine and Steven are the same way they go there for the same reason you're conditioned to go after the resources that's what you do and when it's initially it's resources you need but then after that you get comfortable and then it becomes resources you want and I think that's the biggest degree of what they're showing with the bikers because it seems like the bikers are doing okay it's just they see them all and they're like I we want so just a just a point about making the zombies and the non-zombie humans about the same they are about the same in this it's a tough moment when Peter has to shoot Steven especially as soon as he walks in the door because like I was saying you see that humanity in him it's just like he's coming home from work at the end of the day to his wife and his friend I know they didn't get married but you know they set up a life like that it's it's an impactful moment it's a great moment when Peter decides he should actually take a chance to stay alive and see where things go you know he had that moment where he had that really small pistol and he had it to his head and he was thinking about just ending it staying behind taking out a few zombies and then you know Francine could helicopter away but it's his cool triumphant like uplifting moment when he finally he just takes it away and he shoots a zombie with the gun instead and then he gets out of there and you know Francine and he end up taking off and it's a hopeful good moment but you also think further than that as an audience member and you're kind of like what now though especially when the line comes up about asking how much gas they have in the helicopter and Francine says not much so how far are they even going to be able to get at that point is is the question that starts swirling in the minds of the audience it's obviously sets it up for another film but it also just makes you realize how long can people in this situation just keep running you know they were they were fine at the mall they had a great spot at the mall but other humans came and screwed that up for them so they had to flee what's next you know are they going to find another place where they can hold up like that for a long time for how long how long until other humans show up how long until you know they slip up on on being cautious and a zombie gets through when they get killed these are all the questions that end up popping in your head because of the way this film is constructed um everyone knows of the heavy satire of consumerism it makes sense because companies bombard us from a young age to be mindless buyers of products just like zombies when people become zombies consumerism is so ingrained in us that we end up gravitating to the malls like they are a food source if you notice in the first film night of living dead it's all about the uh zombies being driven by needing to eat now that's still going on in dawn of the dead but it moves past that and it actually becomes more of a focus on needing to be at the mall just because that's what's ingrained in them so it's that moment that i was talking about about the evolution of the zombie and showing that there is more humanity to them than people think and obviously that happens even further in day of the dead having it take place in a mall does help audience members relate more i think as everyone has been to a mall at some point at least back when this film came out uh it gets you thinking about what you personally would do in that situation because it's a place you're very familiar with going to and let's be honest everyone's had a this fantasy somewhat or dream or whatever about being trapped in a mall at night and and you're all alone and what do you do so i feel like this film kind of taps into that in a way and gets you thinking as an audience member while you're watching it you're i mean you're kind of living vicariously through the characters for that reason but you're also thinking like what would i be doing in this situation before i would just think of it as this fantasy of like if i was trapped in there you know would i go play at the arcade would i go just eat a bunch of junk food um it then takes it further to what if i had to stay there and what would i do for survival yeah it's a good place to be in that situation but for how long and what would you do and you know when does it get boring i find myself enjoying the more mundane portions of the film which is cool since that's what the characters actually enjoy most themselves that's when things are the most calm uh a reprieve from the uh sorry a reprieve from the zombie situation to feel somewhat normal again so i like the fact that there is a good amount of kind of like downtime or the montages that are done of them you know playing video games or you know stocking up on clothing food all that type of stuff because some people may step back and be like well where's the zombies where's the fun um and i get that but it's showing the relaxation that these people need it's showing how they need to live their lives how they need that mental break from what's really going on especially after they finally secured them all because of the zombies so really good um really enjoyed this like i said i just want to watch it again um glad i own this now thank you rich smith when you see this i'm sure you'll watch it but out of five stars with half stars in play what am i going to give dawn of the dead um it's very rare for me to actually give five star ratings but i'm i'm not going there with this one but i'm giving it a four and a half stars i don't do quarters so four and a half stars for the original dawn of the dead i have seen excuse me i have seen and i think i own on dvd the remake uh i should rewatch that and then do a kind of a comparison with it but i remember liking it but now having seen the original this is way better this is way more interesting is romero you know he's he was a great writer and i'm very fortunate that i was able to meet him when he was alive very nice man too so uh great film glad i finally saw it on two day of the dead go ahead put comments down there let's talk about it i'm specifically interested to know everyone's first experience with this film you know were you really young when you saw it what were your thoughts were you scared um did you just think it was fun you know whatever let's let's get nerdy do me a quick favor though hit that subscribe button if you like this video or any video i've ever done that is your way to repay me show me that you appreciate what i'm doing here because i'm just doing this to build a nerdy horror community here honestly i just want to talk nerdy horror stuff because where i live i don't know people who will get nerdy with me about horror like this so i love when people comment and we can kind of go back and forth about about these films so i would appreciate if you would subscribe also if you hit the notification bell that way you'll end up knowing when i put up new review videos like this the in-depth ones ones that are less in-depth that are the spoiler free or haul videos unboxing videos all that type of stuff but regardless i really do thank you for taking your time to watch this and until next time keep it brutal