A STORY OF OLD AND NEW
Since you're all sick of the sap and the classic 80's Cinderella song, it's time to move on to more important topic. Up above this paragraph is the original poster for the original Dawn of the Dead. It was this movie that started my love for all things zombies. Back in late 1999 I had just transferred to the University of Arizona. Stuck in a dank basement dorm room with the most creepy of all roommates, trying to find ways to pass the time in a strange place wasn't easy. Before making any friends on campus, all I had to amuse myself was my small DVD collection and a few choice Japanese Sega Saturn games.
Requiring more video entertainment to help pass the time, because I sure as hell couldn't just spend that time studying... A trip to Casa Video was made. Casa Video is the biggest and best video rental store I've ever had the pleasure of entering. The store has every single video imaginable because people in the local community donate or sell their videos there. Everything from the best to the worst in DVD, VHS, betamax, and laser disc. While there, I picked up the first DVD printing of George Romero's 1978 sequel to "Night of the Living Dead."
"Dawn of the Dead," was the very first movie I ever rented from Casa Video. Having read numerous internet articles claiming Dawn of the Dead to be a true piece of classic cinema, I felt obligated to watch it. Why this feeling came up can only be described by a commonly understood idea that as soon as a person approaches the age of 24, they begin to enjoy less of the new and more of the old. It was at age 19 I began to search out for older and more obscure cinema to satisfy my entertainment needs. Luckily for myself, Casa Video was full of nothing but old and obscure cinema. As crummy as Tucson is, Casa Video made that city shine like a tiny oasis in the dry desert of the entertainment world.
The movie was a fairly original story. The slogan "When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth," kept its promise. Following the incident in "Night of the Living Dead," the dead do walk the Earth in great numbers. Society is crumbling and going into a state of panic as zombies begin to spread like an epidemic. Entire cities begin to fall into chaos and the government establishes martial law. While news footage of scientific conferences try to explain this apocalyptic epidemic of the undead, police squads rush into housing projects to wipe out any zombies. It is here director George Romero begins his social commentary. Police squads infiltrate housing projects inhabited mostly by African Americans and indiscriminately shoot what ever moves to bits, regardless if they're alive or undead. In 1978, the concept of corrupt and racist police forces were still very much a reality.
The focus of the movie lies within the main setting. Escaping the chaos and martial law, 2 police officers, one pilot and pregnant newscaster find themselves in a shopping mall to avoid the ever growing horde of zombies. It is here where Romero makes his statements. The mall is full of zombies, but they're on the ground floor. The zombies continue to roam about the mall in a circle, occasionally stopping by the shop windows to look inside. The zombies are not looking for live human beings to feed on but instead they were roaming about the mall just like they did while they were alive. These undead specimens were already zombies before they died, they were consumers.
In addition to having a slight hint of social commentary, I would not doubt that in 1978 this movie contained more gore than any other film at the time. The movie's make-up artist, Tom Savini is an interesting character. Being a veteran of the Vietnam war, he desired to recreate the effect of seeing a human body ripped and torn apart. There are a few scenes in this film and in its sequel "Day of the Dead," in which a human being pulled apart at the waist by attacking zombies. These scenes are very graphic and horrific.
Flash forward to March 16, 2004. Joey, Cory, Annie, and myself managed to make it over to Harkins at Arizona Mills for a nice free screening for the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Being such a fan of the original, I was more than skeptical about how the remake would turn out. Movie remakes always seem to turn out horrible with very few exceptions. In fact, the only decent movie remake that I can think of was John Carpenter's remake of "The Thing." But hey, the price was right and it was something to do on a Tuesday night.
It's very rare for a movie to exceed expectations and this remake of "Dawn of the Dead" far exceeded mine. While much of the original film's social commentary was no longer present in this story, the pure action and terror more than makes up for it. This film is flashier and more intense than the original, but manages not to come off as being some cheap MTV knockoff. The Zombies in this movie take after the recent British zombie flick "28 days." Zombies run, claw, hiss, and brutally attack at amazing speeds rather than lumber around and grope. With respect to presentation, this film has an excellent set of opening credits and a set of ending credits that will keep you glued to your seat until the very last bit of text pops up on the screen.
Summary: You owe it to yourself to see the new "Dawn of the Dead" tomorrow or any time soon. Having exceeded my expectations, I can say without a doubt that this movie was the best horror movie I've seen in years. Now take a look at some poor son of a bitch getting his head blown apart by a shotgun.
