Dawn of the Dead

I'm fairly familiar with George Romero's Living Dead series, having seen the original, Land of the Dead, and Zack Snyder's remake of this very film. In general, they've been watchable if unexceptional, and this one is no different. In many ways, it's more of a social statement than a true horror movie. The first one had a message about race to go along with its low-budget black and white scares. Dawn seems to be more concerned with the increase in consumer culture, as it takes place mostly within a shopping mall. Most people back then had seen the rise of such fully-enclosed shopping centers within their lifetimes, and they're still a symbol today of our commercialism. And it's a pretty obvious statement the movie is trying to make when a character asks why so many of the undead are wandering around the mall and another speculates that it may be an instinct from when they were still alive.

Political stances aside, the movie is decent if a bit boring at times. Famous make-up artist Tom Savini came onto the series here and his gore effects are better, though because of the color end up looking a bit worse than the original. Whenever someone gets bitten into it looks like their flesh is made of foam rubber. Zombies are made a mockery of as often as they're treated as a genuine threat, easily pushed aside and ran past, and by the end they're literally getting pied in the face. One of the early survivors ends up getting bitten because of his rashness, but the rest of the main cast manages to set up a sustainable living that only gets threatened once another group of humans shows up, which may be another statement of some sort. In the end, it's generally stupidity that gets people killed, not the living dead. Sure, they do the finishing off, but they're just there for the meal. I generally prefer shambling zombies over sprinting ones, but they've gotta be more imposing than this to make an effective horror movie. A big factor might be how you treat them mentally. Zombies can either seem mindless or just unintelligent. The difference is slight, but it exists and makes a world of difference. See if you can figure out which one is better.