Dawn of the Dead (1978)

 

Zombie - Rædslernes morgen

I get the impression that “Dawn of the Dead” is considered by many as one of the greatest horror movies, or zombie movies, ever made. At least that is what Wikipedia writes. I am not as impressed, but that is not the same as saying I did not like the movie. It does have a lot going for it.

The zombie apocalypse is in full swing. As TV production is winding down and general panic is on the rise, TV-producer Fran and her boyfriend traffic reporter Stephen decide to escape the sinking vessel in the station’s helicopter. They are joined by two SWAT deserters Peter and Roger, who are disillusioned with the losing battle against the zombies.

They end up on the roof of a mall, almost out of fuel. The mall has everything they need (except fuel), but is also infested by zombies who seem to be drawn to this important place in their previous life. Roger, Peter and to some degree Stephen get the mall cleaned up and barricade the entrances with trucks. Unfortunately, Roger gets bitten in the process and we all know what that means. The three remaining characters spend weeks in this consumer heaven until eventually a biker gang spots the helicopter and decides to plunder to mall. Mayhem ensues.

I loved George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”. Despite or perhaps because of its very limited budget and the very confined space it worked tremendously well. “Dawn of the Dead” was made ten years later and with a much larger scope but fails to excite me to the same degree. We still get the siege scenario, but it is difficult to take it very seriously. The zombies move in slow motion and although they are horrible creatures they are also pushovers and do not in the same way spell doom. Instead “Dawn of the Dead seems to go for the same sort of gory comedy as Peter Jackson’s early movies, especially “Braindead”. You can watch “Dawn of the Dead” exclusively for the million ways to kill zombies (and the million ways zombies can kill people). The production team clearly had a lot of fun with that.

The reason critics love “Dawn of the Dead” is its criticism of consumerism. Once the group lands on top of the mall, the movie changes gear and lets the group indulge in the suburban fantasy of getting a mall of their own to do with whatever they want. I was reminded of the South Park episode where Cartman gets his own theme park and enjoys having it all to himself. Until he realizes what an empty experience that is. This is also what happens to our group of now three people. If the bikers had not raided the mall, they would have suffered some sort of meltdown. Are the bikers then interrupting their little slice of heaven or saving them from it?

This is a movie with gaping holes and less than great acting. Where does electricity come from when everything else have broken down? Or water for that matter? What causes this zombie disease, and don’t they die of… well something, completely unable to care to themselves as they are? But this is just not one of those movies where you should think about those things. “Dawn of the Dead” is over the top and in your face. Characters do stupid and illogical things, sometimes because they are flawed characters, and sometimes because the script is flawed. But why care when all you really want to see are some gory shots of zombies getting their brains splattered on the wall.

One thing you cannot take away from “Dawn of the Dead” is that it created our image of what a zombie looks like. If anybody, even children were asked to describe a zombie, they would do the stunted walk and the empty face created by “Dawn of the Dead”.

A recommendation? Well, there are days where this is just great stuff and others where I think this is pretty stupid, but I bet it was fun to make it.