Dawn Of The Dead (1978) ****1/2
I hadn't watched the theatrical cut of George A. Romero's Dawn Of The Dead (1978) since 2013. The last two times I watched the film were the Extended ('Cannes') Cut (review), in 2020, and the Argento Cut (aka Zombi), in 2022 (Romero was on record as having stated that the theatrical cut (at 127 minutes) was his preferred "director's cut" and I agree that it's the best version). I first saw Dawn on VHS in the 1990s. I watched the film—along with Romero's other two films in the original Dead trilogy, Night Of The Living Dead (1968) (review) and Day Of The Dead (1985)—quite a lot in my teenage years.
Romero's film is a multi-headed beast. On one hand, it's a socially conscious drama, commenting on American consumerism and capitalism, heroism, male ego, gender roles, and more—often through satire. On the other, it's comic book action/adventure schlock, reveling in excess and splatter (courtesy of makeup wiz Tom Savini, who also has a pivotal role). I have to admit, while I enjoy certain aspects of this approach, I do feel it undermines the social commentary a bit, especially due to the straight up slapstick moments—it's always been more fun than scary to me. But there are many undeniably thrilling set pieces.
While I do love Dawn very much, my personal favorite of the original Dead trilogy is Day Of The Dead (1985)—the most disturbing, gory, and bleak of the three films. Day, with its portrayal of militarism, might makes right (power over science), and male aggression still seems the most relevant today. I should add though that all three films in the original trilogy have been my favorite at one time or another.
Much like Jaws (1977) (review), I struggle to assign Dawn a star rating—my personal feelings hew closer to 4 stars (in particular for the extended cut), but the historical value always wins out to earn that extra 1/2 star (for the theatrical cut). Even though it's rough around the edges, the effects are primitive, and the comedy is often a bit too goofy for my tastes, I can't deny the significance and monumental influence of Romero's apocalyptic zombie classic.
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