Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

From legendary zombie-flick director Romero (anything with Dead in the title) comes the sequel to Night of the Living Dead. After evacuating an apartment block sieged by zombies, two SWAT team members escape to a TV station and then with two employees get away in the station’s helicopter. Looking to find supplies and some respite from the zombies they land on a deserted shopping mall and attempt to hole themselves away from danger. However, their stay turns into months and they become embroiled in a war, not just against the zombies and later other invaders, but also between themselves as they become slaves to consumerism, and aren’t so keen to give up the hedonistic world they have built for themselves.

As expected there is more than a fair share of gore and guts (exploding heads and flesh-munching) in this film, part of why it is so great, but Romero has also somehow managed to inject a lot of realism into the film, enabling us to care about the characters and feel a part of the horror. Aiding this is the fact that the actors do such a great job, especially Ken Foree and are very likeable. Of course Romero’s social messages are ever-present. This film represents a destructive 1970s America that has turned on itself, becoming almost cannibalistic with capitalistic obsessions, the zombies mindlessly driving towards the mall in hoards, because, as one the characters explains, it was a special place to them in their lifetime. This gives a depth to the film that most mindless horrors lack and shows it is a class-act of its era. Irrelevant of this though, Dawn of the Dead is quite simply a brilliant horror movie. The effects are great, the make-up bloody and the violence frequent. Darkly humorous, this is fantastic fun and has to be seen on the big screen.

Elle Downville