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Why Dawn of the Dead May Not Be The Greatest Zombie Film Ever Made…

dawn-of-the-dead-1978First off, let me start off by saying I am a diehard zombie fan. Ever since I was a young’n old enough to take a wee on my own – I’ve been into zombie films. They are what got me into the horror genre which has been a lifelong obsession. While many complain there are TOO many zombie films – I complain there aren’t enough.

With that said; I am not the biggest fan of the original DAWN OF THE DEAD. Yes folks, get them pitchforks ready cause I’m about to unload.

Let’s get a few things straight first because this may sound harsher than I want it to. I don’t HATE this film by any stretch. In fact, I do enjoy it for its merits that I find appealing and am no stranger to popping it in on occasion. I understand its significance and importance, its cultural impact, its impact on zombies in general, all of the above – I get that. That however does not stop me from groaning at every top ten zombie films list ever made when this tops the #1 spot, or when it’s listed as being the main influence as whatever zombie film being made at the time to entice fans to check out what schlock the director/writer/producer is churning out. It’s more times cited for influencing the modern zombie film than the actual film responsible for the achievement, the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, which in the grand scheme of things doesn’t make a TON of sense.

“It’s DAWN OF THE DEAD meets…” screams aplenty blurbs on the back of several recent zombie film releases – it’s the zombie film that does what zombies refuse to do; die. And in some aspects, that’s fantastic. I appreciate the fact that this film has such a massive fan base, that it has such a following that it’s endured for nearly half a decade and has inspired a generation of filmmakers to go off and make their own films. That’s really wonderful, especially to a genre enthusiast like me, that something is so powerful that it’s made others create their own films in response. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – and if a film could blush it would be a permanent stain of blood red.

Here’s where I’m about to come down, off the pedestal and to exactly as to why I believe DAWN OF THE DEAD is NOT the greatest zombie film ever made.big_thumb_4700f697246cc7b75bd59769c85f66df

Let’s get into the plot itself; we got four schleps who decide to hold up in a shopping mall during a zombie outbreak. That’s basically the short n’ skinny of it, not too much else to throw out there, there’s of course the subtext of consumerism, which in time may end up being something folks will be scratching their head at. It will turn into a “you had to be there” kind of thing to get. With the evolution of online shopping the idea of finding everything in one place that you can go shopping in physically will be strange, perhaps even a primal concept which will certainly lessen any of the impact that subtext has.

So how about those four schleps?

There’s Frannie, the “strong” female lead who is basically a slightly better idea of a female character than Barbara while she utters more than a handful of lines – she’s just as useless. Stephen, a moron that gets himself overpowered by one zombie not once, but twice in the film, the guy can’t shoot for shit, is stubborn as they come and oh yeah – he’s kind of full of himself. Roger, a happy go lucky guy – perhaps the most likable of the bunch – that thinks the whole thing is a great big game. Finally there’s Peter, a redwood tree that has as much personality as a wet mop.

Okay really, I may be undermining the complexity of these characters; however, this is pretty much them at face value and for me they never seemed to go much beyond that. I will say Frannie has SOME moments where she’s…useful, however, they’re few and far between in a two hour film.

Which brings me to a lesser problem, but a problem none the less, the damn movie is two hours long. Now I know it was the 70’s and the attention span of most audiences were able to get through a two hour film without much fuss; but there is this great big, action packed opening that fizzles to an hour inside a mall watching four boring, uninteresting people become more boring and uninteresting. Even the finale manages to be kind of meh compared to the film’s opening which is probably the best portion of the entire film. If that sequence was the whole film; I’d get it.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not opposed to a slow moving film, nor am I opposed to character development; if these characters bothered to be developed much outside of what we know of them from the beginning. Spending two hours watching four people just mulling away at life is about as entertaining as it sounds; go to a mall and follow some people around – it may end up being more entertaining or as equally tedious.

Let’s discuss the zombies shall we? How threatening are these things? I mean really. There are slow zombies, and then there are these zombies. Characters in the film have to literally put themselves in their path for them to be any kind of a threat and even then, you can push one down and when you’re on your way back after 20 minutes or so – it’ll still be getting up. Even Fulci’s walking flower pots pose more of a threat than these things, and they are perhaps some of the slowest zombies on record. It’s a wonder why the characters feel the need to kill them at all and not just keep them around for entertainment value. I mean seriously, every character that’s attacked by a zombie in this film is attacked because they put themselves right in their path.dawn-of-the-dead-1978-machete

Flyboy in the boiler room, idiot starts shooting willy nilly and one zombie nearly makes a meal out of him. I don’t expect the guy to be some kind of expert marksman – but for someone who’s so gung ho about “surviving”, he’s doing a terrible job in the common sense department. Roger playing around in the trucks while zombies are all around him, we all know how that goes down. There is only one character that is attacked by a zombie who doesn’t put themselves in its way and she ends up not escaping because she forgets how to climb a ladder. Way to go Fran, one for the blondes eh?

These actions are often criticized by zombie fans in the hit TV show “The Walking Dead”, yet they are forgivable here. At least the zombies in “The Walking Dead” seem dangerous – these ones, they’re just there, more of a nuisance than anything else. Other films get raked through the coals for having characters that do almost precisely what these characters do; yet this one, is provided a pass.

I’ve spent many nights looking at this film, trying to figure out exactly what it is that sets it up on the pedestal that its managed to rock for nearly 40 years – and again, while I can see why it was such an important film at one time; I can’t get past that it still is. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t hate the film, as much as this article makes it seem I do. dawn of the dead

With each passing generation, its influence seems to have less of an impact – however, it is the zombie film that simply refuses to die. Perhaps I’m a tad on the biased side since DAY OF THE DEAD has always been my favorite of the three films – and it’s a film I have felt has never received its just due. At any rate, it’s a film that has managed to thrive and doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere anytime. However, one must wonder, how much longer could this film have a shelf life with the newer generation of zombie fans who salivate over fast moving zombies and all too realistic make up? Will the ever so slow grey faced zombies survive another forty years or will it be a film that may slip into obscurity? Not if its fans have anything to say about it, but that can be said for any horror film. Passion and fans keep films like this alive and as long as it’s accessible it will continue to live on. How highly regarded, well, that’s another matter altogether.

That being said; this film, in my opinion has its faults, of which there are many. Ravenous fans who drool over the film are keeping it alive and rightfully so. I however, wouldn’t blink an eye if it took the back seat making room for a new “best zombie film” ever.

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  1. I wouldn’t say it needs to be laid to rest, this is still one of the better zombie films ever made. I think it deserves to stay around just for that. I do wonder though how long it will be at the front of most lists once my generation (40 +) moves on to different movies and genres. As you age, unless you love horror like me, you probably won’t be as into a movie like this as you did when you were in your teens or twenties. I also agree about Day of the Dead. I do think that is the best in the series and it has never gotten its just rewards because of Dawn. Great post.

    • I knew writing this it was
      going to be met with some heavy fire and thus far, I’ve been overwhelmed with
      responses ranging from mostly constructive/positive to downright nasty. Comes
      with the territory I suppose. I appreciate the fact that the fans
      love this film so much that they’ll come running to its defense; even if it
      doesn’t necessarily need it. This is a film that’s universally loved and I even
      made a point to address that above – it however doesn’t change the fact that it
      does things wrong that fans seem to overlook. Meanwhile films which manage to
      hit the same beats get criticized and knocked down as a result. It comes off
      almost as a double standard, and yes this does include zombie films with solid
      acting, good plots, drama, etc. all of the things fans claim DAWN does right.

      The mall backdrop itself
      will be obsolete in another twenty years and in another forty, newer audiences
      won’t get the subtext. Heck, even now the age of shopping malls along with
      brick and mortar stores is becoming something folks are leaving behind. What’s
      this film going to be without one of its greatest strengths? Will it just be
      another zombie film or one that still manages to capture and captivate audiences
      alike? Maybe it will serve as a time capsule for a simpler time. The truth is;
      I can’t predict the future and no one else can either. While I would be devastated
      if the film disappeared in my lifetime; I can’t help but feeling someday it
      very well might. Then again, the same can be said for any form of media that
      comes from a certain time. Music, film, books even may become a thing of the
      past – there’s no way to know, know way we can be sure that after our
      generation has long since passed that films such as this will continue to
      thrive. We can only hope.

      • I guess you never saw the recent Black Friday shopping madness, where somebody juxtaposed scenes from Dawn of the Dead (and another couple of films, briefly) to show how the psycho shoppers were behaving EXACTLY like the zombies going after a repulsive feed in the film. The film gets MORE relevant by the year, NOT less, and if you can’t see that, and how prescient it was, well, there’s nothing more I can say to you, but I respect the fact you have your own opinion on it. And I love Day of the Dead too.

        • I used to work in retail, I know exactly what Black Friday is like. However, since my stint in that field – I’ve also noticed the online sales of Black Friday has sky rocketed while each year, brick and mortar stores report doing slightly less business than the year prior. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, next week, next year, maybe not even in ten years, but you can almost be assured someday – malls will be something people remember; not something they go to.

    • Most of the younger crowd only cares about Transformers and superhero movies and so most good/great films will be forgotten about.

  2. Day of the Dead is one of the most boring movies ever made. The set up is boring, and I can’t get past the endless babbling and arguing by the characters. I hate the movie. It’s not scary, entertaining and the setup is forgettable.

    Yes, the zombies are really slow and the people almost have to put themselves in harms way to get killed by them. But I always thought that was part of the point. The human characters are arrogant and greedy and it leads to their downfall (this includes the bikers). That is part of the social commentary.

    As for the character development… Flyboy is dingy in the beginning, but I feel that he makes some strides by the end.

    You’re treating this movie like it should stand up next to the all time greatest movies of all time or something. The zombie genre does not have a lot of great films. Not by any means. Dawn is still one of the best the genre has to offer.

    • I’m treating it like it should be the greatest film ever made because that’s what the fans of this film omit. They and many others don’t cite is as just the greatest zombie film ever made, the greatest horror film and greatest film ever made I’ve seen more than once. Different strokes for different folks as I prefer DAY OF THE DEAD indefinitely to this film. The constant back and forth babbling and arguing as you refer to it makes sense given the situation the characters are stuck in. Same could be said for DAWN, however, what I see in DAY – I don’t see in DAWN. It’s just my opinion and one that isn’t universally shared, I get that. Thank you for your thoughts.

      • I became a Dawn of the Dead fan when I was 5 years old. It was my first favorite movie ever. I don’t consider it one of the best movies ever made now, but I still think that it’s the best zombie movie. I like the Peter and Roger characters… I didn’t like any of the characters in Day of the Dead. I found Land of the Dead to be more entertaining… But I don’t even what to discuss the zombie movies that George made after that. lol

        Those are terrible!

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