The original Dawn of the Dead was released in 1978 and was written and directed by George A. Romero. The film stars David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Gaylen Ross. Dawn of the Dead is the sequel to Night of the Living Dead. It follows a growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, where two SWAT members, a traffic reporter and his television-executive girlfriend find refuge in a shopping mall. They hide out in this mall, gathering supplies while they try to figure out what their next move is.
I had only seen bits and pieces of the film up until recently when I watched it from start to finish. For those who have not watched it, the film is COMPLETELY different from the remake. They are two completely different movies, which I find to be very strange. Anyway, here are my thoughts (WARNING: SPOILERS!):
Positives: The film is over two hours long and does not feel rushed. I love that it is a true sequel to Night of the Living Dead, so it is to easy to watch right after Night! The zombies are in true Romero fashion- they are slow, wear a lot of makeup to look dead, and are really only dangerous when you have a large group of them. The movie is quite comical, especially some of the zombies. I’m not sure if it was meant to be comical, but a few scenes are pretty amusing. Last but not least, there is A TON OF BLOOD! If you’ve read my past reviews, you know that I love gore in horror movies (when it makes sense obviously). There are heads and other body parts being chopped off, people being bitten, zombies getting shot and stabbed, which means lots and lots of (very fake looking) blood. Which there should be.
Negatives: I don’t like three of the four main characters, especially Stephen and Roger. Stephen can’t shoot a damn gun (hello, you’re in a zombie apocalypse, I’d think you would’ve learned how to do this!), he has a major attitude problem, he’s really stupid, and, again, CAN’T SHOOT A DAMN GUN! Something happens to him (thankfully) but I really, really hate this guy! Roger on the other hand can shoot a gun, as he is one of the swat guys, but he’s really stupid and totally crazy. These two traits lead to something happening to him too (again, thankfully) but I really hate him. I also did not like Francine, but she gets better as the film goes on. Honestly not much else bothered me as much as the characters did, but another negative I found was the motorcycle gang part near the end. The gang just comes out of nowhere and all of the scenes with the gang were extremely overdramatic. Also, most of the gang members are total morons so I don’t understand how they’ve lived long enough to be invading the mall. The perfect example: When you see a zombie, do you A) Shoot it, B) Run away, or C)Throw a pie in it’s face? Some of the gang members chose C, which is the stupidest thing ever! We all know the best option is A)Shoot it, and if you don’t have a weapon you choose B)Run away! It’s not rocket science people.
Anyway, sorry for my rant there, but there were both positives and negatives in the film. I’m not sure what I would think if I had actually seen the original all the way through before the remake, but that’s not the case. I think overall, the original Dawn of the Dead is a good film, even with it’s horrible characters and stupid motorcycle gang. I like that you really get the feeling that Romero had a lot to do with it. I think I would rate the film with an 8 out of 10. There’s no way I can give it a 10 with it’s negatives, and honestly what really makes it an 8 is all the Romero-ness that you get from it (like the very slooooooow zombies).
I hope you enjoyed reading my rant-filled review, and my use of words I have made up (I think we should all use Romero-ness), and now you can go watch the film if you haven’t already. Or you can watch it again. After you do watch it, you should go watch the remake (either for the first time or again) and then you can come tell me how astonished you are at how different the two films are. I’m still astonished… 
Horror Lovers 