Zombie-Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Italian version (118 min., editing supervised by Dario Argento) and US-version (118 min., editing supervised by George Romero) have a different soundtrack and a different overall tone: Romero's version has some humour in it and is more horror-oriented, Argento deleted all funny scenes and made the film more action- oriented.
 
"Devastatingly Brutal..."  Entertainment Weekly
"One of the best horror films ever made."  Roger Ebert
 


Editor's Note

Picking up where NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD left off, and still offering no explanation of why the dead are walking the earth, DAWN OF THE DEAD plunges headlong into one of the most violent and original horror films ever made. After securing an apartment building overcome with flesh-eating zombies, two Philadelphia area SWAT team members, Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger), flee to a television station, where they escape in the station's helicopter with Francine (Gaylen Ross) and Stephen (David Emge), two station employees. Seeking refuge from the zombies and the ensuing hysteria, they land on top of a Pittsburgh area shopping mall, despite the fact that the undead seem to be flocking there. What begins as a stop for supplies becomes a longer stay as the four become embroiled in a futile war within the mall to keep their flesh to themselves and remain alive.

The film's relentlessly disturbing and innovative gore effects are one reason to see DAWN OF THE DEAD, but those who can stomach the endless barrage of blood and gnarled zombie faces will be rewarded--and possibly surprised--by what the film says about human nature and life within a consumer-based culture. Any aficionado of horror is likely to place the film high on their list of revered cinema.


Plot Summary

Director George Romero's tongue-in-cheek sequel to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is so grotesque that it achieves a kind of comic bliss. In the modern cathedral of materialism, a shopping mall, flesh-eating zombies browse for more victims. Four horrified survivors fend off the gruesome shoppers as the mall fills with the once-living.