It’s
Halloween, and Geoff’s getting in the spirit by looking back at the
scary movies he grew up on. If you haven’t seen these movies, you
should. You really, REALLY should.
DAY 1: The Wolf Man (1941) DAY 2: Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn (1987)
DAY 5: Dawn of the Dead (1978)
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| Let's face it, "Mid-morning on the Damned" just didn't sound as good. |
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| Orange carpeted walls. Not just for Grandma's basement anymore. |
For those who haven’t seen it: It's good. Trust me.
The Plot: Dawn picks up where the previous film (the 1968 black and white glory that is Night of the Living Dead) left off: Zombies are on the loose and we're kinda having a hard time dealing with it. At a television station that's struggling to stay on the air we meet helicopter pilot Stephen and employee Francine (aka Flyboy and Flygirl), who decide "to hell with the news, we're getting out of here," and decide to take off in Flyboy's helicopter to find a safe place to hole up for awhile.
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| "Hey, brother." |
Along with pals Roger and Peter, a pair of kick-ass S.W.A.T. team members, the fab foursome land at an abandoned shopping mall --- an impregnable fortress complete with food, safety and a very conveniently placed gun store --- and decide to stay. That's not the end of their worries, though, when a smattering of zombies still inside the mall and a determined gang of rowdy looters decide to take over their happy home.
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| When there's no more room in Hell, the Dead shall grab a bite to eat at Sbarro's. |
Why I Love It: Some people have nightmares about high school, or loosing their teeth. I have nightmares about zombies. They're vivid, and gruesome and I usually have to end up beheading one of my childhood friends...
Personally, I blame my friend Jesse for subjecting me to all manner of horrifyingly scary movies as a child, but the truth is that I love these films. Zombies are the ultimate in terror for me. There's just something about them...
A number of the films we've discussed so far (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Wolf Man, even Evil Dead II) all play on the same theme: the idea that you can be turned into something else against your will. That everything about you disappears and you can't help but do horrible, awful things to the ones you love.
That's the ultimate in scary for me: The fear that you will become a monster, and can do nothing about it.
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| I'd make an Om Nom Nom joke here, but it just seems wrong. |
That's no more evident than in zombie films where people are turned into the brainless undead constantly. And nowhere is there a better zombie film than the original Dawn of the Dead.
I love Dawn for so many reasons: The filmmaker in me loves it because the metaphors are clear and concise, but don't detract from the overall story. The movie buff in me loves it because the practical effects are just as awesome as ever. But mostly I love this film because of the little kid inside me that thinks this movie is So. Damn. Cool.
This movie is the end-all beat-all of zombie films. Every zombie film since (and there have been a lot of them) has tried to capitalize on what this movie has done. It's the single best zombie film, and one of the greatest horror films, ever. It's inspired millions of people to either become filmmakers
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| Or, in my case, leave machetes in strategically placed locations around my home. |
Why You Should Love It, Too: Director George A. Romero has said over and over again that his films aren't zombie movies, they're movies about political or social issues that happen to have zombies in them. There's certainly a fair number of metaphors in Dawn, the most obvious of which is his take on America's modern consumer culture (and I won't say much there, since books have been written about that damn subject). He also takes a few passing jabs at political punditry, the government and religion.
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| In this scene, for example, there's a metaphor about the importance of moisturizing. |
For me, the best part of Dawn is that while the metaphors are clearly there, I don't find them to be too preachy or heavy handed. You can enjoy the film (and I have many times) without thinking about the metaphors. But on the second or third viewing, when you do? It makes the movie that much better.
Dawn is a bloody, gore-filled comic book of a film. Some might say that the film is too violent (and in a film where the only way to kill the bad guys is to shoot them in the head, that's CERTAINLY an argument) but beyond the gore is something so much more.
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| Gotta hand it to the guy, he seems fairly cool with the whole "head blown off" thing... |
Like all of Romero's films, it's not the zombies who are truly the monsters of the film. We are. Fighting with each other, killing each other because they can't live in peace. Say what you will about zombies but they --- at least --- have the civility to not kill eachother.
The human characters in this film certainly can't say that.
TOMORROW: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Warning in advance: This is the single scariest movie of all time. Not joking.
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| Reeealllly not looking forward to this review... |
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