Re: The Wing Kong Exchange
The country has been overrun by zombies, prompting chaos, panic and mass hysteria everywhere. Two TV station employees, Stephen and Fran, along with two S.W.A.T. team members, Peter and Roger, commandeer a helicopter and escape. They eventually occupy a local shopping mall, forming a kind of coexistence with the zombies, until the mall is invaded by a biker gang threatening to destroy the foursome's safe haven and forcing a final confrontation.
After spending nearly a decade working on other projects, George A. Romero felt the time was right to return to the genre that made him famous, and so in 1978 he unleashed Dawn of the Dead on the world. A decade of experience served him well, as the film surpasses its predecessor in nearly every facet, creating a taught and tense horror/thriller that also has a sharp and biting wit. While his first film, Night of the Living Dead, can be considered the film that kick started the entire zombie genre, Dawn of the Dead is clearly the one that popularized it. From the moment it begins until the final seconds before the credits roll, there is nothing about Dawn of the Dead that doesn't work. Every single moment counts for something, every character has a purpose and every bit of dialogue holds some meaning. That Romero was capable of crafting such a stellar film within the confines of the horror genre is shocking, that he was able to do this while also surpassing the original is nothing short of miraculous. There are few horror films that have as lasting an impact as Dawn of the Dead and even fewer that make bold social commentaries as well. Perhaps its just Romero's cup of tea, since many of his non-zombie efforts fall short of the mark, but whatever it is we should all be thankful it exists.
"They're not just coming for Barbara this time."
Romero once again wrote and directed (and edited the film as well) and once again it proved to be a smart move, since his total control allowed the film to be fully realized the way he wanted it to be. The first and most noticeable change here is definitely the use of colour, something that instantly distanced it from its predecessor. Romero chose to use a stark set of colour tones and constantly saturates the lens with them, almost as if he's making up for not using them in the original film. Along with this he chose to shoot blood in a slightly brighter shade than it would normally be, creating a sense of both the surreal and the comical. This helps to balance out some of the more vile events that occur in the film, and while they are certainly grotesque there is a sense of ease when watching them that cannot be properly defined. Meanwhile, the script he churned out for this one is nothing short of brilliant, giving all the main characters enough dialogue and back story to make us fully invested in them while still writing an excellent scenario for them to inhabit. It seems like a simple thing to do, yet thousands of filmmakers cannot grasp these concepts and so their films suffer. Romero's Dawn of the Dead plays as a textbook example of how to make the perfect horror/zombie film and its not a surprise to me that it has never been fully duplicated; even by Romero himself.
"Just remember, aim for the head or you'll be having a pretty bad day."
The cast here is once again peppered with relative unknowns, though these actors are certainly up to the task of telling this unique story. While its mostly an ensemble piece featuring four lead actors, the main "hero" of the group is certainly Peter, played by Ken Foree. He's joined by his fellow officer Roger, played by Scott H. Reininger and the helicopter couple Fran (Gaylen Ross) and Stephen (David Emge). These actors are all quite good in their roles and bring a lot to the table, particularly in their interactions with each other. They all have diverse personalities; Peter is the level headed one, Roger the arrogant, Stephen the weak and Fran the conscience. All of these separate personalities come into play more than once and each actor manages to portray both them and the emotions that they entail properly. Reininger is especially excellent here, particularly once he's bitten by a zombie and starts slowly becoming one himself. His dialogue with Peter just before he turns is among the best in the film and his eventual fate doesn't make us sad so much as realize that he's finally been released from the nightmare he's recently been living. Foree is also very good, and gets a lot of the juicy dialogue like the classic
"when there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth", a line that features on the films poster. I'd also like to point out how awesome Emge's work is once he finally becomes a zombie; his walk is among the best I've seen any actor pull off when playing one. Outside of the main four there's many supporting roles including Tom Savini as a biker, but most of them are just used as plot devices, much like the myriad of zombies that populate the film.
"Even zombies miss the NHL."
As with Night of the Living Dead, Romero chose to use Dawn of the Dead as a soapbox for some hefty social commentary, this time focusing on consumerism as his main target. The mall setting is an obvious reference to this and one can't help but chuckle at the zombies attempting to get inside the mall even though they have no need to shop. As one character puts it, they don't know why, but they want to be there all the same. Romero's point here appears to be that zombies, mindless consumers of flesh, are no different than the large amount of people who seek refuge in malls, buying things they don't really need just because they can. As the years go by, this message becomes even more and more poignant and its amazing to see just how bang on Romero was with it even back then. There's also a sharp focus on the predictability of human nature here and the idea of holding on to societal values even though they no longer exist. One example of this is Peter and Roger going to the bank and choosing to walk through the rope passage even though they could simply jump the counter. Hell, the fact that they're even taking money is kind of bizarre given the events occurring around them, but as Peter points out, you never know right? At the same time, even zombies are still functioning according to the conventions of humanity. There's one that sits in a fountain picking out coins even though it has no use for them, simply proving the point that, human or not, we're all creatures of habit. It's these lofty concepts that easily set Dawn of the Dead apart from both its predecessor and every other zombie film to follow; its high brow but it works beautifully.
"No amount of Tylenol is fixing this."
Aside from the higher concept stuff there's also a lot of the wild and crazy as well. Romero enlisted the help of Tom Savini, the makeup and effects master responsible for pretty much all the most despicable kills in the history of horror cinema. Here he outdoes himself with exploding heads, limbs being severed (including a hilarious scene with a blood pressure machine) and some good old decapitations for good measure. The effects do come across as pretty primitive, but that just enhances their quality and the raw impact they bring to the table. Even the zombie makeup is simple, nothing like the over the top stuff that is seen today, and that in turn makes the zombies seem more real than they otherwise would have. However, for all the gross out moments, its still the basics that scare the most in this picture. In the second act, the main characters have killed off all the zombies and claimed the mall for themselves. What do they do? Well they basically burn themselves out and get bored, wandering around aimlessly looking for things to do. Peter spends some time hitting tennis balls on the roof and for a moment we forget about all the horror that has come before, until one falls off and lands next to a bunch of zombies. We're suddenly snapped back into the reality of the situation and that is a lot more scary than simply seeing a zombie munch on some hapless victims neck, though that's pretty cool too! At the end of the day, Dawn of the Dead is nothing short of a flawless horror film, operating just as easily when making reflective observations on humanity as it does when its showing a machete sticking out of some poor zombie's head. It's hard to imagine what was going on in Romero's mind when he was putting this together, but one thing's for sure; its a definite winner.
"Being a zombie would be a real pain in the neck."
Dawn of the Dead was shot on a budget of $500,000 and grossed over $55 million at the box office, another stellar result for Romero and his little zombie films that could. Romero had proven that you could make an intelligent and meaningful horror film and still draw huge money and so began to envision the next chapter, though he'd take a little time off to do a couple of other films as well. We'll be checking out that third chapter tomorrow but today the praise has to keep coming for Dawn of the Dead because its simply that good. Even though there's been a remake (don't worry, we'll be looking at that one too), nothing holds a candle to the original or its high concept execution. In a world full of zombies, its the human element that makes Romero's films, particularly this one, hold such deep and wonderful meaning. Grotesque, bizarre, surreal and satirical, it will undoubtedly stand the test of time and I can safely say there will never be another film quite like it. That's enough for me to give it the vaunted
10/10 and my absolute highest recommendation, so get to watching right away and be here tomorrow when we finish off this little trilogy with my good pal Bub.
"Tomorrow....choke on 'em."
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