Dawn of the Dead (1978)
I don't think you're allowed to call yourself a zombie fan unless you've seen the George Romero films. I own Night of the Living Dead, which is one of my favorite movies. I've seen bits and pieces of Dawn of the Dead, but never from beginning to end. I remedied that this weekend.
I can see why people have written extensively and studied the film. There is a definite commercialism theme running through the movie. Other than that, it's an incredibly confusing film.
I got the beginning of the film, the characters who worked at the TV station. But I was totally lost when it cut to the cops and invading the apartment building. Who were they going after? Why were they going after him? What's up with the cop who lost his mind and started killing randomly? Why did Roger get all emotional at the beginning of the film when he had to kill zombies but was crazy about it later?
The film raised a lot more questions than it answered. It was also ridiculously long, too. Two hours and eight minutes with hardly anything happening is insane. Then, there was a biker war. WTF? I suppose the point was to show how the world devolves into anarchy when there aren't any leaders, and in 1978, I guess the greatest threat was bikers. I don't know.
At least I can say I've seen the film. I'm sure if I watched it again and picked it apart scene by scene, I would get all the nuances. However, I'm not going to do that. I don't have time.
Has anyone else seen the movie? What did you think?
