Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Yash Wade Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

J Besser I saw this movie when it first came out. I saw it at the Community Theater in Queens Village N.Y. I was scared out of my mind. My friend puked at our seats. Not because of the movie ( I don't think), but because all of the booze his 15 year old body consumed. Now I watch the movie and there are no really scares. But somehow grabs hold of you and don't even really notice. By the end you're all in. Fun stuff.

qmtv Cheap, Amateur Acting, Story and Makeup, Joke Zombies. Night was Great, Day was Good, Dawn is Sad. I first saw Dawn at a midnight showing at a local theater in the 80s, and was knocked out by the guts and shock.I've seen it a few times after, last viewing in 2016. I've seen the remake a couple of times and it's better. Nothing beats the first, Night of the Living Dead, low budget but tons of atmosphere and fright.The best part of Dawn is the beginning, with the TV station and the SWAT team raid. TV station, confusion, SWAT team best part is when the zombie husband bites the non zombie wife. There was also some guts at the end with the motorcycle gang. There was a few other moments here and there, but that's it.Here's the problem: The acting is garbage, these people cannot act, and had no business in front of the camera. The zombie effects, which were blue/gray paint here and there, full on garbage. The script, started out great with the TV station and the SWAT team raid, then we get a tour of zombie comedy with the rednecks killing zombies in the field, and the mall. The MALL. Pie in the zombie face. This was not good.Is this a comedy or a horror? Make up your mind. Night was a horror, we got it. Day was horror, and some comedy which hurt it immensely. Dawn was a comedy horror, which sucked.Here's the worst part of the movie: When the black guy decides he does not want to escape with the white chick (makes no sense), he proceeds to barricade himself in a room and wait for the zombies to break in so he can commit suicide, then at the last minute he changes his mind (I guess I'll go with the white chick) and escapes from the zombies and makes it to the helicopter to escape with the chick. Now this is full on garbage. I don't care what came before. The intro, Night. I don't care if this guy George Romero solved world peace. Judge this by the movie he's made. If you want atmosphere and gore, here's a hint, Fulci! Messiah of Evil, White Zombie. This is a student production with a budget. My rating is a C, for a B movie, 3 or 4 stars. Given it now has 8 rating, I must compensate with a 1. Better luck next time.

Leofwine_draca George A. Romero's follow-up to his cult classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD arrived some ten years later and featured a greatly expanded budget. While DAWN OF THE DEAD is a direct continuation of where the previous one left off (it's a few weeks later, the zombie virus is spreading rapidly, the rescue stations are closing down), the style of the two films couldn't be more different. While NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was a basically a low-budget movie, filmed on just one set, DAWN OF THE DEAD in comparison feels like an epic; a huge setting, tons of zombies and plenty of special effects. We can only be grateful that Romero finally got the budget to do his zombie movies justice.This time around the film doesn't really concentrate on the conflict between the band of survivors (everybody gets along). Romero injects many of his own political views on feminism, society, etc., and also puts the film on multiple levels. In the first instance it's an action/horror movie, in the second it's a scathing satire on consumerism. Thankfully all this subtext don't detract from the main story, and once again the film succeeds in giving us characters to care about. While some might complain that the film might be a little long, cutting would have resulted in us perhaps losing some sympathy with the characters, losing their little ticks and habits, their expressions, their mentalities.To a mainstream viewer, the cast is completely obscure and unknown. However, Romero picks his actors well and everybody fits their role like a glove. Scott H. Reiniger plays probably the most one-dimensional character of the bunch, a SWAT man who gradually loses his grip with reality and suffers the consequences. David Emge is charismatic as an atypical action man with a conscience, who starts off as a novice and learns how to fend for himself throughout the course of the film. Gaylen Ross is the realist of the group, always in touch with the situation, excluded because of her gender, seeing that the mall they occupy isn't a play area but a prison. However it's Ken Foree who excels as the action man who's also intelligent, quick thinking and kind. The only other notable cast are Tom Savini, SFX master, cameoing as a biker, and a small role for Joe Pilato, who went on to play Captain Rhodes in the next dead film, DAY OF THE DEAD.The special effects are emphasised as the real star of this film, and much is made of the high gore content. Not five minutes go by without zombies getting shot in the head and blood splattering, although all the real cannibalistic gore is saved until the finale and immediately follows some light relief, Romero cruelly playing with our feelings. Arms are torn off, sockets spraying gore, flesh is ripped from legs and necks. It's all pretty horrible and gruesome, and in some ways depressing too. So many zombies and people get killed in this film that you'll need a strong stomach to watch the prolonged bloodshed. It's most horrible when characters we care about get bitten, and Romero works up a lot of suspense from putting them in danger; the truck driving scene being a prime example, plus the lift bit at the end.The music is by Goblin, and is excellent; simplistic, yes, but catchy and downbeat. There are many comedic moments in the film to counter the horror (Romero obviously believed that comic relief should be included intentionally, so that rather than having viewers laugh at a film, they laugh with it instead), such as a zombie getting the top of his head sliced off by a helicopter rotor blade, or zombies falling off balconies and stumbling on escalators. However these silly bits never get in the way of the violence or true horror of the situation, and some bits are painful to watch, especially one scene where a sympathetic character is due to come back from the dead. The wait is unbearable. It is in these moments that we see the genius of Romero's film, as he explores all possibilities and facets of life in a world full of monsters. It's a huge film, it requires a concentrated effort to get through, but will reward on many levels depending on how you watch it.

Giallo Fanatic Seriously, is it? I mean, it is hard to find another movie like 'Dawn of the Dead'. Whether it is or not I can't tell but it is definitely one of the most influential movies ever made. Many living dead movies have copied George A. Romero's Living Dead Trilogy and among the three I find it hard to decide which is best, 'Night of the Living Dead' or 'Dawn of the Dead'. But anyway I found myself liking this movie more and more as time es and it keeps getting better and better with each viewing. With 'The Walking Dead' being one of the most popular series in our modern times, I can't help but think 'Dawn of the Dead' was far ahead of its time. Many of the gimmicks in 'The Walking Dead' have surely been inspired by this movie. The relationship between characters, the way tension is built, the way the living dead behaves, people's tendency to murder each other even at the face of extinction. I can mention more similarities but let us concentrate on the movie, genre: horror, themes: society, culture, extinction, survival, year of release: 1978, director/writer: George A. Romero, main characters: Stephen, Peter, Roger and Francine.Plot: Four survivors trying to survive in a shopping mall amidst a living dead apocalypse. Summary: Peter and Roger escapes in a helicopter with pilot Stephen and journalist(?) Francine. After some time of flying around they inhabit a shopping mall which they clear out of the living dead and starts living a life isolated from the rest of the world. Now the strength of the movie is the relationship between the characters. Without it the demise of the characters would have had less impact. What happens to the characters gives me goosebumps and fills me with dread at the end. One of the other things that gives the movie strength is atmosphere. Usually movies in this genre tend to be more driven by gore and violence with little to no atmosphere with characters you do not care about. The atmosphere in this movie is full of dread and full of a sense of imminent doom. But it also has sense of humor, comic book style. Almost like a parody, "What are they doing? Why do they come here? ", "Some kind of instinct. Memory of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives" was part of the dialogue on top of the mall between Francine and Stephen.At that point the director was comparing shoppers at shopping malls to zombies. Although not originally natural to us it had become so common within society shopping malls became an important part of society's life. It is a social commentary, where shoppers go to shopping malls without wondering why and never seem to question why they go there in the first place. Like mindless zombies, controlled by black magic or what we usually call Voodoo. So although the movie on the surface seems like just another horror movie, it really isn't. It appears to be more like a study and questioning of society's modern culture. Anyway, the movie is magnificently directed by George A. Romero and the cast acts amazingly too. So amazing I find it to get better and better after each viewing. It also has a big influence on modern culture, from the first Resident Evil game to The Walking Dead. I am 25 years old and I find it a little sad people from my generation doesn't recognize the importance of this movie, simply because it is old, because the blood looks fake, because the acting isn't like today and it is not a fast paced movie full of explosions and gunfights with zombies. Like the okay-at-best remake of Dawn of the Dead from 2004. I am tempted to say society's standards have degenerated like the living dead in this movie, but that is just my opinion.P.S. I once watched the German version DVD and it took away all the gory violence, which is sad since the violence is part of the movie's charm. A small plus to the atmosphere and relationship between the characters. Awesome movie.