Zombie movies are not like wine
Dawn of the Dead 1978 Poster
For my birthday last year my wife gave me a special box-set edition of one of my favourite films: George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978). I let the black box sit on the shelf, waiting for the perfect occasion to watch and enjoy it like a good wine. Recently, I decided the time was right to watch it again, so I ripped open the plastic cover, selected one of the three versions of the film and settled down for a night of zombie apocalypse.
And it wasn’t that good.
This is a biggie for me: DOTD is a movie that has comfortably sat at the top of my list of favourite films since I was a teen and was the subject of one of my essays for my MA. I even use DOTD publicity stills for my various online avatars.
Unfortunately, Dawn of the Dead as slow and lumbering as the zombies that populate it. Yes the central metaphor and underlying social commentary is brilliant: zombies as consumers / consumers are like zombies (zombies literally consuming flesh in a shopping mall). But as a post-apocalyptic movie, a horror movie or just a movie full stop, it is severely lacking.
First off, there is pretty minimal characterisation. All four characters are pretty one-dimensional: Stephen is annoying, Roger is reckless, Peter is careful and Francine is defenceless. None of them seem to have any meaningful thoughts concerning the end of the world, nor do they appear to have any lives before they go to the mall. They are little more than empty shells.
Maybe this is all part of George’s bigger narrative of consumerism destroying humanity but I think it has more to do with his disinterest in characters (as he decrees during his commentary accompanying the DVD).
Without any real characterisation, we are left with a number of action sequences. Some good, some bad but almost all overlong and badly edited.
And then there is the ending when the bikers invade the mall. I found myself cheering for Tom Savini and his biker buddies. They were fun. They smashed stuff up. They threw pies at the zombies. They were, in fact, more likeable than any of the main characters (possibly with the exception of Peter). I was actually upset when they died.
So what does this mean? Did I build up Dawn of the Dead into a sacred cow that was not worthy of my deference? I’ve got two other versions of the film in my glossy box-set for me to watch (European Version and Director’s Cut) before I make up my mind to watch.
However, I have a nagging suspicion that the movie will end up like a zombie itself: still walking around in my sub-consciousness way past the time when it should have died for good.