Dawn of the Dead (1978)
9.29.2005
First viewing
DVD (Netflix)
Movie: C+
Audio: C+
Video: B
After seeing the recent Dawn of the Dead remake and Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, I figured it was time to see what many consider the best zombie movie ever made. I'm not so sure if I agree with that, but I can certainly understand why some people might have that opinion.
The movie follows four people, two police officers, a television station employee, and her boyfriend, as they try to survive through what I assume is the same zombie outbreak as the one in Night of the Living Dead. They flee Philadelphia in a helicopter and end up at a shopping mall in a small nearby town. The rest is, well, standard zombie movie stuff. Don't get me wrong, overall I enjoyed Dawn of the Dead a great deal. There were just a lot of things that I would have done differently, and a few other things that made the movie less effective than Night of the Living Dead.
For starters, the beginning portion of the movie, that took place in Philadelphia, felt useless. What did it really establish? The movie could literally have started in the helicopter en route to the mall without losing anything. There were other parts that could have been trimmed or cut. Basically, Dawn of the Dead was just a little too long for its own good. Zombie movies shouldn't clock in at over two hours long, they should be lean and taut at about an hour and 40 minutes.
The zombies weren't as creepy in color. One of the best aspects of Night of the Living Dead was its lack of color. While the bright red blood was fake but effective, the grey face paint was a joke. It didn't look like dead or decaying skin, it looked like paint. The result was zombies that looked fake. The original's black and white added to the realism.
There were scenes I really liked though. Seeing the group make a home for themselves in the mall really made me think. What would I do if confronted with the same situation? How would I react. George A. Romero did a wonderful job taking a great first effort and crafting a new movie. While it shared some similarities, Dawn of the Dead felt like its own movie, not just a "let's make some more money" clone.
Ultimately, Dawn of the Dead was too inconsistent for my tastes. There were great and original scenes, then there were silly scenes. For every moment that could be labeled "classic" and might make this the best zombie movie ever made, there was a stupid moment that ruined the pace and mood of the film. Like a pie fight in the middle of a mall with zombies.
There's been several versions of this film released on DVD, and I'm not even sure which version Netflix shipped me. It had a DTS audio track, so it's either the Divimax edition or the first disc of the Ultimate edition. The disc itself was grey with a Netflix logo, so it was one of the disc manufactured (or labeled) especially for them. Regardless, the DTS was decent, considering the source material. There was little bass to speak of, which was a real disappointment. Most of the effects sounded hollow and tinny, but this is more likely an issue with the original sound design, not the DVD mastering. The surrounds were used sparsely and, honestly, they sounded out of place. The video looked quite good, with vibrant colors, minimal smearing, and decent detail. I noticed a few bits of mosquito noise and the like, but overall I was impressed with the video quality.
First viewing
DVD (Netflix)
Movie: C+
Audio: C+
Video: B
After seeing the recent Dawn of the Dead remake and Romero's original Night of the Living Dead, I figured it was time to see what many consider the best zombie movie ever made. I'm not so sure if I agree with that, but I can certainly understand why some people might have that opinion.
The movie follows four people, two police officers, a television station employee, and her boyfriend, as they try to survive through what I assume is the same zombie outbreak as the one in Night of the Living Dead. They flee Philadelphia in a helicopter and end up at a shopping mall in a small nearby town. The rest is, well, standard zombie movie stuff. Don't get me wrong, overall I enjoyed Dawn of the Dead a great deal. There were just a lot of things that I would have done differently, and a few other things that made the movie less effective than Night of the Living Dead.
For starters, the beginning portion of the movie, that took place in Philadelphia, felt useless. What did it really establish? The movie could literally have started in the helicopter en route to the mall without losing anything. There were other parts that could have been trimmed or cut. Basically, Dawn of the Dead was just a little too long for its own good. Zombie movies shouldn't clock in at over two hours long, they should be lean and taut at about an hour and 40 minutes.
The zombies weren't as creepy in color. One of the best aspects of Night of the Living Dead was its lack of color. While the bright red blood was fake but effective, the grey face paint was a joke. It didn't look like dead or decaying skin, it looked like paint. The result was zombies that looked fake. The original's black and white added to the realism.
There were scenes I really liked though. Seeing the group make a home for themselves in the mall really made me think. What would I do if confronted with the same situation? How would I react. George A. Romero did a wonderful job taking a great first effort and crafting a new movie. While it shared some similarities, Dawn of the Dead felt like its own movie, not just a "let's make some more money" clone.
Ultimately, Dawn of the Dead was too inconsistent for my tastes. There were great and original scenes, then there were silly scenes. For every moment that could be labeled "classic" and might make this the best zombie movie ever made, there was a stupid moment that ruined the pace and mood of the film. Like a pie fight in the middle of a mall with zombies.
There's been several versions of this film released on DVD, and I'm not even sure which version Netflix shipped me. It had a DTS audio track, so it's either the Divimax edition or the first disc of the Ultimate edition. The disc itself was grey with a Netflix logo, so it was one of the disc manufactured (or labeled) especially for them. Regardless, the DTS was decent, considering the source material. There was little bass to speak of, which was a real disappointment. Most of the effects sounded hollow and tinny, but this is more likely an issue with the original sound design, not the DVD mastering. The surrounds were used sparsely and, honestly, they sounded out of place. The video looked quite good, with vibrant colors, minimal smearing, and decent detail. I noticed a few bits of mosquito noise and the like, but overall I was impressed with the video quality.
posted by Ethan at
9/30/2005 07:21:00 AM
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