SHOCKtober! Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the greatest zombie movie of all time. Of this there is no debate. George A. Romero’s 1978 sequel to the classic Night of the Living Dead encapsulates everything great about the genre. There are thousands of undead roaming the streets, the survivors are interesting and engaging, and the setting is nothing short of classic.
Much of the film takes place at the Monroeville Mall in Pennsylvania. But the action begins at two different locations: a television studio that is slowly degenerating from an information source to all-out chaos, and a tenement building where the National Guard is invading in order to clear it of zombies. Two characters from each of these scenes join up and flee in a television news helicopter and eventually wind up seeking refuge at the abandoned mall.
Romero is a master not only of the living dead, but of using the zombie plague as a backdrop for a deeper narrative of social issues and human interaction. The longer the survivors stay holed up in the mall, the more they realize they’re not really living. And when events finally force them to act, shit hits the fan.
Again, this is the greatest zombie movie ever created and one of the greatest horror films of all time. If you’re going to seek it out (which you should), I highly recommend the Dawn of the Dead (Ultimate Edition)
