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Appeal of "Dawn of the Dead"? (1 Viewer)

Michael Elliott

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In NIGHT and DAWN, Romero gets his political messages across WITHOUT having to beat the viewer over the head with them. There aren't any long speeches or scenes where the director MAKES YOU get what he's trying to deliver. Romero is much too smart for that and, as Richard states, there's nothing to stand in the way of the entertainment. However, since Romero doesn't beat it over your head, the viewer must read into it what he/she will.


Now I see where you're coming from. Yes, this film will be boring as Hell if someone goes in expecting action and non-stop gore. That's not what the films about so I'm sure this film would bore the hell out of folks walking out of recent zombie flicks.
 

Rob Lutter

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I think if someone has to EXPLAIN the appeal of a film to you, you have no business even thinking about the film for another split second. Just move along, there's plenty of films in the sea of Hollywood history.

Everyone has seen popular/cult movies and have just. not. got it. I know I have.
 

Joe Karlosi

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No, you don't know where I'm coming from. But enough - I've wasted too much time on this film already and it's not worth anymore.
 

Joe Karlosi

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Yes, as is evidenced by your low opinion of DEATH PROOF in the GRINDHOUSE thread (it's superior to PLANET TERROR).
 

Kevin M

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Actually I wasn't referring to you specifically, I have had this conversation many times before, I'm not talking about her character as much as I am talking about the actress herself.....wooden in the best term I can use when looking at her performance.
Aside from that and a few less than great actors in the military (the bald fellow who just yells and giggles his way through the part) I like Day just fine....I still find Dawn to be a better film but Day is interesting and a worthy edition the the Dead films.
 

Matthew_Def

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I don't think it's even close to a shoot-em-up. Matter of fact it's pretty anti-shoot-em-up. There's a good long stretch were a gun isn't even fired or a head blownup, and if one viewed that stuff individually, one wouldn't even know it's a zombie film. Or wait, were you talking about the remake?
 

Joe Karlosi

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How long do you want to bat this back and forth? We disagree. This is most certainly a "shoot em in the head, man!" type of film, and I'm not about to withdraw from that observation. Even if there's a "good long stretch" where this doesn't occur, there's more than enough of it throughout.

Just as an aside --- we keep talking about "zombie films are supposed to be like this, zombie films all have that" ---- well, as far as I'm concerned, the first "zombie" films were efforts like WHITE ZOMBIE (1932) and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943) and ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (1957), where they were basically like sleepwalkers. This whole thing that George Romero concocted -- flesh-eating cannibal ghouls or whatever we'd want to call them -- weren't really "zombies" in the original sense at all. I think Romero is really way overpraised by the fanboys, and while NIGHT is a classic horror film, it too was ripped from THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1963) and perhaps even INVISIBLE INVADERS from out of the '50s. I'm not going to take anything away from the trailblazing NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and I also think DAY OF THE DEAD is a fine apocalyptic horror -- but I'm not really as enamoured of Mr. Romero as so many others are.

And the entire "flesh eating zombie" thing has been done to death.
 

Peter M Fitzgerald

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Plus CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN (1955).

Paul Scott's post on page one nicely sums up the original DAWN's appeal to me. I'm a fan of the original NOTLD and DAWN. DAY and the DAWN remake* (and LAND OF THE DEAD) have their points, but I didn't enjoy any of them enough to add them to my DVD collection. 28 DAYS LATER (though more of a pseudo-zombie "plague" movie, as has been said) and SHAUN OF THE DEAD are both oustanding, IMHO.

* I liked the pre-mall carnage in suburbia, the celebrity zombie look-a-like contest, and the subplot of the nearby gunshop-owner living on the roof of his store, but the running zombies, the preganacy/birth, and many annoying characters (i.e. the mall security guards) left me cold, overall.
 

Lucia Duran

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George Romero is a freakin genius. NOTLD is my favorite zombie movie ever. While I can enjoy his other movies for his political/social commentaries, I didn't think they were as good as NOTLD. NOTLD freaked me out and to this day I can get just as freaked out even though I have seen it a gazillion times.

Like others here have mentioned before, Romeros films are not really about the zombies themselves, but more about the people and how they react to eachother in ZPAW. Sure the zombies make the movie fun and scary, but the scarier part is really dealing with the other people left on earth who are trying to survive.

I really enjoyed DAWN04. I thought they really pulled the whole zombie/survival aspect together into one fun ride. I love fast zombies just as much as I love slow zombies. I think both are terrifying in their own way.

George's movies don't need great actors to get the point across (atleast in my opinion), although I really thought the cast of NOTLD were amazing. Dawn had horrible actors, but I sort of think thats what makes it so appealing. Day had bad actors, but again, I think that is part of the appeal.
 

Dennis Castro

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At the urging of one of my friends, I went out and purchased "The Ultimate Edition".

This is the best 52 bucks I've ever spent. What a brilliant film.

This is instantly one of my favorites!
 

WillG

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Wow, I just picked up a copy from Deepdiscount for about $24. I think they were having an Anchor Bay horror promo going on.
 

Robert Anthony

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Night, yes. Dawn, no. Romero's never been as subtle as people seem to give him credit for. Maybe it's because he stashed those messages in Horror movies, where subtlety isn't exactly at a premium, but the sociopolitical message of Dawn of the Dead is so front and center you'd have to purposefully turn your cognitive abilities off while watching the movie to miss them. The characters are constantly underlining his points with very on-the-nose dialog. The only movie he was worse about this with was Land of the Dead.

Nothing about the original "Dawn of the Dead" is even close to subtle, and at about 2 1/2 hours, you're given plenty of time to feel that mallet falling down on you.

It's admirable that Dawn has as much on its mind as it does, and I think people enjoy that it's there, but it's not employed as artfully as people have given Romero credit for. I think he managed to blend the theme with the story much more adeptly during Night and Day. Dawn is his obvious, loud comic book movie. It's the smart 14 year old kid showing up the rest of his class in his rough, splattery way.

As for the Dawn remake, it's maybe the best ALIENS-clone since ALIENS. There's not as much on its mind, no, but what it does have on its mind (raw kineticism and dread) is translated really well.
 

AaronMan

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Wow, the Dawn remake compared to Aliens? Aliens is so superior in every way. Its not even close, especially in the dread catagory. My opinion of course.
 

Robert Anthony

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I didn't say ALIENS was inferior, I said the Dawn remake felt more like ALIENS than every ALIENS clone that has come since 86. I'm a huge ALIENS fan, and the similarities in tone and set-piece structure were noticeable, to me. I'm not saying they're equal at all, I'm just saying there were probably a bunch of kids checking out Dawn at the same age we were when we checked out ALIENS, and the experience might have gone down kind of the same for them as it did for us.
 

todd s

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I liked the Dawn remake. I always enjoyed zombie movies and stories that showed how people would survive (more than a night).

Plus you have to love CJ... :D
 

Andy Sheets

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I also saw a lot of Aliens parallels in the Dawn remake. I didn't like the remake because I just couldn't connect with the characters. I actually kept forgetting that Sarah Polley was in the movie. She would pop up every once in awhile and I'd be thinking "Who's this supposed to - oh yeah, she's the main character..."
 

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