SWAT members Peter Washington (Ken Foree) and Roger DiMarco (Scott Reiniger) infiltrate an apartment complex where the dead have been taken down to the storage basement because they “still believe there’s respect in dying.” With the world being turned upside down, Roger tells Peter he and two of his friends are flying out tonight and to come with them. Peter obliges and soon enough all four are heading to an unknown destination. With NOTLD, Romero tackled the issues of race, the Vietnam War, and social order. In DOTD, he tackles consumerism and American capitalism.
The cast and crew in the original Dawn of the Dead, George Romero’s second film in the Dead trilogy.Being no stranger to controversy, Romero pushes the envelope in one scene which finds our heroes refueling, a door rattles and Peter readies himself, aiming at chest-high level when all of a sudden – the door bursts open and 2 small children run out in hopes of grabbing some lunch. He pushes them onto the couch and fires away. It’s a little reminiscing of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13, when one of the baddies shoots a little girl with no sympathy whatsoever. In this scene, however, Romero adds a little emotional punch when Peter realizes what this epidemic truly is and how age is of no deciding factor in contracting the disease. It seems as if a nice homage is paid as well in the editing department in terms of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho’s most infamous shower scene, where careful editing actually restricts viewers’ seeing any sort of penetration of the knife. This scene is edited just as carefully, so you never actually see the children shot.
Running low on fuel, the four manage to set down on the roof of an indoor shopping mall. Upon investigating, the first idea that is presented is that there is a lot of good stuff down there ripe for the taking.
A good majority of the film shows how the heroes take over the mall with careful planning and calculations by barricading all front doors with semi trucks and closing down gates. Roger in one instant, however, gets a little cocky with the promise of a fortified kingdom and manages to get himself bitten not once but twice. With everything locked down, secured, and clear of every zombie in sight and realizing the little time Roger has before he’s turned, the four go shopping. There’s even a hilarious scene where they waltz into a bank and take as much money as they can carry because, as Peter says, “You never know.”
Dressed in their new clothes and looking down at their kingdom, in front of a JC Penney no less, Peter relays what his grandfather used to say and gave birth to one of the coolest sayings ever said in a movie, “When there’s no more in room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.” Some days later, the three uninfected deal with Roger’s deterioration and eventually have to put him down in an emotionally charged scene, due in part to Ken Foree’s fantastic performance.
Weeks and perhaps months pass and, as an audience, we forget that the world has become over run with zombies until a single tennis ball falls from the roof where Peter practices and shows us they are still out there. They might be mindless, they might be stupid, and they might be slow but let’s never forget they’ll always be hungry. We eventually catch glimpse of a biker gang, whose sole purpose is to raid and have fun doing it, coming upon the mall. Infiltrating it, much to the dismay of the heroes, they let in hordes of the walking dead, and it’s up to Peter and Stephen to protect their castle.
Did I mention Francine is pregnant with Stephen’s child? Because she is. Throughout the war, many zombies are killed, as well as bikers, but one death will go down as heartbreaking and soul crushing. Stephen’s death in the elevator is a moment we all held our breath as he tried so hard to climb up the elevator shaft before the doors opened and the wave came in. They him down and bite him as much as possible and he manages to clear them all out but, alas, is too late.
When the doors reopen we get our first look at the zombified Stephen and perhaps one of the two best zombie actors (more on the first later) ever portrayed. Remembering where the heroes “home” was, he leads an army of zombies up the stairwell and straight to them. As Francine is about to leave with Peter, he makes the bold decision to stay. She leaves just as zombies barge in and just as he’s about to pull the trigger laying into his temple, his mind changes for the better and (cue the action music) fights his way to the top and climbs aboard the helicopter that’s about to leave.
“How much fuel do we have?” he asks. “Not much,” Fran replies and giving her a small ironic laugh, he simply answers, “All right,” and they fly off into the day.
Day of the Dead showed the world in decay and isolation.
The zombies had won. But there was another war happening below the surface deep inside a mining camp. This time around, Romero speaks about science vs. soldiers through the zombies, in terms of how to deal with them. Dr. (Frankenstein) Logan (Richard Liberty) knows he can control and domesticate them, but Captain Rhodes (Joseph Pilato) simply sees them as vermin that need to be exterminated. Tom Savini’s special effects were at the top of their game; this movie is GRAPHIC. This movie disappointed fans, as much of it was arguing and talking and arguing and talking, but has since then developed a cult following, and in the right sense.
In this movie, and quite possibly in any zombie piece of fiction, we get to meet Bub, played by the fantastic Howard Sherman. He instilled not only emotion but affection, marking this performance as the BEST zombie ever. This is one movie where you actually root for the zombies.
Going back and seeing the original Dead trilogy was a joyous experience for me. It remains one of the best horror trilogies (long before the additional three that came after), in my opinion. It’s hard to imagine anything zombie related coming to fruition if it wasn’t for George A. Romero’s landmark film.
Everything about these films, looking back at them now, was, in a way, the perfect formula for horror movies and the proof is that they still stand the test of time. The music was memorable, the acting was far above perfection, compared to horror movies now a-days, the effects were groundbreaking, and the story per movie was top notch. Each movie is a masterpiece in its own right, and if you haven’t seen any of them please do yourself a favor and have an all-night binge marathon before the new season of AMC’s The Walking Dead premiers, and remember, would TWD even exist if it weren’t for Romero?
