A zombie classic that influenced all zombie films to come. One of the best zombie film premises.

I saw this when it first came out at the Somerville Drive-In in NJ (which, needless to say, no longer exists), and had a great, rip-roarin' time of it (some of which I attribute to the movie itself; some of which I attribute to the enormous quantity of booze me and my cronies snuck in with us). Romero claimed it had a social message about our consumer culture (the setting for the action is an enormous shopping mall), but to me and my teenaged friends, it was just a great, Grand-Guignol style zombie flick; nothing more, nothing less. It would have been more effective, I think, if it had been made in black-and-white like its predecessor, but the action (often indescribably gory) never flags; unlike "Night of the Living Dead", there are no protracted segments where nothing much happens other than people nailing boards onto windows and doors. Pretty much all of the acting in "Night of the Living Dead" was amateurish at best. Here, it ranges from pretty good (Ken Foree in the lead role) to amateurish at best. At the time I saw it, it seemed pretty ground-breaking, and the gory mayhem and zombie-inspired carnage pretty disturbing. Not that I was ever a prude, but I was never into gore for gore's sake. As a society, we're becoming more and more desensitized to violence, and some of what was repulsive and disturbing to me in "Dawn of the Dead" nearly 30 years ago, may rate only a yawn from today's young and jaded audiences. I suppose I could be wrong; I hope so. Be that as it may, Romero's "Living Dead" series began to go down-hill after this, although Tom Savini's special effects became more and more realistic (and repellent).

I liked this even better than "Night of the Living Dead", but it's not getting a perfect score from me for the mere fact that it should have been a HELL of a lot gorier than it was. It's a zombie movie, for cripesake. It IS an excellant movie, but it needed more red stuff. 4 and a half stars

You cannot remake old horror movies and make them better! all the new filmakers do is get bad actors and ruin the feel of the original. The remake was crap!

How can you do better than this one?! The "re-make" was ok... But hey! c'mon! This one was made by the Spanish kid from da Bronx! Again... No-one can do better than Mr. Romero! Take it from me... I make horror films in PA! No-one can ever top BIG "G"! If they would just let Big "G" make the films he wants to and can make, we'd all be happy! "F" Hollywood!

it is good but i love the remake more

Ok well this time the "settlers" are holed up in a "fort" er, shopping mall, fighting off all those "Indians" er, Zombies. Where have I seen this before?

i will always love this version the best it was so bloody for its time

George does it again!!!! You cannot have a Zombie movie without George Romero. Ok, maybe some. But not the originals. George Romero's Unholy Trilogy (that's Night, Dawn, And Day, OF Course) are by far the best. Even the latest installment does not dissatisfy. The shopping mall was ingenius thinking. Who wouldn't go running to the mall when your next door neighbor, or your live-in, tries to eat your brains? Classic!!

It was a good movie

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It started off my zombie craze. The newer version of Dawn Of The Dead may have more action and special effects, but it lacks the awesome mood and environment present in the original, as well as its underlying message. The characters in the original are also better developed in my opinion, and there is great dark humor present in this original version as well. The theatrical release is great, but if you can, get the Director's Cut, because it sets the movie up better, and includes some scenes that seem sort of integral to the film once you have seen both the theatrical and Director's Cut releases. The newer version was exciting and well-done; I like it, too, but the original can't be beat. George A. Romero made a masterpiece when he made Dawn Of The Dead.

It was a good movie, The newest one was better, but it was the original, and you can not mock the original.

Classic camp horror. Maybe not the scariest but perhaps the funniest horror movie. The scene where the two hunters are picking off the zombies is hilarious.

Name another film with free hard candy,a one legged priest and buckets of room temperature sheep entrails..i mean,besides the scat porn shot at Dick Martins palatial mansion.The dead walk and start sinking their teeth into anything that moves (except Harry Careys bowels).The only way this could have been more terrifying is if the helicopter had landed on a Zayres.Remember the two main rules for dealing with the undead:shoot them in the head and come on in...grab a gun (*must be said in a canned staccato western amusement park voice)

Greatest zombie movie of them all. If not one of the greatest movies period. Plus my wife hates this movie thats why I know its good.

Original: Amazing. One of the best zombie movies ever made. Remake: pretty good in its own way. I would give it 2.5 stars.

January 15, 2004. I saw the first trailer for the Dawn of the Dead remake. I asked my father about. He said, Yeah. It's an old zombie movie made in the 70s. Later, I figured out that it was The greatest zombie movie ever. March 14, 2004, I saw it. It was the stupidest thing I had ever seen(and i've seen House of the Dead). Terrible acting. Unrealistic zombies. No action. Pointless. No where near as good as the remake. This movie sucked. Almost all of Romero's movies suck. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and a couple of non-zombie movies he did. They all sucked. Do not watch this movie.

This movie is just not scary.

hmm..think ill watch it ^^

Loved it. Very scary... and modern.

This movie is hardcore. Heads were blown off, zombies were blown up and they shot a baby in the face. And its all topped off with some frontal nudity. It is the greatest zombie related movie ever. Its what Resident Evil should have been.

JUST SAW THE NEWEST VERSION OF THIS MOVIE AND I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!! IT'S SCARRY AS HELL!! AND THE ZOMBIES MOVE FASTER THAN HUMANS, WHICH MAKES YOU FREAK OUT MORE. THIS MOVIE MAKES YOU THINK, WHAT IF IT REALLY HAPPENED???

This is my favorite of the series.Survivors fleeing a plague that has brought the dead to life as mindless but hungry scavengers.A group trying to evade the horror decides to take advantage of a shopping mall and ekes out a good living until... This is not as scary as the first in the series but it has its moments. A must see classic.

BAD BAD BAD THIS SUCKED NOT A CLASSIC A PIECE OF CRAP

How can you not LOVE this movie! I have seen it 72 times and I think it is wonderful. It has all of the qualifacations for a horror/zombie movie! It is really cool! Plenty of gore too

Dawn of the Dead is the crown jewel of George Romero's 'Dead' trilogy. Whereas Night of the Living Dead was a fun, campy and almost comical flick, Dawn of the Dead is much more insidious. Unlike NOLD, where the story is more or less confined to those trapped in the farmhouse, in Dawn we see the Zombie plague - and accompanying panic - spread like wildfire across the country in the first few scenes. From there, Dawn takes viewers on a journey where the main characters seek refuge from the flesh eating rampage in a deserted shopping mall. The characters attempt to ward off intrusion from the flesh eating monsters by building barracades but eventually lose when an army of looters targets their fortress and blasts open the entrances. Dawn has it's share of gore and special effects although I find it to be more of a thriller type movie than a pure horror flick. Well done! Dawn of the Dead remains one of my favourite movies of all time.

Finally the Shape has come back to review "Dawn of the Dead"--- Mention to someone that you like horror films and chances are, they'll roll their eyes. And, to some extent, who could blame them? We've had countless killers wiping out legions of co-eds, campers, party-hearty types, etc. A lot of blood has been shed, usually in movies with basically no plot, almost always not a shred of decent acting, and usually in a by-the-numbers fashion that concentrates more on gore than actually scaring the audience. "Dawn Of The Dead", doesn't forget that a horror movie doesn't have to stoop so low in order to set the mood. Yes, it's gory, especially in the ending sequence. But it's not all gore. The opening passages introduce us to the plague that's turning the dead into the undead, hungry for human flesh. We see police officers re-killing people they've killed just minutes earlier. We see rednecks popping zombies and chugging beer. We see television reports about the plague, and religious types declaring war on the undead. George Romero is smart enough to set the stage with these things instead of endless gore. The movie turns into a battle for survival, as a group of people settle inside a shopping mall to protect themselves from the zombie army waiting outside. In a nice realistic touch, the group eliminates the zombies inside, then grow bored by the hour, and much of the middle part of the movie concentrates on the small talk and chatter that goes on within the group. But when a renegade biker group decides to invade the mall, it opens the doors for the final battle, as hundreds of zombies make their way indoors, slowly but surely finding their way to their next meal. The final battle is gross, yes. Particularly graphic and gory. And yet, I didn't mind. In a way, this really is a war movie. There's more action than scares, and as in any battle, things could get pretty disgusting in the end. Don't hold the violence against the film simply for being a horror movie. It's necessary, at least to some extent. Sometimes, a horror movie can be effective just by atmosphere and the classic man-against-monster scenario. The makers of "Dawn Of The Dead" realized that. Too bad other horror movie makers don't. The Shape,card carrying film reviewer from around the way.

Dawn of the Deaed is of course the second in the George Romero living dead series and in my opinion, one of the best living dead films ever made. It may not hold up to alot of peoples horror film standards, especially effect wise. But keep an open mind and realize this was made in the 70s. I think George Romero did an excellent job at covering alot of ground especially as to how,if this type of natural disaster ever occured, the nation would respond. After establishing the fact that dead people are coming becoming reanimated and feasting off the flesh of the living at an alarming rate, we meet our main characters. We meet ayoung women who works at the local news channel, her boyfriend who happens to be a helicoter pilot and two swat team members who befriend each other amongst all the chaos and decide to steal a helicopter and get above all their problems. After over 24 hours of flying and watching the living dead menace grow, they start running low on fuel and begin looking for safe haven. What do they find? A shopping mall! During a natural catastrophy who wouldn't want to live in the mall? Unfortunatly, dead people are in the mall.Poo. What happens from there is a tale of survival told very well. This is a classic and a very well made low budget 70s horror classic.What I love about Romero's characters and movies over all is the realism he brings to such a ludicis idea. George makes sure to give us characters we can relate to and are very believable. This is a great horror movie. It is a great peice of pop culture that has become a permanent cult staple. One of Romero's best. Even with the lack of budget he made a great movie based soully on character and story. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you are a horror fan this is a must see.Even if you hate it.You'll be broadened.

Okay, so I suppose I will have to rescind a few of my earlier comments about this movie. I guess the mall is an okay place to go..A hell of a good place if you ask a few of my friends (hmm). Still not a super movie, zombies are really, really stupid and it's ever so hokey, but hey, if I had to choose someplace to go I'd rather be with my buds. But, if there were cute guys going to a, say, ISLAND on a say, BOAT..than hell with the mall. (not that there aren't any cute guys going to the mall :) Movie is stupid reguardless, though.

the best of george's living dead series. dispite what some people may think, this movie is brilliant. ok, what would you do if the world was being taken over by zombies? you could either a- hold down the fort or b- get out and go to...the mall. i'd go to the mall, i mean you have everything there, food, guns,a safe place to sleep, friends, and hundreds of push-over zombies that will bring you endless fun taking out. what more could you ask for? i especially like the part when the small town got together and had almost like a festival for killing the undead, and when our zombie in plaid got a little to friendly with a helicopter propeller. endless laughs in this movie and really good characters. this is my favorite out of the series, not really scary at all, but VERY entertaining. i think its an interesting way to tackle a zombies-taking-over-the-world movie, a definate classic.

I'm a sucker for zombie movies, and this one is by far the best. Real characters, great acting, scary zombies, and a realistic solution to an unreal problem. Definitely worth it to rent or buy at any price.