Even the few I don't enjoy, I can at least understand why they're popular. But this? Not really. The zombie makeup is awful. Boring characters. The pacing is off. Not even remotely scary. The action is super dated. Dreadful music. Embarrassing attempts at humor.
shareI find this movie to be one of the better of bunch. It isn't great cinema-- few, if any, horror films are, especially from this era-- but it has an edge to it, and a great soundtrack.
shareIt was the king of zombie movies back then and for many, many years after. It definitely has dated. But that's because of all of the advancements in movie making. It can't really be looked at from a modern eye. It was an amazing movie though back in it's time.
shareI just watched this for the first time and this was exactly my take away. I can see how it would have been so well received for its time, but clearly dated in both effects and style.
shareI totally agree with you.
I looked up the date of The Exorcist and found 1973. Dawn of the Dead is 1978. In my opinion The Exorcist still holds up and if something like that were shot exactly the same by an A24 like company it would be considered genius. Dawn of the Dead not so much. Just something I found to be interesting.
People think the Mall idea is neat.
shareAs a kid when it came out, I loved it, but now I can't get through it. Mostly because of the terrible makeup, but the incredibly dated look of it is also a drag. No other movie has looked so dated. If you want to know what the late '70s fashion and shopping was like definitely watch this.
shareYou have no idea how scary the idea of zombies at a mall is. You can't try on clothes in peace at JC Penneys without some zombie trying to kill you. That's scary stuff!
shareStarted rewatching this last night. It's one of those films I can rewatch multiple times.
I can see the point that the makeup is very simple but I do feel it kind of works. Like if these people have just died, they wouldn't be rotting straight away.
There's some cool over the top effects. The film kind of has a comic book kind of style. I think maybe seeing it as an adventure horror film maybe works best.
There's also some realism with the news stuff and the way they start arguing, cabin fever etc. Then there's the whole stuff about consumerism. The survivors could of escaped from the gang and hidden but instead end up fighting because they don't want them getting hold of their stuff.
The action is still really good at least to me and Goblins score is good. I enjoy the stock music to.