A whole lot of people like Dawn of the Dead, and that's fine. If it's your favorite movie, then good for you-- your opinion is every bit as valid as mine or anyone else's. But just to break the monotony of the almost universally positive user comments for this film, I now contribute my opinion. Dawn of the Dead is one of the most awful movies I have ever seen. It left me stunned and speechless and thoroughly convinced it was the worst film of all time; I've since seen worse movies (like George Romero's Knightriders and the Night of the Living Dead remake), but my distaste for Dawn remains unchanged. It is pointless, sloppy, unrealistic garbage that drags on and on despite numerous moments when they could easily have ended the film and shown everyone mercy. But no, they have to tack on more plot developments (like the biker gang that randomly shows up) just so we can suffer for another half hour. And the main characters are too stupid for us to relate with them-- one of them doesn't even know what a mall is, and then they steal money from the bank even though civilization has fallen apart and they can just take whatever they want from the mall anyway. The acting is equally awful, particularly the helicopter pilot and the bikers. Mix in some painfully obvious continuity mistakes (the disappearing zombies next to the exploding car, the scene where Roger gets drenched in zombie blood that vanishes in the next shot) and you've got one of the few genuinely awful movies. Films like this achieve a kind of dark grandeur-- it's not easy to make movies this bad, but somehow Romero pulls it off again and again (something must have happened to him right after he made the great original Night of the Living Dead). Odds are you'll probably like this film for whatever reason everybody else has for liking it. But if you watch it and hate every stupid, repulsive moment, take comfort-- you're not alone.
Review of Dawn of the Dead
