George Romero pulls off a neat trick in Dawn of the Dead; he creates a convincing post-zombie apocalypse engulfing the whole country, without really showing more than a few isolated details. Unlike other 'panic in year zero' scenarios like No Blade of Grass, every citizen does not turn into a murdering psycho survivalist the moment that law and order breaks down. Dawn goes against the universal misanthropy of other zombie pix when the cops understand and sympathize with the reactions of the poor blacks in the housing project. When two groups of deserting police converge on a helicopter that represents one of the few remaining escape routes from the city, there's no battle for control as we'd expect to see in Miracle Mile or 28 Days Later. The second group of cops elect to commandeer a boat instead.

Romero has his four refugees pick a giant shopping mall as their best hope of survival, a brilliant narrative move. The mall is sort of like a castle in that the feeble-minded zombies outside can be simply locked out. When the horde already inside are disposed of, our heroes live in a consumer paradise with every store open for free 'shopping,' including a supermarket. They wisely secrete themselves in a custom-fitted set of rooms at the very top, stocked with emergency rations and furniture brought up from below. And they even construct a fake wall to fool outside invaders who may invade their domain, while they hide out in hopes of a better moment to fly their helicopter elsewhere.

As in Night of the Living Dead, Romero makes his characters unpredictably human. Without name stars, we there is no way to predict who will survive and who won't. The ones who don't become zombie food by losing perspective on their situation and taking unnecessary chances or making illogical moves. The 'man of action' pilot shows himself to have a weak constitution when it comes to a protracted siege against the zombie horde. The two SWAT commandos are perfectly adapted to the nasty job of dealing with the zombies, but one's cockiness turns into a foolhardy euphoria. The semi-catatonic, I-can't-deal-with-this female character from the first film returns, but this time turns into a take-charge type, learning to think in a crisis and even how to fly her boyfriend's helicopter.

Romero keeps the dialogue basic and to the point, which makes things easy for his (mostly very good) actors, who score points for credibility and personality. There's also a lot to identify with here. Part of the appeal of doomsday-type movies is the fantasy that YOU might be one of the lucky survivors to embark on a great adventure, prevailing when most of the rest of humanity has been wiped out. Dawn of the Dead combines that with the Shopping Mall fantasy of being able to walk into stores and take whatever one wants. When Peter (Ken Foree) and Roger (Scott Reiniger) invade a gun store and reap a bonanza of weapons and ammo, a prime adolescent fantasy unfolds before our eyes. Superimposed over all those associations is the satirical notion that our society is based on consumer goods; our four gunmen of the apocalypse are defending their own petty kingdom of department stores. Clever dialogue establishes that the zombies must be gravitating to the mall out of habit - they're no longer human but they do have faint memories of life. The next film Day of the Dead extends that satirical notion by studying zombies in captivity.

But we're still looking at a basic survival story and Romero rings down the third act by bringing in a mob of scavenging bikers, a sensational development that's usually poorly handled, as in the old doomsday film No Blade of Grass. Here it's close to brilliant, with the bikers smashing the mall's doors and letting in the zombies while they conduct an orgy of pillage and violence.

That brings us to the violence and the gore effects, which twenty-six years later are still effective. Once the first heads are blown off and the first zombie teeth tear out huge chunks of human flesh, the rest is just icing on the corpse, so to speak. There are inherent limitations in trying to make art out of a genre that by definition has to have regular commercial injections of stomach-turning gore, and the only strain on Dawn of the Dead is that by the 2/3 mark we're more interested in seeing the plot and characters play out than we are witnessing 101 more cinematic ways to chop up, shoot, and rip people asunder. Suffering is suffering, and anybody with enough life experience to know what real physical trauma is is not going to really need this particular cheap thrill. But in exceptional cases almost anything is acceptable in a movie, and Dawn of the Dead is exploitation with just enough ambition and artistry to get by the B.S. meter.

Anchor Bay's four-disc set of the Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition comes in a fancy folding package made with the kind of care given top-rank product like Lord of the Rings. True Romero-philes already know all about the various versions, but the three transfers here are as follows: The U.S. Theatrical Cut, which has a full set of audio choices (see below), the shorter European cut supervised and re-tracked with Goblin music by coproducer Dario Argento, and the extra-long Extended Version, which was I believe adapted from an early film festival version and has a mix of music cues.

Disc extras producer Perry Martin conducts two marathon commentaries, a friendly and open track with Romero and his top collaborators, and a second with producer Richard Rubinstein, which has an entirely different feeling - not hostile, exactly, but certainly on a different pitch. A third commentary with the actors is also a recent recording. Again, the full list of extras is below.

One of the docus is an older career piece on Romero done with plenty of behind-the scenes footage, but Anchor Bay's Martin has pieced together an exhaustive 72 minute piece with intimate interviews with the director, all the actors, the cameraman and the charismatic gore effects-meister Tom Savini, who long ago attained godly status among gore fans. Most production aspects are addressed, and there are even some Italian-language interview clips with Dario Argento.

But the personal stories of the lead actors - all still alive, all looking chipper - provide most of the fun. Ken Foree talks about not believing anyone would ever let such graphic gore be shown on a screen; and the personable Gaylen Ross talks about having to explain to her classically-trained Russian acting coach what zombie movies are all about, when all the other students are working on The Seagull. Dawn of the Dead looks to be one of those labors of love where nobody earned a nickel but were happy to work for George Romero, reportedly a sweetheart of a guy who inspired great loyalty. Ah, but things have changed, now that the lowliest of beginning directors demand to be treated like God's gift ...

The Dawn of the Dead Ultimate Edition will be God's gift to the George Romero cult. Now, with the Elite Millenium DVD version of the original Night of the Living Dead, Romero's trilogy is completely serviced on DVD.

On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, Dawn of the Dead rates:
Movie: Excellent, but it's not for your Grandmother or your sensitive girlfriend, or your sensitive girlfriend's sensitive hamster ... etc.
Video: Excellent
Sound: Excellent
Supplements: Available Audio Tracks: English (DTS 5.1 ES), English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono) Four discs: Three versions of the film plus a bonus disc of extras.
DISC ONE - U.S. THEATRICAL VERSION Audio Commentary with Writer/Director George A. Romero, Make-Up Effects Creator Tom Savini, and Assistant Director Chris Romero, moderated by DVD Producer Perry Martin; Trailers, TV and Radio Spots; Poster & Advertising Gallery; George A. Romero Bio; Comic Book Preview; 5.1 DTS Surround Sound, 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, 2.0 Dolby Surround, Original Mono.
DISC TWO - EXTENDED VERSION Audio Commentary with Producer Richard P. Rubinstein, moderated by DVD Producer Perry Martin; Monroeville Mall Commercial; Behind-the-Scenes Photo Gallery; Memorabilia Gallery; Production Stills; Original Mono.
DISC THREE - EUROPEAN VERSION Audio Commentary with actors David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Gaylen Ross; International Theatrical Trailers; U.K. TV Spots; International Lobby Card Gallery; International Poster & Advertising Gallery; International Pressbook Gallery; Home Video & Soundtrack Artwork; Dario Argento Bio; 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, 2.0 Dolby Surround, Original Mono
DISC FOUR - DOCUMENTARIES Roy Frumkes' Document of the Dead - The original documentary filmed during the shooting; The Dead Will Walk, an all-new documentary featuring interviews with cast and crew members Claudio Argento, Dario Argento, Pat Buba, Tony Buba, Zilla Clinton, David Crawford, David Early, David Emge, Ken Foree, Michael Gornick, John Harrison, Clayton Hill, Sharon Ceccatti-Hill, Jim Krut, Leonard Lies, Scott H. Reiniger, Chris Romero, George A. Romero, Gaylen Ross, Tom Savini, and Claudio Simonetti; On-Set Home Movies with Audio Commentary from Zombie Extra Robert Langer; Monroeville Mall Tour with Actor Ken Foree.
Packaging: 4 discs in card and plastic folder inside card sleeve
Reviewed: October 25, 2004