This analysis offers a lucid deconstruction of Romero’s anti-capitalist subtext, effectively framing the mall as a monument to societal decay. It serves as a sharp reminder that the true horror lies in our own mindless materialism rather than the undead.
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DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) Breakdown | Film Analysis, Making Of, Ending Explained & ReviewAdded:
Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers Show. I'm your host, Paul. In this video, we're breaking down Dawn of the Dead.
>> Dawn [music] of the Dead.
>> Releasing a decade after Night of the Living Dead, this film saw George Romero return to the genre in what's pretty much become the movie that defined it.
Regarded by many as the greatest zombie movie of all time, I think that when you think of films on the undead, then this is probably going to be the title that first springs to mind. Dawn of the Dead was really the movie that established zombie films as their own genre, and it paved the way for everything that followed it. Throughout this video, we'll be breaking down the hidden details and social commentary that make this film the undisputed king. If you enjoyed, please hit the thumbs up and make sure you subscribe for our videos like this every day. Without the way, thank you for clicking this. Now, let's get into Dawn of the Dead.
>> It gets up and kills. The people it kills get up and kill. Now, after Night of the Living Dead became a massive success, Romero was hesitant to make another one. It sounds mental saying it today, but he didn't want to be typ cast as just a zombie horror director. So, instead of a follow-up tonight, Romero went on to make There's Always Vanilla, Season of the Witch, and Lastly, The Crazies, which all pretty much flopped.
Romero then sort of faded into the background, feeling that he'd taken his shot and that it just didn't work out.
However, he then teamed up with Richard Rubenstein to make Martin in 1977. It was during this time that Romero was invited by friends to tour the new Monterey Mall in Pennsylvania. Going through the walkways, seeing the shops, he thought it would be a perfect place to hold up during a zombie invasion. I feel like everyone felt that way as well, and I remember thinking the same thing when I went to the Metro Center as a kid. Even before seeing Dawn, I was just um massively into Resident Evil and just going through it made me think how good it would be for a place to hide out against zombies. So, in a way, we both sort of invented Dawn of the Dead, I suppose. But you can take all the credit, Romero. I'll let you off there.
Either way, with the idea on place, Romero began working on the script.
Coincidentally, he also got a call from Italian horror director Dario Arento, who wanted to see if he was going to make another zombie movie. Romero told him about his idea for Dawn and Arento flew him out to Rome to work on the script with no distractions. He was also going to give Romero space and full creative control to make his movie.
Romero finished the script in about 3 weeks and they cut a deal under Arento which would help finance the film in return for rights to the European edit which we will talk about more at the end. There's also a bunch of different versions of Dawn of the Dead. And I've actually got the 4K um box set from Second Sight, which includes a theatrical cut, the extended cans cut, and the Arento cut as well. For this video, I will be working through the extended cut as that's officially the longest version of the film. However, there is an unofficial fan edit called extended mall hours, which combines all the footage and also the deleted scenes.
But then I worry like if I do that going forward if every breakdown I'm going to have to start doing all the fan edits as well and all the super cut versions of stuff with all the deleted scenes on top of it and hit the point where I'm like I've even made my own edit and I'm breaking down the heavy spoilers cut which is obviously the best cut of the movie of course. But as I'm sure you can guess the can's cut was shown at cans and then cut down before wider distribution. Now, the original title for the film was going to be Dawn of the Living Dead, but Romero's writing partner on Knight, John Russo, decided he wanted to make his own sequel called The Return of the Living Dead, which he did in 1985. So, Romero dropped The Living from the title to avoid any confusion about whether the two films were connected. I love how all these films stand on their own, though, and you can really watch any of them without worrying about the others. That's seen right from the off, and we start the film with a close-up of a red, grainy background. It sort of resembles blood until we pan out to see it's just some shag carpeting. This plays into how there's some horror mixed with the mundanity and even a boring mall can be turned into hell. As we pull out, we also see a woman lying against it having a nightmare. This is one of our main characters, Fran, who we'll get into in just a moment. However, something I want to point out right away is how Romero frames Fran from the side. Makes her look like she's trapped in a box until we turn the camera to reveal she's lying against the wall. To me, this symbolizes the claustrophobic feeling that she and the other survivors will later experience once they find their home. In the end, they become trapped and realize it's not a safe haven, but rather a prison. This is also further played into the way France using her coat as a blanket with her right hand across her chest as if she was wearing a straight jacket. This foreshadows how the isolation and false security of the mall will start to drive her and the other survivors crazy. Fran wakes up from her nightmare to find she's woken up in a nightmare situation and thus the terror doesn't end. When we pull out, we also see a man asleep at the desk who somewhat resembles the dead. It's rare that we sleep in our clothes in a chair like this, unless you're doing like a 3-hour breakdown on a movie. Uh, but it gives us almost an unnatural feeling to the scene, almost like he's passed away.
We then see that she works at a news station where everything is just exploded into chaos. Quick behindthe-scenes fact as well. The guy who shakes her is the brother of Chris Romero, who was the producer on Dawn of the Dead and later the wife of George Romero, who also both have cameos in the very next scene. Boop. While on cameos, I'll just throw this in here as well.
But you can also find folk singer Vincent Vaul, just in case anyone out there is a VHad. Either way, we're thrown right into the middle of the zombie outbreak as two anchors argue about what exactly is going on. I love the way it just drops you right in and they don't spend like 10 minutes explaining what's going on. With dreams, you often don't remember how you got there. And it's kind of similar to what we get with Fran. One of the anchors is a scientist and argues that the undead are no longer people and that they must be exterminated. The other argues the moral implication of people killing their own family members and neighbors, saying that we're forgetting all human dignity. While there are no zombies in the scene, it's probably one of the most terrifying as it showcases the collapse of society on a number of levels. The end of the world doesn't come at the hands of the undead, but our inability to stop fighting amongst ourselves. No one can find common ground. No one can solve what's going on. And this is why the zombies are eventually able to take over because no plan of action is ever made or taken. This is also why Fran and the other survivors are able to escape because they're able to decide on a course of action. As the two on air hosts then argue over how to deal with the zombies, we then have the station manager yelling for them to keep the outdated rescue stations on the air in order to keep the ratings up. He just cares about the viewing figures. No one cares that the information will most likely lead to people's deaths. However, we see that Fran shows some humanity and demands they're taken down.
>> Are you willing to murder PEOPLE BY SENDING THEM OUT TO STATIONS THAT HAVE CLOSED DOWN? I FEEL LIKE THE scene also subtly sets at the film's central theme of consumerism and a capitalist society being what turns people into mindless zombies, which in Romero's world leads to society's collapse. We will talk a bit more in depth on this once we get to them all, but in an extreme capitalist society where a person's life is determined by how much value they produce. People become alienated from their own human nature and others. For the station manager, all he's ever cared about is the ratings because that's how he provides value. in having higher ratings here, his life has more value, even if the value destroys the lives of others. So despite the collapse of society, ratings are still the only thing he's concerned about because that's what the company's concerned about. We can also see this with many of the station workers as well. While some of them leave, others stay to do their jobs until the station goes completely off the air. The camera guy even comments about how their responsibility is finished, but still continues to stay behind the camera. This symbolizes how workers consumed by capitalist society lose the ability to determine their own actions. They're dictated by those who cut the checks. This also plays into the parallels between the zombies and the living, but more on that later. And yes, this video will be a lot of because we live in a society. We're then introduced to Fran's boyfriend, Steven, aka Fly Boy, or as I call him, [ __ ] which we will point out a lot throughout this breakdown. He tells her to meet him on the roof where he can fly them out. We then cut to another group of people in the midst of social collapse as a SWAT team conducts a raid on a tenant building in the projects. As the SWAT team descends on the area, they surround the building and call out the residents to hand over their dead. We learn from the racist officer named Woolly that the building is home to mostly black and Latino tenants. Woolly also comments on how they live in a fancy hotel that's even better than what he has. This is yet another example of Romero's commentary on how the violence and brutality we're about to see is a consequence of capitalism. Now, this is what economists and philosophers called the theory of alienation. This basically explains that when a person's life's reduced to the value they produce under extreme capitalism, it creates a hostile divide between groups that should naturally work together. Here we can see the theory of alienation represented by Woolly, who's so blinded by the idea that people he deems lower than him on the social ladder, have something he believes he deserves. He's enabled to see that he's been sent into the middle of the zombie horde by his employers just as these people have been put in these housing projects by the government. This class conflict and resentment is what causes Woolly to go apeshift in a moment um killing everyone whether they're zombie or not. Beyond that though, it also shows why they're unable to stop the zombies. Literally, everyone here has guns. They could solve this problem quite easily by coming together and just locking up the zombies and shooting them. But instead, they fight each other. This leads to all of their deaths and them becoming the very thing they fear. As Willie continues spouting [ __ ] about how he's going to blow them all away, we meet one of our main characters, Roger. He tells another SWAT member to just stay cool and not start shooting right away once they breach the building. This shows how he's not fully alienated from his humanity like Woolly, and why he will be one of the only people to make it out of here alive. However, the officer isn't able to take Roger's advice as the tenants of the building come out shooting and he gets shot in the head. Everything goes to [ __ ] with bullets flying and the SWAT guys is just decimating people as Roger makes his way towards the building. He decides not to shoot. However, despite Roger not killing the guy, he makes a run for it and then gets shot immediately. Now, the guy Roger spares here is played by John Amplas, who also starred in Romero's previous film, Martin, and was a casting director for Dawn, which maybe should have cast an actual Puerto Rican guy for this role, mate. The team then hits the apartment building with Woolly going gun ho and getting a classic headsh shot. However, you can see that he didn't even know if it was a zombie as he just kicks in the door and shoots without even looking. In the chaos, he's just killing indiscriminately and a lot like the hunters that we saw at the end of night.
Now, the effect of him blowing the zombies head off is not only one of the best in the film, but also the moment when both the crew and audience realize that Dawn of the Dead was going to be unlike any other horror film they'd seen before. done by special effects master Tom Cevidi. The brutal effect was made by filling a rubber head with condoms filled with blood, apple cores, shrimp cocktail sauce, and pretty much anything else gross looking they had available.
Cevi then shot it with a shotgun as the whole casting crew gathered around to watch it. Spectacular. And the crew applauded when that head went off. That for them was the moment where they thought, "Wow, this is going to be something special. Nobody has seen stuff like this before." If they're going to do that in the beginning of the movie, what are we in store for? Pretty funny behind the scenes tidbit here as well.
The head mold Sini used was a cast of Fran actress Gayen Ross that was made for the original ending of the film, which we will discuss later. However, the ending was changed and they needed a head for this effect. Sini put facial hair on it and darkened the skin tone, which I'm not sure if that's problematic or not, but it looks really funny if you catch the head at the right moment.
Svini was also originally supposed to work with Romero on Night of the Living Dead, but he got drafted into the Vietnam War. When the opportunity to work on the sequel came though, Sini used his experience in Nam as a baseline for the graphic violence that was going to be depicted in the film.
>> If I don't get the same feeling that I got when I saw the real stuff, then the fake stuff isn't real enough for me.
>> Now, while you know, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre opened the door to more brutal violence being depicted, the film didn't actually show much blood or gore on screen. Dawn of the Dead feels like a natural progression from Texas where violence and madness have taken over the entire world and it's no longer hidden behind closed doors. It's very in-your-face here and this moment changed horror forever. This is also a cool thematic connection between the two films with the violence of night being a major inspiration for Hooper to push the line even further with Chainsaw which then inspired Romero for Dawn of the Dead. A real full circle moment sort of thing. As Woolly continues to shoot people, Roger then steps in to try and stop him. Jumping on his back, Woolly flips him over and is about to shoot him when another officer comes and puts one right through his chest. We learn in a moment that this is Peter, played by Kenan and Kel's dad, Kenfor. He will be one of our other survivors. And he's probably the actor I think of first when I think about this movie. And I always remember just being blown away that Keenan's dad was in Dawn of the Dead.
And yeah, I'm guessing that's across the board because he even cameoed in the remake, which we will break down soon as well, so subscribe. However, this moment further shows Romero commenting on how people losing their humanity is the real threat, not the zombies. Despite this building being filled with zombies, Woolly's the biggest danger to everyone here. Most of the officers also turn a blind eye. And it's people's inability to act that adds to the chaos, much like how society's collapsing. Following on from this, we then see how stupid the rest of the team is with two of the officers just being bumbling idiots.
They're unable to fire their weapons and multiple zombies close in on them.
However, luckily, Roger's nearby and he comes in to save the day. And we get a shot of him and another officer emptying their clips into one of the undead, which I think may have inspired the shot of Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta unloading that gun on the guy at the beginning of Pulp Fiction. Maybe a reach, but Tarantino is a self-admitted Dawn of the Dead nerd, so it could be he was paying homage to the scene in pulp.
Also, mate, is that Michael Winslow, mate? That's [ __ ] Michael Winslow from Police Academy.
Robot, hit the thumbs up. Sadly, one of the zombies escapes the room and starts eating his wife after she comes to embrace him. In real life, the actor playing the zombie accidentally bit through the blood pack and chomped down on the actress's shoulder, and her scream was genuine.
Everything's breaking down and one of the officers that Rogers just saved shoots himself after he was nearly eaten, which is really [ __ ] up, but also shows how the SWAT team is doing anything but helping these people. Now, I did wonder if this was Romero's comments on how lower income citizens and minorities are often oppressed by the people supposed to protect them. In 1968, while shooting night, massive protests erupted across America following Martin Luther King's assassination. This resulted in the police and national guard being deployed in multiple cities across the country claimed many lives and caused mass destruction and there was, you know, a major controversy at the time. There's even a little nod to Martin Luther King Jr. later on in the film in Fran and Steven's room. Hanging on the wall is a print of Rome Bearden's Martin Luther King Jr. mountaintop which represents the challenges he faced. But yeah, the assassination of Dr. King and the protests that ensued were a major influence on Romero's films and his commentary on society, making this a fitting piece to be included. Romero depicts the SWAT team as incompetent and we see they're just running around shooting people. Most of the tenants are people of color as well who are just trying to protect their homes where the military just kind of weighed in and cost more lives than they save. This also plays into why Roger and Peter are the only ones to make it out of this.
They are the only ones shown protecting the community rather than using it as an opportunity to kill. Shaken by everything, Roger then goes to the basement, which is where he meets Peter.
Roger assures him that he's cool and won't snitch on him for killing Willie.
In exchange for saving his life, Roger then shares a cigarette and tells him that a friend of his has a helicopter.
He offers him a spot, but before he gets an answer, we hear something shuffling behind them. Now though, you initially think it's a zombie, it turns out just to be an old priest. This guy was actually a real priest that Romero met at the YMCA in Pittsburgh and cast him because he only had one leg. I'm not sure if that's true, but it creates a good moment of suspense as the uneven walk immediately makes us think of zombies. The old man then begs to let him pass as he wants to go and see his sister on the seventh floor. The script explains how the priest knows that his sister is already dead, but he's going to spend his final moments with her anyway. He then says that the people of the building are simple but strong, and that what little they have, they won't give up easily, including their dead relatives. Having read them the last rights, the priest leaves their fate up to Peter and Roger, saying that while the sword team is stronger than the tenants, soon the zombies will be stronger than them and they must stop the killing or they will lose the war.
The fact is the zombies will win because they have just one goal and all work together towards that. That's something we see in the next scene and we see as they burst through wooden boards and swarm the SWAT team. SWAT team stupidly just open the boards and the zombies got them because of it and it's an absolutely iconic moment and something that's just burned into my brain. mainly because Resident Evil references this a lot. Now, I feel like this is as good of a time to quickly point out how most of the zombies in Dawn of the Dead look blue. Since Night of the Living Dead was in black and white, no one really knew what a zombie would look like. So, Sini chose to make them gray as an homage to the first film, which is a good idea in theory, a bloody good idea. A dead body being gray, you know, makes sense.
However, Sini said he regrets it because everyone just turned out looking blue on film. Night of the Living Dead was a black and white movie, but this is a color film. My solution to the zombies was everybody just should be gray, you know, which was not a good idea.
Sometimes it photographed green, sometimes they photographed blue. So, I don't think anybody was ever really just gray, but that was a solution.
>> We then see Roger and Peter make their way to the basement where they're met by the grizzly scene of the zombies being held in a cage. They're all huddled together, fighting over scraps and convulsing on the floor. Peter approaches the cage and reluctantly starts shooting, shivering with nearly every shot. It shows just how much this violence is affecting him and that he truly doesn't want to do this, but he knows that he has to. It represents how people often sacrifice their humanity because those in power over them tell them it's for the greater good. How about just as the priest predicted, we see that this only leads to further bloodshed and ultimately the shattering of society. as one of the last zombies starts crawling towards Peter. He then begins to cry and struggles to reload his gun, but Roger comes in and finishes the job. Now, while filming the scene, Scott Rain, who plays Roger, got physically ill when walking into set. He told Romero how disgusting it was, and the director just smiled and said, "I know." Kevin For, who plays Peter, also had a similar reaction with him seeing all the zombie actors huddled together in a confined space, chowing down on human flesh.
>> I was taken back by it, you know, and I said, "My god, this will never play the United States." the sensors just won't let it in.
>> This was all by design from Romero, who told Sini not to shy away from the violins.
>> We needed that kind of sucker punch just to say that this is real horror, guys.
>> We then get my favorite part of the scene where Roger asks why they kept the zombies in the basement. Peter says it's because they still believe there's respect in dying before pointing his gun directly into the camera and firing.
This highlights that this is the end we will all meet if people continue to become alienated from their humanity and fight amongst themselves. Back with Steven and Fran. They then land the helicopter at police dock to pick up Roger. It's in this that they're ambushed by a group of officers who are also trying to make their own escape.
>> Just stay cool.
>> The officers debate on taking the helicopter, but realize they won't all fit. And none of them even know how to fly it.
>> Hey man, I ain't going nowhere. Nothing I can't drive myself. That's true.
Something happens to him and we'd be stuck. We'd be stuck.
>> Holding Steven and Fran at gunpoint, Roger and Peter pull up and the cops clearly just think, "Fuck this." and decide to leave. They say that they're going to get on a boat and sail for the first island they find, which is pretty much uh basically how the Dawn of the Dead remake ends. I do love these characters as well, though. And hey, if this movie was released today, it would probably get a a Disney Plus series telling everyone that their where they went next to something. One quick detail before moving on as well. One of the cops is played by Joseph Palado, who plays Captain Rhodess in Day of the Dead. His character is just named officer at Police Dock, but there is a theory out there that he's supposed to be the same character. People have came up with a cannon that Captain Rhodess was a Philadelphia police officer and that he was also in the army reserves which would mean they did make it to that island and survived. Fair play on them and that is how I choose to view the movie now. Also love the gag here of one of the officers who I call crazy eyes asking them for a cigarette.
>> You got any [music] cigarettes?
>> Do you guys got cigarettes?
>> Do you guys have cigarettes?
>> All of them say they don't have any and then immediately all start sparking up once they've left which does KILL ME A BIT.
AS THEY take off, we then see the lights of a skyscraper start to go out, and it just sums up that the city's fallen. We then see the gang aimlessly flying around as they watch people facing off against the zombies. Steven says the rednecks are probably loving the whole thing, which we see they totally are as they're having a straightup party, crushing beers, and posing for photos.
It's the best day ever. Now, all the people seen during the scenarily volunteer to be involved in the newest Romero zombie movie. Local hunters arrive with their own weapons along with the town's police, fire, and emergency services as well, which I really hope no one was in trouble that day in Pittsburgh because they they're all down here filming Dawn of the Dead. The soldiers here are from the 28th Infantry Division, aka Keystone Division from Pennsylvania, whose nickname was Bloody Bucket. The scene with the hunters is also meant to be a continuation of where Romero left us in Night of the Living Dead. When asked what he was trying to portray with the hunters killing the zombies for sport, Romero said, "War is hell until it turns into a party." This comments on how people become desensitized to violence, especially when they believe it won't affect them.
Another fun detail here, the beer the hunters are drinking is called Iron City beer, which Romero's film company produced commercials for in the '60s.
>> Show them what a man is drinking as iron, not a bunch of airheads sitting around on a beach.
>> Iron City beer. There's a little iron in all of us.
>> It's a Berg thing.
>> The group then land and start looking for supplies. Peter makes his way into the office and sits down for a nice cup of Joe until he hears a zombie pounding from behind one of the doors. He opens fire. However, when the door opens, two zombie children burst in and try and eat him. Peter is then forced to gun them down.
It's a really shocking scene and is something that 28 Days Later would later reference. The two kids playing the zombies are also the niece and nephew of Tom Cevini and are the only two zombies shown running in Romero's trilogy.
Another thing to point out as well is that after killing the zombie kids, another zombie tries to come up behind him. And I'm pretty sure this is the zombie that the poster was based upon and probably my favorite of the film.
Meanwhile, outside things aren't going much better as Fran and Steven are attacked by a couple of zombies in the hanger. We then see as Steven froze the most ineffective and embarrassing punch I've ever seen. He literally has a hammer in his hand and instead of just bunking the zombie on the head, he just flails in the air almost hitting the zombie accidentally. I don't know if it's cuz it was the ' 70s or what, but yeah, this guy is [ __ ] ridiculous in the movie. I think it shows just how unprepared Steven is for this whole thing.
>> He was just an ordinary guy. He would look silly at times. He'd make wrong choices. He would fail where the SWAT team guys would heroically succeed, >> which we see another example of this in just a moment when he tries and fails miserably to shoot a zombie. Roger literally pushes his gun to the side and one taps the zombie not once but twice and just totally shits all over Steven in front of his bird. On a second watch, you can also see him nearly drop his hands in embarrassment. Like, what the [ __ ] I absolutely suck. While Steven somewhat steps up later in the film, I think his character is a great representation of how regular people would probably act in a zombie apocalypse. While we'd all like to think we'd be the badass hero or a character like Peter and Roger in this kind of situation, most of us would likely be more like Steven and not really have a clue what to do and flail our arms about when trying to hit someone on the head.
Also want to take this moment to talk about Fran as this scene originally had her freaking out and screaming, but Galen Ross refused to do it. She wanted Fran to be a strong female heroine in contrast to Barbara and Night of the Living Dead. Ross told Romero that he wasn't going to scream, cry, fall down, or do any types of typical tropes that women in horror movies did to basically make them damsel in distresses. From this point onwards, Romero never asked her to scream again during the shoot and even acknowledged that Ross sort of woke them up to the idea that it's not always necessarily the way to go with female characters.
>> Pre Sigourney Weaver, pre-alon, where the woman was the protagonist, that hadn't been explored yet in horror films. After that, he never asked me to scream. Maybe he thought I couldn't, so why bother?
>> Which I think Galen Ross deserves a lot of credit for, as this is her first project, and she didn't actually really have any other acting experience. But she still had the guts to stand up for herself to Romero, who was a big deal director. Luckily, Romero was also a super cool dude and completely agreed with her. Now, back to the movie. While this is all going on, Roger has his own encounter with the zombie while he's fueling up the chopper. Slowly, he makes his way towards him and Roger goes for his gun, but realizes that zombies are [ __ ] stupid and just watches as he walks over a set of boxes to get the top of his head cut off by the helicopter blades. And I like to call this guy Megamind as the top of his head is crazy big.
>> The appliance that Tom had put together added about 2 in or so to the top of my head and he was able to build out around with a um a foam type of component. Then I would I I sliced it in many sections and attached each section with varying lengths of black fish line. Laying in on the top of my head were two tubes which ran then down my back and all the way down back through the bottom of the pants legs and two guys behind the boxes with the hand pumps filled with the blood and those were in place through the walking sequence and so forth. When I got onto the crates, the helicopter wasn't running at the time. The blades were animated in later, you know. I just handed that fish line to a guy and said, "Run." And when he ran with the fish line, Jim's head unraveled.
And then we just pumped blood in through tubing up Jim's legs to the headpiece, spraying out of the head. That was it.
That was the take.
>> You can actually see the tubes attached to the back of his head when he falls down at 2920. But yeah, fantastic effect. Also love how Roger reacts to this scene as he just calmly watches it all play out along with how easily he takes out the remaining zombies.
Tollangazine really does an amazing job of showing us who these people are and foreshadows the fates they meet later.
Peter is forced to shoot zombie children symbolizing the hard choices he will have to make once things go south.
Steven acts like a doofus and tries and fails to be heroic and Fran remains level-headed as they're surrounded by the undead. And yet it just foreshadows their dynamic once they get to them all.
As for Roger, we see that he's strong and cool under pressure, able and willing to take on the zombies himself.
However, we do see later how this overconfidence ultimately becomes his downfall. After all the zombies are taken care of, Peter then confronts Steven about almost killing him with his horrible aim, and he points his gun straight at his head. Peter then tells him to never point his gun at anyone again and lets him [ __ ] his pants for a moment before putting his weapon down and helping him up. I just think it's so funny how much of a [ __ ] they made Steven look next to Peter and Roger, especially as they're doing it right in front of Fran. I don't think you can ever recover from something like that.
Peter also twists the knife even more when he helps him up and pats him on the shoulder like, "It's okay, little buddy." And he's just like completely deflated. I would just [ __ ] fly off without everyone else right there.
>> Wake up, sucker.
>> Back on the chopper, their group then goes back and forth on what their next move should be, but can't really decide on anything. So, they just take off again, which brings us to the mall.
Flying through the night and into the next morning, the group comes across a shopping mall and figures it's a good place to stop and rest. While Peter and Roger scope out the mall and look for a way in, Fran asks Steven why the zombies are gathering there, and he guesses that it's some kind of instinct.
>> Why do they come here?
>> Some kind of instinct.
>> This is the Monterey Mall in Pennsylvania, which was a fully functioning shopping mall during the entire shoot. Each day when the mall closed to the public, the crew would begin filming at around 10:00 and continue until the morning with many instances of shoppers encountering zombie actors leaving the mall, which led to strange terrified reactions from the locals. Beside that, Romero and the crew pretty much had free reign to do what they wanted on the condition that the production company was liable for any theft or damage, which did happen, but hey, it all worked out. There are a few sets that weren't part of the actual mall, including the storage room the survivors hold up in and the gun shop we see later. Now, we have to take a moment to talk about Steven's line here about them all, as it represents what Romero is mainly trying to convey. To Romero, consumerism turns society into mindless zombies. And we've been conditioned to believe that having all these material things brings value to our lives. With that in mind, zombies are the most extreme form of people becoming consumed by well, consuming consumerism, you could say. Driven only by their need to consume, they lack any sort of awareness. This is why the zombies instinctively go to the mall because when alive, the consumption of goods was the only thing that mattered and now they're consuming as well. We can also see this is represented by the human characters in the film who immediately go on a shopping spree once they arrive.
They become consumed by the fantasy of having all the things they couldn't in their previous lives, which ultimately makes them all a prison, and their inability to let go of material things inevitably ends with them losing their humanity. This line by Steven was also meant to be obvious commentary by Romero on the dangers of unchecked capitalism.
>> The idea of the mall itself, the moment we see it, the moment we come in and see what it is.
>> Mhm.
>> I think it's going to become obvious in terms of what we're saying about the false security of, you know, consumer society.
>> While Roger and Peter search, they find boxes labeled survival supplies furnished by the Office of Civil Defense. These civil defense survival boxes were actually a real thing during the Cold War as part of the community fallout shelter program. These supplies were stockpiled in Fallout shelters across America in case nuclear war broke out across the world, which I don't know what's worse, dying in a big atomic blast or having to survive the apocalypse on 24 lb of crackers. Once Peter breaks the window, they go inside and we see they're also stocked with sanitation kits and big big water barrels and spam, which actually wasn't included in any of the real CD boxes. Oh man, I love a good bit of spam. Ma, the real CD supplies were meant to provide a small group of people a quart of water and 700 calories a day for 2 weeks. And we can see that they have a [ __ ] ton of these boxes and barrels, meaning they're basically [ __ ] set and can hold up there for a very, very long time, which I feel like people in the ' 70s would have instantly known. But I didn't until this video. Unsure what to do next, Roger tells Peter they should get some sleep, but Peter's more concerned about all the goodies in the mall. Roger basically says, "Hell yeah." without hesitation, and they both run off like two giggling school girls to the main part of the mall. despite having literally everything they could possibly need in the storage room. They're so blinded by the allure of the mall's material goods that they're willing to risk their lives for it along with Steven and Fran's lives as well because let's face it, they're [ __ ] screwed without them. This is all pure consumerism, though, as they directly go against their own self-interest and survival instincts for things that have no real value in this new world. They have guns like a million pounds of crackers, water, first aid equipment, and spam. Don't forget spam. There's also absolutely nothing they need in the main part of the mall, but they literally can't resist it. This represents how the mall itself and consumerrist culture make people into mindless drones driven only by their desire to have more things. Fran even warns them about this, being the only voice of reason and saying it's exactly what they're trying to get away from.
How about they just say, "Shut up.
Here's a gun." Side note here, but watching the scene of Peter and Roger making their way down the hallway always makes me think of the annoyingly long hallway in Dead Rising that you have to run through every time you die, which is clearly an homage to this movie.
After finding the keys to the department store, Peter and Roger then come up with a plan to get as much stuff as possible and even turn on the mall music just to set the mood. We then get a hilarious scene of all the zombies and them all just wandering around. They stumble over each other and fall into the fountains and the escalator. Again, not very subtle commentary on how consumerism turns people into zombies. We then see one of them grabs coins from a fountain and becomes fixated on them. Look up any video on Black Friday as well and you'll see what Romero was saying. This further plays into how the mall itself has an influence over people causing them to become absorbed by the mindless repetition of buying things which is not an accident as the layout of shopping malls are specifically designed to entice shoppers to spend more time walking around and they even strategically place stores to encourage impulse buying. The concept is its own entire field of marketing called neuromarketing where people can study how to manipulate consumer behavior and decision-making through neuroscience which god damn that's [ __ ] bleak.
Switching gears to something a bit more fun. All the zombie extras featured in the mall are pretty much everyone the casting crew ever knew. They really all just did it for the love of the game as they were paid $1, a donut and a Dawn of the Dead t-shirt.
>> Everybody was gracious and having a good time and working all night for a dollar and a donut.
>> As mentioned earlier, some even left the set with their makeup still on and there were stories of zombies being seen at McDonald's. This further added to the excitement though and resulted in more people showing up eager to become part of the undead. The newly made zombies were also pretty much left to do whatever they wanted as Romero wanted them to be individuals. He gave them no real direction. However, once they committed to a movement, they had to be the same type of zombie throughout the rest of the film.
>> It's just much more fun to let people invent their own dead character. And some are very inventive. Some of them really do interesting, quirky things with their with their bodies.
>> Tom Cevini and his crew of eight other effects artists would just pump these zombies out every night as they came in doing anywhere from 5 to 200, depending on what they were shooting that day.
Basically, they made up their wounds and how they would die on the spot. Back to Peter and Roger. Once in the main part of the mall, they easy fight their way through some of the undead and make it to one of the department stores. Once inside, they push the horde of zombies trying to follow them in, and Roger loses one of his guns to the undead, which we see him walking around with later. Meanwhile, upstairs, Fran wakes up Steven, who for some reason decides they need help. However, we then see that not only do Roger and Peter not need any help, but they're having an absolute blast. I love how every group just kind of descends into having the time of their life, just completely consumed by all the materialistic goods around them and the fact there's no law.
They're just living out the fantasy of having free reign to take whatever they want. And mate, though, there's death right outside. We're having fun here.
Roger even asks Peter how they're going to get out of the store. And he JUST SAYS, "WHO THE HELL CAN GO SHOPPING FIRST?"
>> THIS foreshadows how their inability to let go of consumption will make them all a prison they can't escape. And how they're pretty much zombies that are focused on unlimited consumption.
>> We ain't doing this for the exercise, so we might as well try to get what we can.
Also, if you like un buying things, then why not check out our merch store right below the video. There we have our Night of the Living Dead inspired shirt. Uh, which you're going to look fantastic in, mate. You'll feel better about yourself when you wear it, you'll feel fantastic.
We've also got lots of other shirts down there, too. And guess what? Big sales as well. So, if you like consuming, you like being a mindless zombie, you like Night of the Living Dead, boom, that's the place for you. Now, they also passed by some mannequins, which plays into the zombie trope and how the store is filled with mindless things that look human.
You also get a quick bit of Roger sliding down between the escalators, which wasn't scripted. Scott Rainer just got caught up in the heat of the moment and decided he would do this. Back with Steven, he fumbles his way through and finds the gun and map they left in the office. We also see a zombie shuffling about and Steven then begins just blindly firing into the room and we can hear the bullets ricocheting off the pipes. Not sure what these pipes do, but it can't be a good thing if one of them bursts. Guy is a liability. Also, I just noticed this when breaking this down, but you can see the zombie that Steven comes across here walking in the background through the glass while he's in the office. Finally coming to terms with the fact he can't shoot for [ __ ] Steven walks up to the zombie to shoot it point blank in the head, but oh no.
Uh-oh, Spaghetti. Oh, no bullets.
[ __ ] liability. While Steven runs for his life, Peter and Roger then hear the shots and know, it must be Steven being an idiot. So, Peter decides to go and save him. Guy's useless though and he cowers in the corner while a zombie closes in, but he luckily manages to get a bullet in in time. Just kind of shows the opposites in the two sides as the SWAT guys are just breezing by the hordes while Steven's getting bested by one zombie in the main hall. He's also nearly grabbed by some as well while Peter gets one of my favorite takedowns when he just lifts a zombie over his head and tosses it over the balcony.
It's like it's just nothing. Also notice here how Steven now juiced up from his first kill, points his gun to try and save Peter, but he then puts it down.
He's clearly taken his warning before and now won't point a gun in his direction. Whoa, is that the guy from the blue man group? Now, I love how we have this zombie as well just walking around and it shows all walks of life are now united in their cause for brains. Also love how they just can't run back to the room as that will lead the zombies to their hideout. Roger's then grabbed by a zombie hiding in a group of mannequins and he stabs him in the air with a screwdriver. Now, this kill actually came about because of a little continuity error. When Roger and Peter first get to the store, we can see that Roger ties a sweater around his waist. We also see it as he runs towards the camera once Steven gets into the store and they haul ass downstairs.
However, the next scene of them running down the escalator shows Roger doesn't have the sweater anymore. When noticing the mistake, Roger and Sabini decided to add another zombie killing in order to explain the disappearing sweater. And it just adds so much to the scene. The effect of the screwdriver going into the zombie's ear was done with a retractable screwdriver with a tube that pumped fake blood out once the screwdriver was pushed in. While talking about the blood, I also feel like this is one of the first real close-ups we get. And you'll notice it's super bright red.
This is not just a case of the movie being old and effects not being as advanced, but an intentional decision by Romero. When Tom Cini was mixing together the fake blood to be used in the movie, he was a bit unhappy with it and thought it looked too bright and way, way too fluorescent on film. But Romero felt it was perfect because it matched the comic book style he envisioned for the film. And if it's black and white, well, that's cuz the video got age restricted by YouTube. And I'm not spending another two grand in two weeks making this video, getting all the editors together to work on it painst for them to shut it down over a two-cond clip. That is capitalism. Dawn of the Dead in my mind is much more comedic than it is scary. I don't think it's a scary movie. It's a comic book.
It's a rump with this underlying sense of society going to hell. I wanted to have that mashlike effect of saying you can laugh and you can have as much fun as you want with this, but remember there's something else going on here.
You can also see in this store that a sign says after Christmas clearance.
This is because shooting at the mall took place during the Christmas season which halted production for about 3 weeks to get all the decorations out and not disrupt the shopping season. But I guess they forgot the sign. When they're safe and sound, Peter then kind of celebrates and is just high off the adrenaline of being so close to death.
And hey, for as much as I've been slagging them off, he talks about an access route to their room by going through the elevator. This will mean they don't have to leave and can just hold up in the storage room and then drop in anytime they want. Meanwhile, back downstairs with Fran, we see that Dr. Manhattan has discovered the door leading to the storage room. This subtly shows that the zombies are somewhat aware rather than just completely mindless zombies. It's something Romero explores more in Day of the Dead with the seeds for that kind of being laid here. Add some nice tension to the scene though as we worry if the guys will make it back in time. Just her trying to barricade the storage room and her desperately fetting it off. It all really adds to the tension. The light drops out and we get a strobe effect as well. Yeah, really nicely put together.
The guys also resist shooting because it will just draw more zombies up there.
Also notice how when Steven comes to comfort Fran, the first thing he mentions is that all the stuff they got and how terrific them all is. You should see all the great stuff we got for Annie. All kinds of stuff. This place is terrific.
>> Like he doesn't even ask her if she's okay. This is another example of how the mall seducing them and that these material things provide them with a false sense of safety. This foreshadows how their inability to escape the power of consumerism will inevitably lead to them becoming zombies themselves. We can also see this represented by Fran's reaction as she's just terrified and isn't even listening to what Steven's saying. This is because she didn't go down into the mall park like the others, and she's yet to succumb to its materialistic influence. This is also highlighted in the next scene where they sit around enjoying the spoils of their shopping spree while Fran still wants to go to Canada.
>> So, I guess we forget about Canada, right? Nobody cares about my vote.
>> Oh, come on, Fran. I thought you were sleeping.
>> Steven, I'm afraid you're hypnotized by this place. All of you. It's so bright and neatly wrapped, you don't see that it's a prison, too.
>> But she changes her mind as soon as she gets her own shopping spree. It's also here that we learn that Fran is 3 months pregnant. And while Roger suggests that they should leave in case she needs a doctor, Peter assures them that they can deal with it and that her being pregnant doesn't change anything. We then get a kind of [ __ ] up scene of Steven and Fran debating on if they should have bought the baby, which Peter knows how to do for some reason.
>> But what I do have are a very particular set of skills.
>> But why? I do wonder if it's going to be something that's really dark. This likely inspired the pregnancy plot line we get in the remake. Uh but there we saw as it went to the extreme in a completely different way. Steven also rationalizes saying by saying they would never have enough fuel to make it to Canada. They'd have to stop and would run into people or worse and thus this is the safest place to bunker down. And I can't imagine being in that scenario and making the same decision. But it does contrast what he said when they first touched down on the mall. And he was the first to suggest they leave immediately. We can also hear the radio in the background talking about the various ways that people are trying to stop the zombies around the world.
Nevada has even been spraying chemicals, but it's affected the humans more than the zombies. Again, shows that no one can really get on the same page about how to address the problem and that they're only making things worse. This is by a guy with an eye patch who is played by Richard France. He cameos in a couple of Romero's films, uh, such as being a zombie in Night of the Living Dead and also as Dr. Watson Romero's The Crazies. We then see some more shots of the zombies wandering aimlessly around the mall as a news program continues talking about how they aren't human and that they must be destroyed without emotion. There's some fun moments here too, and we can see a kid hitting hockey pucks back and forth on the ice rink, which I think is just a cool detail showing how the zombies still have some memory of their lives. You also see a woman zombie grabbing a mannequin and inspecting it to see if she can eat it.
But yeah, on the news, the dude's just a government pundit, so we don't really get any backstory on him. But I do have a theory time that he lost his eye fighting off a zombie who was probably someone close to him, which is why he has such a harsh and strong view on the undead no longer being human and that people must put their emotions to the side because that's what he had to do.
One last thing to mention is that after the scientist, we hear from a news anchor who says the government's working on the issue from the viewpoint of a viral disease. He mentions that they've been conducting various lab tests to develop a vaccine, but have run into problems because they lack live specimens. This foreshadows part of Romero's Day of the Dead plot, uh, which would come seven years later down the line. On the roof, the guys then see a group of semi-truckss and decide they can use them to block the entrances.
Coming back in the storage unit, they gear up and everyone completely ignores Fran. They don't tell her anything about the trucks or what they're doing, but Roger does say, "Hey, >> so I guess that's something." Fran then confronts the boys about leaving her out of stuff as she wants to learn how to fly the helicopter so they're not relying on this [ __ ] Steven is clearly annoyed as well and it totally deasculates him. Look at his face mate, but Peter says that it's only fair and tells her the plan. Also, notice how she looks directly at Peter and Roger when saying this and not at Steven. He would try and shut her down, but he won't stand up to Peter or Roger. We can see how pissed Steven is when Fran demands that they leave her with a gun and he slams it on the table. how that friend really puts him in his place and sarcastically says she might be able to figure out how to use it. Calls back to how Steven can't shoot for [ __ ] and has failed numerous times trying to protect her. RIP Bozo, you should be in the storage room, you [ __ ] You couldn't hit the thumbs up if it was right below a great video. It's far cry from Barbara, though, and I can't imagine seeing a pregnant woman not being some poor little flower that needs protecting was a big thing in the 70s. We then get the truck scene and Peter notices a woman in a red dress standing in the middle of the road alone. This seems to be a reference to the popular urban myth of a lady in red. Not the song, the the urban legend. Typically, this is the spirit of a vengeful woman who was wronged and it's very similar to the legends of the white lady, which I'm sure you've heard.
Pennsylvania even has its own version of a lady in red who supposedly haunts a wackessa building at Wilks University.
So, it could be Romero referencing the town's own urban legend. Here, the lady in red not only symbolizes how death is always following our survivors, but she also foreshadows the bloodshed we're about to see. Getting the truck started, Roger and Peter then [ __ ] with each other over the radio. Roger says Peter's too slow, and Peter jokes about how Roger's too short. The scene of them joking around was also supposedly improvised by Scott Rainer and Kevin For, but was based on a real conversation they had while carpooling to the set together.
>> And all of a sudden, we turn on the radio and they they have the song Short People. those short people and they don't deserve.
I looked at him and said, "That's you.
That's you. That's the song that you also take another shot at Steven saying that he could have just stayed on the roof with Fran. You [ __ ] gimp." Also, love the cartoony music playing while they're driving the trucks around trying to gather up the zombies. Roger is just having the time of his life and not showing any urgency or care that this situation could turn bad really, really fast, which it does. He does somewhat seem to have a moment of realization though when one of the zombies touches his face and his smile suddenly drops.
However, he brushes that to the side and THEN GIVES A YEEHAW RANDOM. [screaming] >> I think when the zombie touches his face, not only does Roger remember the danger they're in, but also it causes him to remember his humanity for just a moment that's been slowly slipping since coming to the mall. At the beginning of the film, Roger is visibly shaken by the violence around him and seeing the zombies in the basement. Here, Roger not only has no problem taking the zombies out, but he also takes pleasure in it. I feel like despite it being a dead person's hand, when the zombie touches Roger, it breaks them all's influence, and he recognizes that the zombie was once a person, just as he did in the basement. In this brief moment, zombies are not a threat, but a sad and pitiful remnant of the people they used to be.
But he quickly loses it and shoves his humanity away in the form of a zombie.
The walls then start to close in and Roger is sworn, but luckily he's saved by Peter. He's completely drenched in blood, though. And I did even wonder if that was enough to infect him. Hey, I've seen 28 Days Later a lot break down on the channel now. Despite almost being killed, this still isn't enough to get through to him. And in a way, it just makes him boulder.
>> We got this, man. We got this by the ass, >> which is a great quote. But the guy looks visibly shaken up, and he gleefully just starts mowing zombies down like woolly. This cemens how Roger has become alienated from his humanity by the mall's influence of consumerism, just as how Woolly was alienated from his humanity by the social classified that resulted from extreme capitalism.
Pulling up to the next entrance, we then see Fran get inspired by all the action and start covering the boys from the roof. Roger continues snapping and just starts lighting up zombies instead of getting into Peter's truck, further calling back to Woolly, going trigger happy in the apartment. However, Roger quickly gets his and a zombie chomps down on his leg as he's trying to get into the van. Luckily, Fran goes Rammo mode and shoots zombie, which allows Peter to pull him in and save his life.
She even keeps on shooting and lands every single shot. No head shot, but at least you [ __ ] hit the guy. [ __ ] you, Steven. Guy is probably just ready to crash the helicopter right there. Now, Roger is freaking out, not because he almost got killed, but because he forgot his bag in the other van. This shows that it's the material things of them all that are causing him to crack. Like, he's almost dying twice in like 5 seconds, and he's only concerned about the little bag of tools. Like, mate, you've got a you've got a whole [ __ ] store of them. Let it go. Peter even says this, and it's clear he's just playing around with their lives. This sort of snaps Roger out of his insanity for a moment, and the two get back to the mission at hand. Ultimately, it's the need for the material item, though, that gets Roger, and he's bit while going back for the bag. Fran just unloads as they drive off. And though the mission was successful, it has come with a cost. Also, like ex what exactly was Steven's job here? Not once does he alert anyone to the zombies gathering around them? He [ __ ] useless. Back in the safety of the storage room, Fran then patches Roger up while Peter and Steven come up with a plan to get back in the mall and get more guns. Peter grabs an expensive rifle, saying how it's a crime that the only person who could ever shoot a rifle like that is someone who could afford to buy it. And yeah, I don't know what you're laughing about, Steven, but it shows how the mall allows them to live out their fantasies of the upper class, giving them access to all the nice things they couldn't afford in their previous lives. In the end, though, it just traps them in this materialistic life.
>> We're coming and we're ready.
>> This also shows how he's lost his humanity and it's a contrast to how shaken up he was in the basement earlier. It's fulfilling the old priest prophecy yet again about how more killing will cause them to lose the war against the undead. There's also the line here by Peter of him telling Steven not to shoot the zombies through the gates.
>> Don't try to shoot through those gates.
Openings are too small. Bullet to wind up chasing us around in here.
>> This foreshadows Steven's later death by the bikers. The group then arms themselves to the teeth like cowboys in an old western film, including Fran and Roger who's now being pushed around a cot. It's just going into the realms of absurdity. And this hits a new level when they steal a display car and then take it for a joy ride. Steven also can't manage the simple task of guarding the door and just fumbles about loads and almost gets eaten. Look at the guy waving about the torch. Roger then gets his leg wound torn by a zombie while waiting for Steven and I would have left him, mate. Yes, this is a [ __ ] Steven video. We then get an interesting scene of Fran back at the store. A zombie nun's robes being caught in the door.
However, instead of just leaving her or shooting her, Fran quickly opens the door to free her and the nun just walks away. feel like this scene has a couple of different layers to with the first meant to represent how Fran has not yet become alienated from her humanity. She still sees the zombie nun as being somewhat of a person whereas someone like Roger would have immediately just blown her head off which we actually saw a perfect example of earlier when he bashed the head of the Harry Krishna zombie. Not only does Fran see her as just a person though, but as being a daughter of Christ. This is someone meant to represent the good in the world and the everlasting love of God. Which brings us to the deeper theme I feel Romero is trying to portray here. That is that what is happening with the zombies is in a sense a kind of divine punishment for the way society is turned on itself. This is encapsulated by the iconic phrase that we hear from Peter in a moment.
>> When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk.
>> This implies that we [ __ ] things up so badly that hell can't even contain all the bad [ __ ] we do to each other. The zombies are monsters of our own creation and the results of the way society's conducted itself. Here, the nun and the Harry Christian zombie we saw earlier represent how it doesn't matter what religion, political ideology, or social class someone subscribes to. We have done this to ourselves. And it's a problem we all have to face. God will not save us. The social systems meant to protect us cease to exist and people will just continue fighting amongst each other until there's absolutely nothing left, which we further see once the bikers come to invade them all. Now, Fran was actually going to kill a zombie herself, but when shooting the scene, Romero changed it, saying, "You've got to let her go. We can't shoot a nun."
>> Guns don't work on Sunday.
>> The fact she's still got a kind of hair ultimately is shown when a zombie comes in and sits with her, and that's why the guys are off shooting and killing. But these two are just finding some commonality and chilling, and I'm not a rapper. After their killing spree, the group then stands on the second floor balcony overlooking the carnage and Fran can barely stand to look at it. Back in the storage room, Peter predicts that looters might roll through here one day and they need to make a fake stairwell so no one goes back there. We also see Roger is looking a little rough. Fran then tells them how the infection Rogers like spreading and Peter mentions how he's seen a couple of people who've been bitten by zombies and none of them have lasted more than 3 days. We then see Roger convulsing and starting to become delirious. He's sort of uh sort of rattling off about how he used to be the best football player in high school.
Despite Roger deteriorating, they still wheel him out to be part of the group, though, as the rest of them create the fake wall. And they just kind of don't want to leave the guy on his own, which I do appreciate. They also round up the zombies and put them in a freezer next to a bunch of food, which I don't know.
I get that it's cold and will stop the bodies from rotting, but I don't think I'd want to eat that tomato next to a dead zombie. Also, I feel like there's a bit of symbolism here of how Peter drops a zombie right next to a bunch of packaged meat. It shows how they view the zombies as no longer being human and are just dead meat. Now, we have talked about how the humans and zombies are not too dissimilar and the zombies also now view us as meat as well. And Romero is a genius. Steven and Peter straight up rob a bank even though cash is useless. Fran tries on expensive clothes and jewelry.
And Roger even finds a cool hat.
>> Oh my god, did you see Brian's hat, Vincent? Oh [ __ ] Haha haha.
>> What the hell?
>> This all just further shows how they've succumbed to the influence of them all and no longer care about the world going to [ __ ] because they have all this cool stuff. Can also see that not only are the group hypnotized by the goods themselves, but also by their value despite the fact that money means absolutely nothing now. Steven also weighs out his sweets even though he's not paying for them. They ring up multiple items just to see how much they cost and indulge in every way possible.
Even at the end of the world, they're still trapped by capitalism and consumerism, as they believe the value of these things is still important. This is what economists call conspicuous consumption. Coined by sociologist Thorstein Vein in 1899, conspicuous consumption explains how spending money and owning luxury goods are used in a capitalist society to display power and social status. It's not necessarily the goods themselves, but the fact that these things represent a life exclusive to those who are wealthy and have financial security gives people a false sense of security in their own lives.
That as long as they have this stuff, they can attain the same type of social status and security. Here, despite there no longer being a civilization, the survivors still believe these items have value and place them in a different class above the rest of the chumps outside who have nothing. This parallels how those in power in a capitalist society hoard their wealth and leave the lower class to fend for themselves at the bottom with the survivors literally being positioned above the zombies on the second floor looking down on them throughout. We then see the group continuing their day of fun at the arcade and get this weird moment of Roger tweaking while playing a racing game. As he's playing the game, the screen goes blank for a moment and he sees this reflection and then the screen comes back on. It's all red and abstract like he's like he's driving through 2001 of Space Odyssey. I feel like this is meant to show Roger's mind slowly deteriorating into a zombie with the endless tunnel of red being a zombie's endless hunger for flesh. This is further emphasized by the drowning sound of the cosmod that overtakes the fun melody of the arcade. After clearing out the zombies in every store in the mall, the group then looks down at the new sanctuary from the second floor balcony.
Wearing fancy coats, they watch as the zombies outside pound on the glass to get in. This shot is a direct call back to the one we just saw of them looking down at all the dead zombies armed to the teeth like cowboys. However, here we see that they've traded in their weapons for fancy clothes. This symbolizes how these things that have no real value or what make them feel safe now having fully given in to the mall's influence of consumerism. While the guns provide physical protection, the expensive goods provide them with a psychological sense of protection that separates them from the zombies as well as everyone outside them all. Romero further emphasizes this point when Peter says that the zombies are them.
>> They're us, that's all. That spells out what everything's about. And we see Fran shiver and pull up the collar on her coat. The group looking down at the zombies with their fancy clothes is also meant to parallel how those in the upper class of society live safe and comfortable lives away from the violence and chaos that goes on around them. This is also reflected in the storage room the groups made their home in. This is literally situated above them all and away from all the zombies and death.
This highlights how in most societies, it's easy for people to endure the violence and suffering of others as long as they're comfortable. This is also where we get Peter's infamous line about how the dead shall walk the earth. He says this is something he learned from his grandfather who was in fact a voodoo priest in Trinidad. Now, we just talked about this line in how it pretty much sums up the entire downfall of humanity.
But I also want to highlight how this is a reference to the real origins of zombies. We talked about this a lot more in depth on our Night of the Living Dead breakdown, but the cliffnotee version is that the original concept of a zombie originates from Haitian voodoo or voodoo. This is sort of to play on the fears that people had of becoming slaves and basically losing their bodily autonomy and becoming well well like a zombie. This was then twisted to be something more supernatural in the 1900s when the US occupied Haiti. The Americans then heard of their culture in stories of the Haitian zombie and it appeared in stuff like William Seabbrook: The Magic Island. Night of the Living Dead was the first film to take the zombie away from the ignorant representations of Udo though. Uh but even today there's still a lot of prejudice around the religion. Back in the storage room, Roger is fading and he says, >> "I don't want to be walking around like that."
>> He basically gives his consent to get shot, but swears that once he goes, he's going to try not to come back.
>> I'm going to try not to.
>> We know it's an impossible situation, and Peter clearly knows that he's going to have to shoot him. They're both just sitting there trying to deny the inevitable, though, and it's just such a heartbreaking moment. We then see Fran and Steven tuning in on the news where the same scientist and anchor are still going back and forth. Also, this could just be me, but the way the shot is framed here makes it look like Steven's floating in the air. Doesn't mean anything, but I did have to do a double take, and it looks pretty funny. On the TV, we can see that the scientist has somewhat changed his tune, now proposing that they need to figure out how much the zombies need to eat in order for the body to function instead of just killing them. He thinks that if they can control their rate of consumption, they could slow down their rate of growth. They won't run out of food as long as people are still alive. And he still stresses that they need to remain unemotional and rational. What I love about this though is that he clearly becomes emotional and even calls everyone >> dummies. You're suggesting >> dummies. Dummies.
>> Whoa. Whoa, mate. Chill. Do not call people dummies. I don't care if it's the apocalypse. That is not an excuse. But yeah, he's pretty emotional and thinks that maybe the world isn't even worth saving. You're preaching to the choir here, mate. The scientists actually propose a really good idea that aligns more with what the anchor was originally saying, though about abandoning human nature. However, they're still unable to find common ground, as they're both unwilling to accept the other's proposals. While the people and the news anchor think the scientist is crazy, his idea to feed zombies is, funnily enough, how the zombies are defeated in Shawn of the Dead. And that worked out pretty well. While the two men on the TV keep arguing, we then cut to Peter who's waiting for Roger to come back. I always think of this moment when I think about the movie and just Roger peering out from behind the sheet is heartbreaking.
His shifting of the eyes was an intentional reaction by Scott Raina, who played the scene as if Roger still had a small piece of awareness left in him.
How that then fully disappears once he sits up in the bed. Peter shoots him with him pointing his gun directly at the camera, calling back to the scene in the basement again. This fulfills the priest's prophecy to Roger and Peter.
The gun Peter uses is also the same revolver we saw Roger with during the truck sequence, showing that Peter knew what he would have to do from the moment he was bitten. I love the way the dialogue plays in the scene, too.
>> We've got to remain rational, >> logical.
>> Fran is correct in that it's all over now and the group is now missing one of their core members. Things will never be the same. The TV also saying logical basically explains why Peter's just had to kill his friend. was of course the logical thing to do. Whereas at the house, they'd kept their dead alive to try and convince themselves they were still human. We then see Steven and Peter giving Roger a proper burial. This is in contrast to the other zombies they stuffed in the freezer, showing that they're still capable of seeing the humanity that was once present. It is a hell of a low point, though, but the group try and continue their lives of luxury, even if it feels slightly hollow. But Peter hosts a romantic dinner for Steven and Fran before going to drink champagne or Ro's grape. We also see Steven propose to Fran who shuts him down given their current circumstances.
>> We can't, Stephen. Not now.
Wouldn't be real.
>> Come on, love. Lad's trying. It's not like it's going to last long anyway.
Feel a bit bad taking a [ __ ] on the lad before. But with the threat of the zombies now gone, we can see here that the survivors are already reverting to the cycle of consumerism and capitalism.
They're again playing dress up, indulging in things they could never afford and assuming stereotypical roles of social class. Roger is dressed in a fancy suit and he proposes to Fran with a fancy ring. Assuming the roles of the upper class ruling class, they're able to afford luxury things and make impulsive financial decisions with no concern for the consequences. Fran reverts to a more stereotypical gender role where she's supposed to be happy with the prospect of marriage and later when she hypnotically pampers herself, which we'll talk about more in a minute.
And for Peter, he's of course black and kind of subjected to reverting to serving others, representing the class disparity present in communities of color and how consumerous systems are built upon the labor of the working class. This is why Fran rejects Steven's proposal because, as she says, it wouldn't be real because none of it is real. Calling back to what Fran said about them all hypnotizing them to believe they can play house and live out their richest, richest fantasies. We then see the illusion begin to fall as the survivors begin to crack. They all become bored and continue trying to fill that void with more goods. Trying on clothes just isn't the same. And trying to live out the perfection they thought they'd have with these items just doesn't exist. Also love the shot here of Fran and Steven in bed. Not because of that. You you freaky sexy crazy pervert. Uh but the way we get a close-up of them that makes the room look like a normal bedroom of a married couple. But as we pan out, we see that the nightstand is one of the survival kits with a rifle prop next to it. It's subtle, but just a reminder that despite all these things, their life is a vacant mess now with there being no substance to the splendor. We get an even more obvious example of this in a moment when Peter's playing tennis on the roof and the ball falls to reveal there's more zombies than before. This brings us to the other side of conspicuous consumption, which is called philosophy of futility. Which is a tongue twister.
Philosophy of futility. This basically explains how people trapped in the cycle of consumerism quickly become bored and create a never-ending need for newness and change. This is why despite everything they could ever need or want, the group is still unable to find any semblance of meaning or normality, which leads to their ultimate demise. As philosophers Robert and Edward Skittlesky put it, needs are finite and can be satisfied, but wants are infinite in quantity. And I'm sure everyone out there, you know, you've wanted something for ages. You've wanted it. You've bought it. It not as good as the thing you want. and you want more stuff and it just sends you off in a spiral. Watches are that for me at the moment. We then see Fran continue to slip into a more stereotypical female role. She dolls herself up with makeup and stares at her own reflection while waving a gun. This cemens that she has now become fully consumed by the power of the mall.
Despite her warnings to the men earlier, she has now became the living consumer zombie with her wide gaze at the glamorous reflection mirrored by the lifeless stare of the mannequins around her. There's also a mall announcement here which is voiced by George Romero's wife Christine Forest.
>> Attention all shoppers.
If you have a sweet tooth, we have a special treat for you.
>> So yeah, everyone is just going a bit mad at this point, which Fran even points out as they sit down to dinner.
She even asks what they've done to themselves as they make house and act like nothing's wrong. The TV station is no longer sending signals out. And I think this is the final nail in the coffin to show that civilization's gone, which kind of plays off the TV stuff at night. Fran and Steven even passively aggressively turn it off and on. And I think it's at this point the boredom is what's killing them. Or well, we'll see if that's the case. But yeah, that's what it feels like now. Yes, this illusion of safety from their makeshift domestic life is about to come crashing down as we see a group of bikers are scoping out the mall. This goes down as France learning to fly the helicopter and in practicing something that can help them leave, she sells the fate that they have to leave. My brain is kind of mush at this point going through this movie. But the lead biker here is called Blades and he's played by none other than special effects artist Tom Ceini himself. This is because they actually ran out of money to hire professional stunt people and the CI and a lot of his friends decided to make up the gang.
Cini even later got to reprise Blade somewhat in Tarantino's from dust till dawn. there. His character, Sex Machine, dresses in the same type of leather jacket, and that was done as an homage to this character. Also, love his switchblade comb, which I'm not sure if this was what made them popular, but remember them being the coolest [ __ ] thing ever as a kid. You can even hear the other biker say, "Is it a comb?"
>> Yes, he's saying, "Is that a comb?" And yes, it is a comb, mate. Now, the other bikers in this group are real bikers from the Pittsburgh chapter of the Pagans Motorcycle Club. They showed up with their own bikes and were more than happy to get the opportunity to ride them and go apehit in an empty mall. The sound of the bikes driving through the mall was also so loud that it set off all the security alarms. And Romero said it was the first time he was blown away by the reality of something he wrote on screen. Later that night, the gang ride in. And here we get Romero's view on society and consumerism come full circle. While the group have been able to defeat the threat of the zombies, their fight for survival has now become a fight for luxury. All the items no longer mean anything, but people are ready to loot, steal, and kill just to get this stuff. This brings us back to the concept of alienation of class that we've talked about throughout this video. As the power of the consumer goods in the mall is what creates this hostility between two groups that should work together. It parallels how consumerism creates separation between social classes that should work together, but instead compete with each other for more material things. To me, this reveals the true horror that Romero is trying to convey to the audience and that there's absolutely no hope left for us. We have become so alienated from one another through consumerism that our humanity is completely gone and there's no way to escape. The zombies will always win because, as Peter says, they are us and we will never be able to stop consuming each other, whether it be through capitalism or becoming flesh eating ghouls. And god damn, for as fun as this movie is, Romero's view on the world was pretty [ __ ] bleak. And I only wish he he wasn't so [ __ ] right.
Okay, let's get back to the bike scene and talk about some fun behind the scene details. As Steven and Peter gear up to shut the gates of the mall, we see Peter's been wearing Roger's ring and he tosses it on the ground with a stack of money and a watch. This highlights how he's letting go of material things in order to face a threat at hand, and this is what will ultimately save him. We then see the bikers drive up to the mall and just start blowing [ __ ] up with grenades, which totally obliterates one of the zombies. Here we're seeing the death of Boris, who was the only stunt dummy they had on set and was used for pretty much every effect up until this point, where he unfortunately didn't survive the explosion. Rest in peace.
This explosion was also real and blew off an entire glass portion of the mall because they accidentally used way more explosives than they needed to.
>> They put too much explosive power behind that bomb. I think the entire glass side of the mall went up in a huge explosion.
>> We then see the bikers just going absolutely nuts, lighting up zombies, smashing them with sledgehammers, smashing the thumbs up, and beating the [ __ ] out of everyone. Now, I know zombies are supposed to be monsters, uh, but honestly felt kind of bad for them here, similar to how they were presented in the basement at the beginning. They just seem weak and defenseless, especially compared to the heavily armed bikers. Now, despite all their preparation, the bikers easy break the locks of the doors and ride straight through them all. However, Peter realizes that they're not coordinated at all and figures the zombies and them will just take care of each other now that the doors are open. He tells Steven to just hold up on the second floor and wait for them to fight it out. And to be honest, trusting Steven is a bold strategy, Cotton, but let's see if it pays off for him. The bikers then indulge in their own shopping spree, grabbing everything and anything they can get their hands on and just generally [ __ ] around. We also see the power of consumerism fully on display here as the bikers grab all the expensive and useless stuff. Even like straight up robbing a zombie of her jewelry, which is crazy. Again, there's no care whatsoever for the zombies or even the other survivors I know are somewhere in the mall. They don't even attempt to grab anything useful like food or supplies. It's just useless things that they don't need at all. This is perfectly represented by the ridiculous pie fight they have with the zombies at the height of their shopping spree. Romero basically just added it in for shits and giggles, but I think it sums up how stupid the group is. They don't care about surviving, clearly, just grabbing more [ __ ] This sequence was also shot handheld by both Romero and photography director Michael Gornick with both of them just running around and shooting the bikers as they ran around the mall doing crazy [ __ ] They lost all communication during the chaos of what was being shot and basically just had a bunch of footage of these bikers going mental, which Romero then spliced together. The scene is just ridiculous, and it further highlights how the zombies aren't really a threat at all. But the wild indulgence of consumerism is what will ultimately seal their fates. Steven succumbs to it as well right now as he goes against Peter's orders and opens fire on the biker gang, even whispering, >> "We took it.
It's ours." He's unable to let go of their material items and Steven has fully given into consumption.
Ultimately, this seals his fate and he becomes a zombie-driven only by consumption. It's in contrast to Peter who left his possessions behind. Doesn't mind being robbed as long as he doesn't give his position away. And in the end, this is why he lives. Peter survives because he resists fully losing himself to the illusion of them all and doesn't open fire or give himself away. Steven does though and of course as always he still can't hit jack [ __ ] It just leads to a shootout but Peter does manage to hit Cevi who flies through a window on his bike. This is a stunt that almost caused him some serious injuries as they made the fake glass way too thick and he said it was like running through a brick wall. He's later shot by Peter for good and he goes out in another stunt that apparently almost killed him.
>> Son of a [ __ ] Things continue to get more chaotic as the bikers begin to loot everything in sight and Steven tries to make his way back to the elevator. He goes up there to crawl into the ventilation system. However, the bikers easily find him and he gets shot in the arm. Steven. Oh no, not Steven. Oh, I'm so sorry, mate. So sorry. Always feel so bad for him seeing him get hit and then uh just quivering in pain. But with Blades taken care of, the rest of the bikers decide to haul ass out of there and Peter's able to take a couple more shots. This includes a dude with a bowl cut/mullet that I'm guessing Quentyn Tarantino convinced people was him when he worked at a video store as part of some weird acting exercise he wanted to do. They were probably just entertaining him, but who knows if that's true. I bet Paul Do could have convinced them no way. Boom. Got you. Boom. [ __ ] you. We then sees it's dinner time as the zombies who've been flooding into the mall start chowing down on the remaining bikers along with the fresh bodies Peter's just left behind. It's just a pure blood bath. One dude gets his intestines ripped out and another dude gets his arm ripped off while he's got it in one of those heart rate machine things, which is a really funny one cuz like we saw him [ __ ] around with it earlier and then we see him getting the thing again for for no reason like when the zombies surrounding him like mwin award there just so [ __ ] stupid. Now, for the intestines, Sini conveniently lived next to a slaughter house. And he used real pig intestines for this scene, which were then thoroughly washed before being smashed up and ripped apart by the zombie actors who were apparently psyched about it and fought over who would get to eat what. A dollar, a donut, and some pig intestines. Hell of a night for the boys in Pittsburgh. This is kind of one of those shots, though, where they've done it and done it and done it over and over and over in lots of movies. Um, and every time improved on the effect. I think there's one in Day of the Dead and also off the top of my head, one in Sha of the Dead as well, but it's just one of those things that shows how far the makeup technologies come. Meanwhile, Steven is bleeding out in the elevator and he tries to catch up to the shaft to meet up with Peter.
However, he doesn't make it very far as a horde of zombies come rushing through the door and start tearing him apart.
Rest easy, Fly Boy. You can't [ __ ] up anymore.
As Peter listens to Steven getting eaten from the vents, he knows he's a goner and dips out to go and get Fran. But wait, somehow Steven is still alive and he tries to fight off the zombies, making him lunch, even getting himself a few head shots in the process.
Unfortunately though, it's a little too late and Steven picks up a couple more bites before again being left in the elevator to bleed out. We also see that Peter hears the shots while going back to the storage room and he debates on going back for Steven, but ultimately he decides to leave him to his fate, which is the logical thing to do. When Peter gets back upstairs, Fran immediately knows that Steven's there, but Peter says he could make it and that they'll just wait and see. We then cut to later that night, and Fran's ready to get the [ __ ] out of there after not hearing from Steven for a couple of hours. However, Peter holds steady by the stairs and we see that the mall is now fully infested with zombies again. It's here that we see that even in death, Steven can still [ __ ] up the plan as he emerges from the elevator as a zombie and immediately heads for the door leading to the storage room. [ __ ] sake, man. Steven.
But yeah, all jokes about Steven aside, I have to say that David M is easily the best zombie walker of all time. Like, it's his walks incredible and he absolutely nails this entire thing. The way he's slumped over to the side and his one legs all twisted, it's like it's like the gold standard of zombie walks.
the triangle or whatever it is. A detail I love here as well with Steven Zombie is how he still has his gun wrapped around his finger and we see him dangling it the whole time. Now, I think being a zombie must just make you completely unaware of things and he doesn't even realize it's dangling or it could show that he can still remember things that were important to him when he was alive. It might even symbolize how even in death, Steven's unable to let go of his material possessions. Him going back to the room, of course, also plays upon how zombies return to where they connected to, which is such a smart way to play off something that's been constantly told to us throughout the movie. Whether it's the tenants at the building wanting to keep their loved ones there even though they're zombies, the zombies returning to the mall, or even Steven going back to his home, everyone goes back to what they cared about in life. We then see that Peter probably should have listened to Fran and gotten the hell out of there as zombie Steven breaks through the fake door and leads the other zombies upstairs. Peter then tells Fran that she needs to leave him behind as he doesn't really want to go.
>> I don't want to go.
I really don't.
>> Now, when I first saw this, um, it did kind of confuse me to be honest, but there's a couple of different ways to read this. The most likely, and the one that I now lean towards, is that he realizes that it's just all hopeless and there's no point in even searching for somewhere new. No matter what happens, even if they make it someplace perfect, some gang or even zombies can just roll through and [ __ ] it all up. It calls back to what the priest told him at the beginning and how more killing will only result in the zombies winning the war.
In this moment, Peter realizes he was right and decides to stop fighting and contributing to the destruction of the world. This could also be seen as Peter reclaiming his humanity as he's willing to sacrifice himself to save Fran. Ken for to me is really the anchor of the whole film and he has countless unforgettable moments, but the way he delivers this line has just always stuck with me. He's not frantic, afraid, or even heroic. You can see he's calm, almost whispering. And while he's not psyched about what he has to do, he's just accepted it. Just a [ __ ] masterclass delivery. Fran thinks he's insane, but doesn't get the chance to try and convince him as zombie Stevens made his way upstairs and he bursts into the storage room. However, a detail I love and one that you really need to notice is how he closes the door behind him when coming in. This shows that he still has some memory of when he was being alive, and it's just a little thing that he would have done as a habit. Peter then pops him right between the eyes, which is actually kind of sad, and the rest of the zombies start coming through the door. I also love how we have just one carrying a rifle pointed at himself, which will come back around later. Fran then heads to the roof, and Peter stays behind to face the incoming zombies. We then see that Peter was never intending to fight them, and he takes out his pistol to shoot himself in the head, but Fran must still have some hope deep down. As we can see, she's decided to wait. The zombies then start making their way under the roof and towards the helicopter. As everything seems hopeless, we then see the sun begin to rise. And bam, we're at the dawn and Peter decides he in fact wants to live. He shoots a zombie in front of him and we get heroic western music as he grabs his rifle and then overpowers the zombies and heads to the roof. We then see France just taking off in the helicopter. Um, which is when she spots Peter doing some very badass kung fu [clears throat] moves, just beating the [ __ ] out of zombies as they surround him. We also get a moment with the zombie who took Roger's rifle. He finally lets it go in favor of Peter's fancy rifle. And it's another parallel to the zombies still being influenced by consumerism to the point that this zombie is even more interested in the rifle than eating Peter. Peter says, "Fuck it." and lets the zombie have it.
and jumps into the helicopter with the two making their escape. So, he gave up his material possession in the end and that helped him live. As they looked down on the mall from the air, Peter then asks Fran how much fuel they have.
She just says they don't have very much.
However, Peter just shrugs it off and says, "All right." And the two fly off into the sunrise as the credits roll. We then get more shots of the zombies just wandering around the mall as that corny mall music plays. The mall has once again become infested with zombies despite all the events that transpired and were basically back to where we started. And malls were of course the cutting edge of society in the 70s and they were this new thing that seemed like it could go one of two ways. Either they would help businesses thrive or we would become trapped in an area purely built to consume. And maybe they did a bit of both. But it parallels the beginning of the film and symbolizes that no matter what the humans do, this inevitably will be the end result. We are too self-interested and will tear down what others have or refuse to share it if it gets us further. Even them refusing to share a cigarette at the start of the movie. It just all perfectly builds into this theme. What happened to the pair is of course left ambiguous though. But let's say things aren't looking good. The helicopter has barely any fuel and Fran is about to be heavily pregnant. So, uh, yeah, probably not going to be good. But you know what?
There is hope and human resilience can get you through a lot of things. The fact that Romero ends like this as well could also show that, hey, maybe things are a bit more positive. Now, originally, it wasn't going to be that fun, and Peter was going to take his own life, and Fran would then do the same thing when she got to the roof. She was actually going to do it by sticking her head in the helicopter blades, which does explain why we have that dummy head from earlier. We were then pulled out on a wide shot of the zombies feasting on her corpse and the credits rolling to the sound of the helicopter blades which would have uh drastically changed how people looked at this movie I think. But yeah, even though things are a lot happier, there is still the implication of doom because as we've learned, humanity will never stop fighting each other and the zombies will always win.
But yeah, it's it's still a pretty downtrodden ending even though it is um a bit more positive. and that came about because Romero basically fell in love with the characters and decided the audience needed something a bit more uplifting. There is some dispute over whether this alternate ending was shot though with Sini saying it was and Romero sort of going back and forth on it. In the Dawn of the Dead documentary, Document of the Dead, he does say to the interviewer that they had shot the alternate ending, but that he didn't film the effects. I personally couldn't find any footage of it. Uh, but who knows? Maybe one day it will make it out of Tom Cini's archives or some random crew member will release it. #release the Dawn of the Dead cut. Last couple of details to point out as well. I'm not 100% on this uh but I'm pretty sure the music we hear during the credits inspired the credits jingle for Robot Chicken.
[music] I mean it's basically identical. The song concludes with an abrupt stop though, and we end the credits with a somber sound of church bells. And what an ending. So, let's break this down um just before we wrap up here. So, like we've talked about through this entire thing. This comes back to the alienation of humanity. Peter and Fran are the only survivors because they were the only ones to maintain their humanity and resist the power of consumerism.
While both Fran and Peter did indulge in the spoils of them all and even to the point they became hypnotized by it, they were able to escape its power by letting go of their fancy things. Also notice that during this entire ending fight sequence, the only zombie Peter kills is the one that's a direct threat to him and Steven as well. But this is in contrast to how trigger happy he became when under the influence of them all.
This is also why he lets the zombie have his rifle and doesn't try and get it back as it represents the corrupting nature of consumerism. Peter physically lets it go and thus he survives. We also see Fran reclaim her humanity after being the first to realize what they become as they try and pretend things are normal. After that, we don't see her trying on any more fancy new clothes and makeup, showing how she's now escaped the mall's influence. This is also why Steven and Peter never stood a chance as both of them were unable to let go of the things they saw as valuable. And yeah, just a masterclass in storytelling and themes wrapped up in a fantastic zombie film. And now that we've made it through the movie, let's quickly touch upon a couple of things that made Dawn of the Dead such a cultural moment in horror before we wrap up. As we mentioned, the film was really pushing the boundaries of violence and gore shown on screen, and the MPAA originally wanted to give it an X rating. They said Romero had to cut some of the gore unless he agreed to make some changes.
He refused to do so and producer Richard Rubenstein took matters into his own hands. He rented out a theater and put a 1-in ad in the paper for a one night showing of Dawn of the Dead to show the studios that there was indeed an audience for it. Sure enough, people swarmed to the theater and went [ __ ] nuts. Luckily, someone from United Film Distribution was in the audience that night and they made a deal with Richard on the spot to distribute the film.
Romero was able to convince them to release it without a rating with a disclaimer that while there was no sex in the movie, no one under 17 would be admitted due to the violence, which Romero did worry would hurt the film, but in fact, it made people want to see it more. However, Romero still felt that it somewhat limited the initial success of the film as they couldn't advertise on television or certain newspapers.
Despite the problems in advertising though, the film was an instant hit.
People lined up around theaters, threw up, passed out, and overall it was just a crazy cultural moment. And this immediately cemented itself into horror history. Again, there's also a couple of different versions of the film, as Argentto had full control to edit the European version of the movie. He cut out a lot of the film's comedy and comic book elements to make it more like a pure horror film and renamed his version Zombie. This also included the film's score with most of the cheesy ball music replaced by more serious dramatic themes. Due to legal issues as well and distribution rights across different countries, there's even more versions of the film floating out there, including an unreleased 3D version and lots of other ones. It's actually really, really confusing. Um, and it resulted in the original film being really hard to track down on physical release. So, yeah, the 4K set that I had before, that is your best bet. And that brings us to the end of Dawn of the Dead. And for a movie that's so fun and brutal, it's insane how many deeper layers that Romero weaved into the story line to comment on the way that society was headed. I know we've gone on a hell of a lot of tangents here and talked about some pretty heavy concepts. Um, so thank you for sticking around this long, but these themes are what makes this film so iconic and relevant. Romero always wanted the themes to be right in our face and to not let us shy away from the real horror of humanity, which is why Dawn of the Dead is still considered the gold standard of zombie movies. And none have really been able to capture the magic that Romero created. I don't know if it's aged that well. I don't know how new audiences respond to it. Um, but when we talk about zombie movies, this will probably forever be at the top. As always though, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. And huge thanks to our incredible editors and researcher TJ who basically took an econ course to try and simplify some of these very complicated theories on capitalism and consumerism. Before you go as well, make sure you check out our merch store again. Uh because yeah, we've got lots of shirts down there, Dawn of the Dead stuff, and lots of things that you're going to look fantastic in. We also have our membership as well, um which is 99 cents a month. You get early access to videos like this every single week. Uh and it all goes towards doing these big big deep dives. So, huge thank you if you're supporting. That really means a lot to me. Um, and thank you so much for watching this very long video and sticking up until this point for not many people will see this moment. So, I appreciate that you guys did. Anyway, if you want something else to watch, you've got our breakdown of Night of the Living Dead on screen now. And hopefully I'll see you over there right after this.
With out the way though, thank you for watching this. I've been your host, Paul. You've been the best and I'll see you next time. Take care. Peace.
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