Every George A Romero Movie Ranked Worst To Best

3. Dawn Of The Dead

dawn of the dead
United

“Granddad was a priest in Trinidad. He used to tell us, ‘When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.”

If you only know one thing about Dawn Of The Dead, it’s probably that quote, although there’s so much more to the movie, including Tom Savini’s show stopping effects and his turn as “Motorcycle Raider.” There’s some neat social commentary to be had in setting a zombie movie in a mall that was an “important place” in people’s lives and it isn’t exactly lost on Romero.

At a time when low budget horror usually meant The Toolbox Murders or – the horror, the horror – Spawn Of The Slithis, Dawn Of The Dead proved the genre could be so much more. Here was a movie with intelligence and a point of view that was satirising consumerism three years before Reagan set foot in the White House, heady stuff for a movie with so many torn out throats.

Yes, it’s a superior film to Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake.

Contributor

Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'