The original Dawn of the Dead, the movie that ranks at the very top of my favorite zombie movies list, is the subject of tonight’s Halloween Movie Madness. And yes, this post is full of gore and thus is being marked NSFW.



This movie starts out in a TV station, where we see people trying to come to grips with the rising zombie threat. There is discussion about how any dead body that isn’t properly exterminated gets up and kills, and the victims get up and kill. There is also an argument about keeping a list of rescue stations that are mostly inoperable. It seems that they have figured out that the only thing that drives the zombies is a hunger. And the only way to stop them is by removing the head or destroying the brain. There is also a state of Martial Law (no Sammo Hung anywhere to be seen though), and no person is allowed to have a private residence no matter how well fortified or supplied they may be. Francine, one of the behind the scenes people at the station, leaves with her man Stephen, who is a pilot.



Then we go to a scene at some projects, where some cops are ready to storm an apartment building to go after Martinez. It is here where we see our first death. It’s a cop who gets shot in the head by one of the “criminals” running out of the building. At least he won’t be coming back as a zombie. One of the officers starts going nuts and killing everyone he sees that isn’t a police officer. He’s breaking down doors and blowing people to kingdom come. Peter kills him, but not after he opens a door that he shouldn’t have opened. It is here where we get our first looks at the zombies after Roger goes inside the room with two other officers. They kill the zombies, and one of the officers shoots himself in the head. Roger knows Stephen, and Peter tags along with him to leave the area.



After a quick stop to refuel that leads to a some close calls, they eventually end up at the mall. There, they are able to make a nice little life for themselves…. for a while anyway.

That’s as far as I am going to go, and the only reason I went that far in the first place was because everyone knows this is the zombie mall movie. And no, this isn’t the one with the running zombies. As previously stated, I prefer the slow, shambling zombies. I’m not going to get into the reasons really because I already did once.



If you call yourself a fan of horror/zombie movies and you haven’t seen the original Dawn of the Dead, get your ass down to Best Buy. The movie is on sale right now, and you won’t regret adding it to your collection.

Coming Soon:

Return of the Living Dead
Dead Alive (or Braindead depending on where on this fine planet you live)
Land of the Dead
The Monster Squad
Dead & Breakfast
And the Special Double Feature Finale!