Did you know that "Dawn of the Dead", the one that came out two years ago was based on another film in 1978 called "Dawn of the Dead"? If you did, then good on you, if not, then you deserve a slap on the face. On a recent review for the remake of "Dawn of the Dead", I gave the original film a three and a half star rating the last time, but I've recently viewed "Dawn" again, and now I've boosted the rating to four stars. Why? Well, simply because watching the classic "Dawn of the Dead" again has really given me a better perspective on what an utter masterpiece it is, and in retrospect, with the remake of "Dawn" being released at the time of my first viewing, I judged it too harshly.

Now that I've seen the original classic yet again, I just can't help notice that this is one of Romero's finest films, and arguably the best of the Dead trilogy (now called the Dead Series) that many fans have debated on for decades. If you're unwilling to watch this based solely on the remake then you're ignorantly closing yourself off to a much better movie. While I really liked the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" for what it brought to the audience as predictable dumb horror fare, the original film is much more intelligent and demanding of its audiences intelligence to view a dark satirical horror film of pure fright. The title "Dawn of the Dead" while taking off from its predecessor "Night of the Living Dead", is also symbolic of the dawn of the apocalypse. It's the dawn of a new civilization, the dawn of the apocalypse, the dawn of the end of humanity, and the dawn of the time, it's where the end of Western civilization has been realized and Romero displays much of the shocking sentiment and storytelling ingeniously.

Romero is a brilliant storyteller because not only can he tell a very shocking tale, he can also make audiences think beneath the horror. The zombies are more than cannibalistic corpses, they're also symbolic of humanity. In all four chapters, the walking dead take on a new definition and message as to what Romero is trying to convey to his audience. "Dawn of the Dead" is the original article, and no remake can take its place. To those who appreciate an intelligent story, beautiful characterization, plot twists, and an utterly gory climax, they'll always choose this over the remake, and those are the people I want to buy drinks for. Zombies are the specters of my childhood, and the pure essence of terror for me. I've been horrified of zombies since I was a child but I've managed to form an uneasy taste for them as I've matured.

Romero isn't all horror when it comes to the Dead films, there are actual stories and plot points laid out for the audience to adhere to, and that's what separates the remake to the original. For those who appreciate intelligent horror, they choose the original article. "Dawn" takes place on an undisclosed time after "Night of the Living Dead" where the dead have managed to spread out from the country side and now the invasion has managed to become a worldwide epidemic and literally means the collapse of civilization. Where as the remake's carnage was quick, this focuses on a more realistic invasion in which the epidemic is slow and sporadic and then meant the crumbling of the world without any hope. In the film, four survivors, Fran a television station technician, and Stephen a helicopter pilot steal the station's copter and decide to make a break for it but first decide to rescue Stephen's friends. After an unsuccessful raid of an apartment complex where the residents have been storing their undead loved ones, Roger and Peter, two sharp shooting SWAT members high tail it with the couple to re-fuel, in a rather tense sequence, and stop off at the Monroeville mall where they hope to retrieve the supplies needed.

While there, they're able to exterminate most of the zombies untouched and steal the supplies they want, but they decide it'd be a perfect place to set up camp. They hide at the top undiscovered, and are able to clear the top floor and have their pick of the stores, but soon as cabin fever takes over, they find it's not such a utopia after all. The mall itself not only becomes a twisted cornucopia of resources, and a Utopia, but it also becomes its own character, an entity that decides the fate of these four characters within this closed in mall. All four live in the mall and the outside world is pretty much gone to shit in the handbag regardless of how much denial people inhabit, and such is shown during the Southern lynch mobs whom are partying and hunting down the zombies, little do they know the world has ended. They prefer to live in ignorance and there are still people left in civilization that assume the epidemic will pass, but only when the foursome loses one of their own do they realize, the life they once had is over.

Romero's zombies are representative of the consumer culture at the time that is still very resonant in this day and age of greed and consumption. The zombie's fight the survivor's, not only to get at them to eat them, but they fight them for the mall. Though most of the characters aren't aware of this, Peter, the unofficial leader of the group, explains they want the mall just to walk around in, because it's what they did when they were alive. The zombies have no use for the products and have no need for material possessions yet still defend and try to re-claim the mall for their own purposes simply out of reflex. The human mind is so conditioned to consume and spend, even after death we're still roaming the stores and trying to get to jewelry and money. Even the survivors whom have no need for material possessions beside food still linger the stores, try on clothing and drool at the sight of money which has no basic function any longer.

The film while being a zombie film, follows Romero's rule for a zombie movie: it's about characters surrounded by zombies, not about zombies. That's been the major fault with a lot of the rip-offs of the modern horror age. Zombie films are all about zombies without any characters to know or root for. "Dawn" is comprised of some truly layered individuals in the personas of the four main characters here. Peter is the strong ethnic theme resonant through Romero's dead films who unofficially leads the three survivors and runs the show. Ken Foree pulls off a convincing performance as Peter the conflicted leader who always tries to keep things straight, there's Stephen the pilot who isn't sure of himself and constantly finds himself in trouble due to trying to keep up with the two sharpshooters. He's not the handiest man around, but David Emgee portrays him with real heart and innocence and becomes the most horrifying of the zombies by my money after meeting a grizzly fate in an elevator, there's Fran, the helpless female of the group who must evolve in to a survivor, as Peter demands, or else she'll die.

And then there's my absolute favorite character Roger the headstrong loose cannon of the foursome whose great with the gun and knows how to handle himself, Scott Reiniger gives a tough grizzled performance and most of the time looks like a cast member from the show SWAT who accidentally drifted on to the film. He's a great anti-hero who kept my attention for most of the movie. The four have an eclectic energy and electric chemistry as they work together to try and create peace within the confines of the mall but find it very difficult as a biker gang destroys everything in the gory climax. Most of the film is devoted to actual storytelling as we watch the foursome deal with impatience, cabin fever, and restlessness that can't be settled. Romero perpetuates that tension in to some unsettling atmosphere leading to the shocking climax and in the end, "Dawn" is a pure horror masterpiece that set the precedent that still has yet to be surpassed in quality, class, and shocks. Romero being Romero, we're left in the climax with a question mark that will keep us wondering what happens next, but when the closing credits come, without any dialogue or explanation, Romero has pretty much spelled out for us what will happen to the world anyway, regardless of who survives.

Few horror films can stand the test of time, but some horror films are like fine wine and only increase in value as they age, and "Dawn of the Dead" is in a rare league of ingenious horror films that are utterly timeless. There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been stated, but "Dawn" is the original article and a true example of resourcefulness, subtext, pure storytelling and shocking gore that still holds up very well even in today's age of flash, and CGI. I love it.

• The Dawn remake was said to have been a different zombie film altogether but was drastically altered to become a remake of this film.
• The zombie children whom attack Peter in the airport at Tom Savini's niece and nephew.
• If I had the chance I'd have been an extra on this film.
• The sick, twisted and wicked score is composed by none other than Dario Argento and the Goblins.
• The zombie that horrifies me the most is Flyboy.
• There is supposedly an alternate ending to the original "Dawn of the Dead" that is debated to have ever existed in which Peter shoots himself in the head, and Francine is diced with the helicopter propellers and eaten by the zombies, but was never used because it was thought to be too grim. Director Romero insists there was no such ending filmed, but
  make-up wiz Tom Savini insists the ending was filmed but never used.