THE TWISTED HOME OF HORROR WRITER WILLIAM MALMBORG
Copyright © 2009 by William Malmborg - All Right Reserved.
Horror Movies - Dawn of the Dead (1978)
writing all these new zombie novels, because more than any other zombie movie, this one really gives the feeling of a world overrun thanks to the helicopter and the ever deteriorating TV broadcasts.
My brother and I first saw this movie in 2004 right before the remake came out in theaters. We had our girlfriends over at the time, both of whom would watch anything we rented, so, knowing the remake was coming out soon, we grabbed this, our minds having no idea what would happen and thinking what the . . . as the movie got started and we watched the crazy news broadcast and then the national guard raid on the high rise. We then also laughed our heads off when they stopped to refuel and a zombie tried to walk over the wooden boxes and got his head sliced open by the helicopters propeller blades, Tom Savini’s tomato soup blood splattering everywhere (I think his blood squirts in this movie were some of the most unrealistic, yet most disgusting blood squirts I have ever seen). And then, once they got the mall secured we thought this was the coolest situation ever, and now, having watched it again, realize this is one of the few movies where you almost forget there is a world of cannibalistic zombies roaming around because they start to focus in on the human element of the three inside, something which seemed pretty realistic, especially when Francine and Roger start turning the TV on and off at dinner, a scene that just feels incredibly familiar for anyone who has been cooped up with a loved one for way too long.
Now, one thing that does drive me crazy about this movie, something which divides zombie fans, are the slow moving, almost comatose zombie hoards. They just don’t seem all that scary to me, which is why Return of
My brother and I first saw this movie in 2004 right before the remake came out in theaters. We had our girlfriends over at the time, both of whom would watch anything we rented, so, knowing the remake was coming out soon, we grabbed this, our minds having no idea what would happen and thinking what the . . . as the movie got started and we watched the crazy news broadcast and then the national guard raid on the high rise. We then also laughed our heads off when they stopped to refuel and a zombie tried to walk over the wooden boxes and got his head sliced open by the helicopters propeller blades, Tom Savini’s tomato soup blood splattering everywhere (I think his blood squirts in this movie were some of the most unrealistic, yet most disgusting blood squirts I have ever seen). And then, once they got the mall secured we thought this was the coolest situation ever, and now, having watched it again, realize this is one of the few movies where you almost forget there is a world of cannibalistic zombies roaming around because they start to focus in on the human element of the three inside, something which seemed pretty realistic, especially when Francine and Roger start turning the TV on and off at dinner, a scene that just feels incredibly familiar for anyone who has been cooped up with a loved one for way too long.
Now, one thing that does drive me crazy about this movie, something which divides zombie fans, are the slow moving, almost comatose zombie hoards. They just don’t seem all that scary to me, which is why Return of
the Living Dead is my favorite. At the same time I realize that many fans prefer this type of zombie to the ones in the Living Dead series, plus this movie is a classic, one which I feel is responsible for the apocalyptic zombie tread, one which many authors are now exploring like crazy.
