Dawn of the Dead

With the George Romero original now on DVD, there’s no reason not to brand the bound-to-be awful remake, due in theaters this month, as undead on arrival. Despite the limitations of a low budget, some iffy acting and an ending that feels like an A-Team episode, Dawn is, simply put, the best horror film of the 1970s. Writer-director Romero, who first brought cannibalistic zombies to the world’s attention in his iconic Night of the Living Dead, infused this sequel with a strong strain of sly satire, setting the main action in an abandoned shopping mall where his brainless monsters shamble aimlessly in a nightmarish parody of window-shopping. Romero’s penchant for forefronting Important Messages in his movies was often a drag, however well intentioned, but in Dawn the critique of American consumerism works because he keeps it simple and mordantly funny. Of course, the movie also excels on a more primal level; if this doesn’t scare you, we don’t know what will.