Dawn of the Dead 1979

I was too young to see Dawn of the Dead in the theater when it opened. It played at the Cinema 150 not to far from the house I grew up in. As the ads read, while there is no explicit sex in this picture, it does contain scenes of violence that may be considered shocking. No one under 17 will be admitted.

I still recall seeing television advertisements for Dawn - something I thought I must have imagined until I saw several TV spots years later. The image that always stuck with me from the commercial was the zombie sitting in a fountain with fistfuls of change.

Creature Features featured an interview with Scott Reiniger (Roger) that Joe and I taped onto a long since lost audio cassette. A brief clip was featured, and because of that I've always held a special spot for the line, "Shoot it, man. Shoot it in the head!"

It wasn't until the release on home video that I was finally able to watch the film. Back in the day of 1-day rentals, I was so excited that I watched the film after dinner the night we rented it; I got up before school and watched it again the next day; and I watched it one more time after school before we had to return it.

I still appreciate Dawn for all it offers - a rousing adventure tale set in the world of the undead; the further disintegration of society and family; and some of the finest horrific visual effects ever captured onscreen.

While the 2004 remake is an entertaining roller coaster ride of a move, it lakes the greater substance Romero injected into the original.

We hope you'll join us for what is arguably George A. Romero's greatest film.