Dawn of the Dead (1978)★★★☆☆

Looking at my rating of this film, you might be wondering why I watched it this week after I said I’d be watching some of my favorites. Only 3 out of 5? Well, you’d be mostly right to wonder.

See, the remake of this movie is one of my all-time favorites. I’ve seen it at least 200 hundred times. And since it is a remake, I figured I’d watch it on a Friday so I could use Throwback Thursday for the original. This one. Only (and I hate to admit this) I’d never seen the original before. And to be honest, I wasn’t impressed.

Which isn’t to say it’s not a good movie. The acting is great, and the story was relatively original when this was first released. But I don’t really find it all that scary. The movie feels much more like social commentary than good old-fashioned horror. And it does pretty well at the social commentary stuff, but falters at attempting to actually scare.

Also, the soundtrack is kind of weirdly chosen. I understand the music from various parts of the mall – those odd sounds juxtaposed against the otherwise quiet, empty stores are a neat effect. But the background music everywhere else just seems a bit jarring and out of place, almost like they were hoping it would distract you from the lack of scares.

Anyway, this is probably worth watching if you’re interested in being a well-rounded horror fan. The film itself is pretty masterfully directed and it’s reasonably entertaining throughout, if a bit slow.