"You are stronger than us, but soon, I think they be stronger than you. When the dead walk, señores, we must stop the killing, or lose the war."

Dawn of the Dead is a legendary horror movie, and perhaps the most famous zombie movie of all time. If George Romero's Night of the Living Dead was the most influential in how storytellers treat zombies, then Dawn of the Dead had its biggest impact in how the public views them.

The movie was a massive success despite censorship. The MPAA had originally given it an X-rating, so it was released Unrated in America to improve its odds. In the UK it was deemed a video nasty, meaning it was criminally illegal to distribute. Despite this, Dawn of the Dead recouped more than 100 times its budget at the box office.

The film spawned countless sequels, homages, parodies, and easter eggs in other media. There were four official sequels and a 2004 remake. In the international market Dawn of the Dead was released as Zombi which would then get a dozen unofficial sequels.

Speaking of the international market, the soundtrack differs between the American and Italian versions. Both have original music by Goblin with the Italian version leaning more heavily on the artist. The American version uses more stock cues which I think enhances the consumerist allegory.

The practical effects are nifty. You've got exploding heads, decapitations, dismemberments portrayed by actual amputees, and probably the most famous disembowelment of all time. There's enough fake blood to drown in, and it's got this vibrant hue to contrast with the ashen faces of so many zombies.

The blood was a point of contention with effect supervisor Tom Savini. Romero wanted to capture a comic-book feeling with lurid colours, and Savini was disappointed that it wasn't more realistic.

Tom Savini probably deserves some special mention. Dawn of the Dead was his first zombie movie with Romero, although he was originally tapped to work on Night of the Living Dead. However, he instead got drafted into the Vietnam war. He would later get his chance to work with Night of the Living Dead though - he directed the 1990 remake.

There are lots of really cool practical effects to get into, but perhaps the most interesting wasn't an effect at all. Dawn of the Dead included a real human skeleton. The use of actual human remains in film is fascinating as it is repulsive. It was rented for the movie (you could actually rent a corpse at the time, God bless America) before being sold to a costume shop. The owner allegedly had no idea it was genuine, and after its discovery police were also baffled because it still had fake flesh from the movie.

What I find to be really cool about this movie is that I've already shared a ton of trivia, I have so much more that I want to say, and I haven't mentioned a word about plot yet. Without getting into the specifics, it's a story of civilization's collapse and how failure to cooperate hastens the decline. It highlights the futility of consumerism: once we've acquired everything we could possibly want we're still left unfulfilled. And yet, despite having more than we'd ever need, an unwillingness to share leads to demise. The zombies are merely a natural disaster, but it is the humans who are villains.

The zombies follow most of the rules, indeed it was this franchise that established most of them. A zombie is a dead person that wants to eat living people. It can only be stopped by removing the head or destroying the brain. To be bit by a zombie is a death sentence: you'll become sick, die, and become a zombie yourself in a matter of hours or a couple days.

Starting with Dawn Romero's zombies began developing personality. While most of them shuffle around doing zombie things, a few exceptional zombies have quirks of their own. A few are seen carrying housewares through the mall or playing with payphones. A nun leaves a survivor alone after being helped by them. My favorite is one who is more interested in collecting and inspecting guns than chewing on bones. Zombie personality would be further developed in sequels Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead

Dawn of the Dead is available for rent on Prime (ew), or you can find it on YouTube or the Internet Archive