[Foxbat]

Dawn Of The Dead: The second film in Anchor Bay’s recent release of The Trilogy Of The Dead on DVD.

This time the Zombies are in colour- but still a 4:3 ratio. The disc transfer itself gives a good, clear picture with very little colour leakage. There are a few moments of grain and a couple of times where bad bits of film make their appearance but, on the whole, very acceptable given its age and low budget origins.

Where the disc falls down a little is on the sound. Whereas Night Of The Living Dead benefited from some very obvious reprocessing, the sound here seems to be a straight port (mono). But it gets worse, it sounds like the whole soundtrack has been recorded through an old sock. People who have invested heavily in the sound side of things might find this a bit irritating., On the whole, this is an annoying but not fatal flaw.

The film itself is iconic and probably needs little introduction here. Suffice to say that in many fans eyes this is The Zombie flick. Our heroes are barricaded in a shopping mall – which leads to some very strong visuals. I just love the camera shots of Zombies and then switching to mannequins within the mall clothing departments. Also intriguing is the way the Zombies have some sort of instinct that leads them to this place. Just what exactly is Romero saying about us and our consumerist habits? Is there an irony in the fact that Zombies consume Humans in this shrine to consumerism? Hmmm…I wonder.

And all this against a background of that irritating muzak we have come to expect in these places.
Again, the acting quality is variable and the whole film a tad on the long side - but very effective nonetheless. Even after so many years, there are still parts of this film that has me on the edge of my seat.

A highly recommended film that raises one final question: Why oh why won’t anybody give George Romero a really decent budget? The results could be very interesting.