i watched dawn and day of the dead back to back, and here’s my overall impression.
first off, its amazing that one man has defined a film genre. romero defined the moden idea of a zombie and set their boundaries, what they can and cant do, and really nothing has changed. just think about how many revisions and versions of vampires and werewolves we have, and thats pretty amazing for such a common fear.
dawn is very aware of its camp value, which makes it so much more endearing than day. in general i just like the characters better in dawn, im rooting for them more. the characters in day were so one-dimensional they didnt exist. im not sure why he made day, because dawn was so iconic and a perfection of the form.
and what is the deal with dressing up the zombies in funny outfits? whose idea was that? just silly.
seeing these two films made me realize how little has been done to advance the genre. sure, the remake of dawn was really good, but its really the same movie (basically i guess every zombie movie is the same story just in different settings), just sped up with more effects, totally ignoring the campiness of the original that made it so likable. it seems more in line with day, with more of an emphasis on gross-out effects and seriousness.
dawn of the dead is suspense horror, and it does it quite well. you dont know who is going to survive, especially after the ending of night of the living dead, so every encounter youre holding your breath. day is just so much more predictable that its just an exercise.
anyway, i like zombie movies, and i’ll watch more.