Dawn of the Dead (Devil's Advocates)
by Jon Towlson
This was the first Devil’s Advocates book I’ve read.
I’ve managed to pick a few up, but I chose Jon Towlson’s Dawn of the
Dead because I recently watched this film as well, so I wanted to read
about it while it was fresh in my mind. I also love George Romero movies, even
if Night of the Living Dead remains one of the scariest films I’ve ever
seen. His other Dead movies are not as scary, but remain nearly as
important for their use of horror as social critique as well as Tom Savini’s
role as the wizard of gore. As a brief recap, Dawn of the Dead is Romero’s
second installment of the Dead series, and it follows his other horror
films The Crazies and Martin, both excellent and strange horror
films that stand apart from much of what other directors were doing. Towlson’s
book explores part of the reason why Romero spaced his Dead films apart,
and how this film in particular took shape. As Towlson documents in this book,
the Dead series was part of a trilogy that explored the collapse of
society due to some strange space event that resurrected the dead. The survivors
band together in a remote farmhouse, and try to re-create a new society as the
old society collapses. While the farmhouse changes, Romero ends up using a mall
to highlight the new world order of consumerism and capitalism to show the
mindless consumption that has been a part of the post-war order. Furthermore,
this kind of distraction or retail therapy can been seen as somewhat escapist,
showing how it serves as a kind of bread and circus to keep our minds off of more
of the post-Vietnam/Watergate world that was the mid 1970s. Towlson’s book
helps to contextualize these events in exploring how Romero’s original screen
treatment evolved to explore this aspect of society. As I watched the film, I
couldn’t help but notice how many of the zombies seemed like normal shoppers,
shuffling along from store to store. Similarly, the band of survivors equally
looks to take advantage of the mall to not only gather supplies for survival,
but also to treat themselves to luxuries and dinners that they might not have
been able to afford prior to the zombie apocalypse. One interesting note was
that this mall had a sporting goods store where the survivors could find
weapons and ammunition. I’m not sure if this was a part of other malls, but a
similar store appears in the 80s mall survival film Chopping Mall. It
seems strange that malls would have these kinds of stores, but maybe it was
also just a plot point.
In any event, Towlson’s book also looks at several other important elements of the film, importantly the extreme gore and violence and its impact on the eventual rating. Other chapters look at the various versions of the film, which I wasn’t aware of how many different edits and cuts there were for various reasons, including censorship and attaining appropriate ratings, as well as for cultural reasons—like the edits for other countries that adjusted the pace and narrative, making this more of a thriller/action film as opposed to a horror film or social critique. Towlson’s research and analysis also presents interesting considerations about the ratings system and distribution at the time, and how revolutionary and risk taking Romero really was to bring his vision of gore and violence to American screens. Initially issued an X rating due to violence, he decided to keep his vision and move to an unrated version. Despite backlash from some audiences and groups, Romero knew that there was an audience that demanded more extreme violence and gore, and furthermore that this kind of film aesthetic was not gratuitous nor exploitative, but rather served a purpose in calling attention to issues in society. In fact, the opening scene in a Philadelphia neighborhood that tries to protect the zombies in its homes, yet is destroyed by a police-military faction that seems racist could almost serve as a predictor of the MOVE bombing that happened about 6-7 years later. I really appreciated learning how much of a challenge Romero faced in bringing his vision of American violence and consumerism to the screen.
There are a few other chapters that focused on the production of the film, which is also really interesting since Romero used a lot of local actors as the extras, which is something that his films are usually known for. Some of the same actors show up in other films, and others have gone on to have roles in other horror films. However, it was interesting to learn about how Romero was able to use the mall to film such iconic action sequences, even when the mall was still used for shopping. Although more of the focus is on the mall scenes, I also really enjoy the opening sequences, especially when the media presents the military and experts discussing what they think should happen. I suppose this is part of the collapse of society, that communication is not clear and there are vying perspectives about how to proceed, some offering misinformation, while others are offering bad information. It is similar to scenes in Romero’s The Crazies, and I think it also highlights another important theme in his work about the role of the media and “experts” or “authorities” in corralling the masses. There was also a great afterword about the use of music, and how the music and sound editing changed with different cuts of the film. I watched the original extended cut, with the odd Muzak at the end and the odd polka type music in the zombie killing scene in the middle of the film. It was interesting to hear this interpretation of the film and its use of music, and I think it fits with some of Romero’s other ideas and concerns regarding the themes of these Dead films. I really liked reading about this film in particular, and I hope to find more analytical books about zombie films. They are some of the scariest films to me—not the zombies necessarily, but being trapped and witnessing a collapse of society. I’m not sure if the books deal with this, but Towlson’s book does a good job exploring some of the origins of this theme in Romero’s Dead films.
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