George A. Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead was released in 1978.
The film is the second entry in Romero’s Living Dead series, following Night of the Living Dead from 1968. It follows four people who take shelter in a large shopping mall while a zombie outbreak spreads across the United States. Romero directed and co-wrote the film with Italian filmmaker Dario Argento.
Dawn of the Dead became one of the most influential zombie films ever made. Its mall setting allowed Romero to satirize consumer culture, while the expanding scale made it a broader and more action-oriented follow-up to Night of the Living Dead. Tom Savini created the film’s memorable makeup effects.
The 1978 film is often confused with Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake. They share the title and a shopping-mall premise, but the remake uses faster zombies and a substantially different story and cast.