Word: romero
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
PEAKING OF RED MEAT and pus, Dawn of the Dead, the nifty, entertaining sequel to Night of Living Dead (1969) is he work of George Romero, who may be a madman but is also an artist. Kooky scary, satirical, bloody as nell, Dawn has everything you could want from a summer horror movie and more. Romero has little criticisms of our society, but, unlike Prophecy, Dawn employs them as cunningly and efficiently as our body employs our vital organs, may of which are on display on the film...
...tone of Dawn is wildly different from Romero's earlier film, which was stark, claustrophobic, strewn with unintentional laughs, and genuinely funny. The gore and quick cutting help provide the scares, but the heavy use of shopping mall Muzak and color (the original was in black and white) buffer the horror and amplify the irony. It's also shockingly well-directed, blazingly edited (also by Romero), well-written (by Romero), and even well-acted (not by Romero)! The music editing, color, and jerky movements of the living dead combine to create a weird cinematic tour de force...
...FILM has things to say about our consumer society. Although there are heavy-handed (though valid) references to the mall as a much-beloved place, which explains the zombies' attraction to it--flickers of pleasurable memories in otherwise dead brains--Romero's satirical jabs are more skillfully displayed by the four heroes' eventual life-style and by our acceptance and enjoyment of it. Once they flush out the zombies and barricade the entrances, they have all the stores to themselves--think of it! They set up house with the finest stereo equipment, unlimited gourmet foods and wine, chic, expensive clothing...
Though the government freed two of the B.P.R. leaders whose release had been demanded by the protesters, demonstrators at the French embassy would not release their captives, and the occupiers of the cathedral had not budged. Hard-liners continued to pressure El Salvador's President, General Carlos Humberto Romero, to crack down even more forcefully on the dissidents. For El Salvador, one of the Western Hemisphere's most densely populated (531 people per sq. mi.) and most turbulent nations, no end of violence was in sight. Indeed, at week's end four B.P.R. sympathizers were slain...
...After Romero's political critics began charging him with at least indirect involvement, the Governor at first said that he had not known of the alleged plot before the ambush, but he later conceded to TIME Correspondent Richard Woodbury that he had been told of several impending terrorist attacks, including one on the towers. He said the police had assured him that they would handle the matter, and he had told them "Fine." As for the police action, Romero declared: "I have no evidence of anything improper. All there has been so far is speculation, no evidence...