Dawn of the Dead (Directed by George A. Romero) 1978

Those not affected by the atmospheric chills of 'Night of the Living Dead' may well have thought that 'Dawn...' which emerged a decade or so later, was going to be familiar fair, and yet it was from removed - especially in regards to the splatter. George A. Romero really upped the ante with this episode of the undead, only this time round instead of confining the survivors to a remote house he opted for the more glossy appeal of a shopping mall. The last place on Earth you'd expect a zombie movie to work, but boy does it work. As with 'Night...' we're told of some type of plague that has resulted in corpses coming back to life and feasting on the flesh and blood of the living, but what Romero has a talent for is character building, not being reliant on just having a few dummies being ripped to pieces for effect. The point is, Romero builds characters that you can actually feel for - some you like, some you hate, but it's such a vital cog in the wheel of what makes a very, very good horror movie.

'Dawn...' may lack atmosphere, but it makes up for that with gore - this being bright red blood of the highest order - that is sent all over the screen, the floor and over the walls as several zombies and humans meet their grisly deaths. Of course, a shopping centre is probably the ideal place for refuge considering the supplies of food etc but once the zombies are let in it's down to a case of getting to the top of the building and escaping. I'd have been very interested to have seen the proposed original ending for the film in which the two 'survivors' - Francine and Peter - commit suicide, but I'm guessing this would have given the whole film a rather bleak climax - but even so, despite escaping via helicopter, we just know that most of the planet by now is choc-a-bloc with zombies. If it wasn't for films such as 'Dawn of the Dead' there'd be no 'Walking Dead' of today. It's also fair to say that despite the overtly gory effects and occasional irritating character, 'Dawn...', just like 'Night...' hinted at real apocalyptic nightmares. And let's face it, you just can't beat a zombie film where the undead in question merely amble along - it almost tempts one to try their luck at dodgy the walking corpses just to get that extra bag of crisps and beer for dinner. 'Dawn...' was remade in 2004, and despite being adequate, it nowhere near matches the splattery class of this.