Not worth all the hype
I had never seen this movie until now, but for years had heard that it was great. I don't think I've ever seen a review less than 3 stars for this movie, and Roger Ebert, who is usually pretty rough on horror films, gave it a lot of praise. Don't forget, he's the guy who along with his co-host the late Gene Siskel, devoted an hour long TV special to talking about how slasher films were undermining the moral character of America and were examples of cinema at it's worst.
Now that I've seen Dawn of the Dead I'm somewhat surprised. It really is a terrible movie. It's not scary, funny, disturbing or entertaining in any way. It's just a big bore. It has none of the elements that fans of horror films usually seem to go for: no good looking women, not much gore, not much comic relief, and not even any campy bad acting. The acting is bad, but not in an amusing or entertaining way. There are no known actors in this, and they have no acting talent at all. They sound like they are just reading lines - no expression in their voices and body language is way off. There's not even any nudity.
The gore and special effects are laughable. The zombies are not even very gruesome-looking (some of the non-zombies are actually uglier) and the blood (what little there is of it) just looks like bright red paint. This is just a total disaster in ever conceivable way. It is not worth anyone's time to watch it. I don't know how anyone who was involved in making this film ever had a career after this. What I really don't get is why so many people like this movie so much. This has had multiple DVD releases while so many other great horror movies have never even been released on VHS.
I'm just glad that I got this at my local library instead of buying or even renting it. If I'd laid out any money at all to see this, I'd feel cheated. It has to be one of the most overrated movies ever, even more than Titanic, The Exorcist, The French Connection, and Risky Business. I didn't like any of those movies very much, but this one makes them look like masterpieces. It really is that awful. Most of the slasher films Siskel and Ebert condemned, even the ones I thought weren't so great myself, are light years more entertaining than this.