Is Dawn of the Dead Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot
Yes, 5 out of 10. It's a zombie siege with a lot of gore and a mall that is far too well stocked.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
5 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
The feeling is mostly gone once the credits roll, though you may look at a shopping mall differently.
DOG
Dog: fine
none, so there is no dog to worry about.
Ruling: Watch it in daylight with a snack. The gore is frequent, but most of the movie is a siege.
Dawn of the Dead runs two hours and seven minutes. A zombie epidemic overruns the cities, and four people decide the best place to wait it out is a shopping mall. They are not wrong about the selection.
The premise, briefly
As a zombie epidemic collapses the cities, a TV traffic reporter, his pregnant girlfriend and two police officers steal a helicopter and hole up in a shopping mall.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
Roger and Stephen both die and come back as zombies. Peter and Fran are the only two left, and they fly away in the helicopter with very little fuel and an uncertain future.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, a biker gang breaks into the mall and lets hundreds of zombies in. Stephen is shot, then mauled, and he comes back as a zombie and leads the zombies to Fran and Peter in the safe room.
The dog
There is no dog in Dawn of the Dead, so there is nothing to worry about on that front.
It is frequent zombie gore with some jump scares, and once you know the plot the only open question is who gets out.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
A helicopter nobody asked to borrow
An epidemic has turned the infected into aggressive zombies, millions have died and risen again, and the government is losing its grip on the cities. At a Philadelphia TV station, Stephen Andrews reports on traffic there, and his girlfriend Francine, a pregnant producer everyone calls Fran, is planning with him to steal the station's helicopter and leave. Across town, SWAT officer Roger DeMarco and his team raid a housing project whose residents refuse to hand their dead over to the National Guard, as martial law requires. Gunfire breaks out between the tenants and the officers, some of the officers are racist and make things worse, and the dead rise in the middle of it. Roger meets another officer, Peter Washington, and as the zombies are dealt with a disillusioned Roger suggests that the two of them desert and join Stephen, who is Roger's friend, in leaving the city.
Roger and Peter meet Fran and Stephen at a police dock and all four leave Philadelphia in the stolen helicopter. They make some close escapes while stopping for fuel, then spot a shopping mall with plenty of food, medicine and merchandise, and they decide to stay. They hide the stairwell entrance to their safe room and park trucks across the mall entrances, and the drive there takes them through crowds of zombies, who go after the trucks. Roger gets reckless and is bitten. With the mall emptied out, the group builds a hidden safe room in case of a future attack and settles into a life of taking whatever they like from the stores. Roger eventually dies of his wounds, and when he comes back as a zombie Peter fires a bullet into his head and buries him somewhere in the mall. Months later the emergency broadcasts stop, which suggests the government is gone, so the three put supplies in the helicopter and Fran has Stephen teach her to fly.
Bikers who don't read the room
Near the end, a wandering gang of bikers spots the helicopter flying and forces its way into the mall. They tear down the barricades, and hundreds of zombies get back inside. Stephen takes the invasion personally, ignores the plan for a retreat, and starts shooting at the looters, which starts a long battle. Some of the bikers are caught on the way out and eaten by the zombies. This is the scene to brace for: Stephen hides in an elevator shaft, gets shot, and is then mauled by zombies who find him there. He comes back as a zombie, walks by instinct to the safe room and leads the others to Fran and Peter. Peter shoots him, and Fran gets out to the roof. Peter stays behind in a locked room and thinks about killing himself. When the zombies break through the door he changes his mind, fights his way upstairs and joins Fran on the roof.
The ending, explained
Peter and Fran are the only ones left. Roger died of his bite wounds and was shot after he came back, and Stephen was shot and mauled in the biker attack and was shot again as a zombie by Peter. The mall is overrun, so Peter and Fran leave by helicopter with little fuel. The movie ends with the two of them in the air, heading for an uncertain future.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed either way whether Dawn of the Dead has a post-credits scene.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: none, so there is no dog to worry about.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Dawn of the Dead scary?
Yes, Dawn of the Dead is a 5 out of 10. The dread is Low, and the fear comes from zombie sieges, frequent gore and some jump scares, with the mood closer to survival than to haunting.
How does Dawn of the Dead end?
Roger and Stephen die and come back as zombies, and Peter and Fran escape the overrun mall in the helicopter. They have little fuel and an uncertain future.
Does the dog die in Dawn of the Dead?
No. There is no dog in Dawn of the Dead, so no dog dies.
Is there a post-credits scene in Dawn of the Dead?
Nobody has confirmed either way whether Dawn of the Dead has a post-credits scene.
Why do the survivors go to the mall in Dawn of the Dead?
Stephen, Fran, Roger and Peter land the stolen helicopter at a shopping mall because it has plenty of food, medicine and other supplies. They block the entrances with trucks and build a hidden safe room to stay there.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Dawn of the Dead is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You do not have to sit through two hours of Dawn of the Dead to find out who makes it to the helicopter. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur the horror you meet online before you see it.
