George Romero understands why someone would come out on one of his movies

While the meaning of "Night of the Living Dead" may be implied, the social messages of "Dawn of the Dead" are obvious and heavy. The film opens in a chaotic Philadelphia television news studio (WGON, get it?), the nerve center of public information, as zombies overrun the country. Meanwhile, during a mandatory evacuation, a S.W.A.T team pulls people out of their downtown apartment buildings. The opening sequences reveal a confusing, desperate and gruesome backdrop to the film. Four survivors eventually find refuge in a mall, where they attempt to escape the apocalypse.

"Dawn of the Dead" premiered at the Dallas American Film Festival in April 1979. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, New York Times columnist Janet Maslin, along with than dozens of others, came out on film. She later cited a zombie "beast peeve" in her film review and a disdain for the film's violence. I stop short of calling the violence gratuitous, because what else could one expect from a zombie apocalypse?

Roger Ebert, who selected the film for inclusion in the festival, called "Dawn of the Dead" the festival's most controversial film. Ebert observed, "After one screening, a shouting match developed between audience members who asked, 'What kind of sick mind could make a movie like this?' and others who called it the best film of the festival."

Romero understood the criticism and stood firm in his film's defense. He told Ebert:

"If no one came out, this wouldn't be the movie I wanted to make. [...] The fact is that people come out of the movie having experienced very extreme emotions, and it's up to them to interpret what happened."