Surprisingly… witty? Unrelatedly, the clownish music (called 'The Gonk') played in the final act was written by British composer Herbert Chappell.
Romero’s distinctly Pittsburghian sensibilities can’t be underestimated when explaining Dawn of the Dead’s appeal. The Monroeville Mall perfectly evokes the feel of a hollow monument standing at the center of a community that couldn’t be bothered to define itself any more distinctively than could be represented by their choice between Florsheim or Kinney’s shoes. The mall, in essence, shoulders the burden of their identity.[…]
As countless undergrad thesis papers have already delved into in far greater detail, the cumulative effect of these thematic reversals points to Romero’s big message: that if the often bleak ’60s of Night of the Living Dead were defined by their radical political activism, then the insipidly optimistic ’70s of Dawn of the Dead are a testament to the politics of retrenchment, consumerist balm and self-immobilization. Even Dawn of the Dead’s Tempra paint blood is like eye candy—I’ve got to buy it!—compared to the brackish smears of chocolate syrup in Night of the Living Dead.
— Eric Henderson (Slant Magazine)
During an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.