Dawn of the Dead (1978) Director: George A Romero Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Tom Savini
Night Of The Living Dead, with its grueling conclusion and scenes of matricide, and Day Of The Dead, with its stark scenes of gore, are obviously classics, but it's the second film in George A. Romero's zombie saga that remains his best. It may be cheesy and dated in parts, but its EC Comics sensibility and sly satirical look at America's consumerist society set it apart from the shuffling, drooling crowd: all zombie movies have brains, but Dawn is one of the few to use them instead of liberally spraying them over walls and furniture...
Peeping Tom (1960) Director: Michael Powell Starring: Carl Boehm, Moira Shearer, Anna Massey, Maxine Audley
"The only really satisfactory way to dispose of Peeping Tom would be to shovel it up and flush it swiftly down the nearest sewer," wrote Derek Hill in The Tribune on the film's release. Such reviews killed Michael Powell's career, but Peeping Tom has been rightfully reappraised as a masterpiece. The story of a serial killer who films victims as he stabs them with a tripod, Peeping Tom makes explicit the link between movies and voyeurism implied by a 1,000 Hitchcock movies. Heavily edited by the BBFC on release, the movie has never been shown as Powell intended - which is the deepest cut of all.
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