3rd Dawn of the Dead (1979) Image Analysis

This scene clearly shows body horror and is one of the more gruesome moments in the film. It indiscreetly illustrates the more relaxed censorship that was in order at the time of this film’s release and that they could get away with more horrific body horror. The film was released as unrated in the USA as a result of the body horror, and had about 11 seconds cut out resulting in a UK release rated 18. However, it was still a huge success and made millions worldwide and made a huge profit. I think audiences would have been ready for the body horror as the 1970s institutional context included movies being released such as The Exorcist and I Spit on your Grave which steadily pushed the boundaries of on screen violence and so the audience for this film would have seen this before. Although this was becoming more popular in the film industry it was still seen as shocking that this was shown. Special FX Technician Tom Savini had a major influence on the body horror effects in this film and used his auteur style and used experiences from his soul to create more visually shocking effects. This was portrayed in the realism of the effects. Also, the close up of the guts being eaten by the zombies implies that the director wanted this to be seen and wanted it to be one of the main moments of the film as it was most likely exciting to have the ability to show this much. This is also one of the only moments that we see what the zombies can really do and shows them as the monster of the film and shows them as a danger rather than an obstruction.