Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Director:

Zack Snyder

Writers (WGA):

George A. Romero (1978 screenplay)
James Gunn (screenplay)

Release Date:

19 March 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

When the undead rise, civilization will fall.

Plot:

A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.

Plot Keywords:

Mall | Nurse | Shopping Mall | Hospital | Policeman

Awards:

1 win & 6 nominations

Cast

Sarah Polley	...	Ana
Ving Rhames	...	Kenneth
Jake Weber	...	Michael
Mekhi Phifer	...	Andre
Ty Burrell	...	Steve
Michael Kelly	...	CJ
Kevin Zegers	...	Terry
Michael Barry	...	Bart
Lindy Booth	...	Nicole
Jayne Eastwood	...	Norma
Boyd Banks	...	Tucker
Inna Korobkina	...	Luda
R.D. Reid	...	Glen
Kim Poirier	...	Monica
Matt Frewer	...	Frank

Also Known As:

L'armée des morts (France)
L'aube des morts (Canada: French title)
Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead (USA) (long title)
Die Nacht der Zombies (Austria) (Germany) [de]
Zora zivih mrtvaca (Bosnia and Herzegovina: Croatian title) (Croatia) [hr]
Ölülerin safagi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Amanecer de los muertos (Spain) [es]
El amanecer de los muertos (Argentina) [es]
Kuolleiden aamunkoitto (Finland) [fi]
L'alba dei morti viventi (Italy) [it]
Madrugada dos Mortos (Brazil) [pt]
O Renascer dos Mortos (Portugal) (working title) [pt]
To xypnima ton nekron (Greece) [el]
Zora zivih mrtvaca (Serbia) [sr]
Zora zivih mrtvecev (Slovenia) [sl]

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive strong horror violence and gore, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

101 min | 110 min (unrated director's cut)

Country:

USA | Canada | Japan | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | Malaysia:18SG | Sweden:15 | Germany:18 (also director's cut) | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:18 | Canada:13+ (Québec) | Canada:18A (Ontario) | Chile:14 | Czech Republic:18 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:III (director's cut) | Ireland:18 | Israel:16 | Italy:VM14 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:18 | Philippines:R-13 | Portugal:M/18 | Singapore:R21 | Spain:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R | USA:Unrated (director's cut)

Filming Locations:

Ashbridge's Bay, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Strike Entertainment

Trivia:

The DVD box text implies that the cause of the zombie plague is a virus. But in an interview on FeoAmante.com screenwriter James Gunn denies the virus theory, stating that a zombie bite is like a vampire bite. Thus the plague is supernatural, not scientific.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Ana walks into her room, she is talking to her husband. We see the side of her face and her mouth is not moving.

Quotes:

[C.J. is on the roof of Andy's Gun Works with a sniper rifle preparing to shoot a propane tank]
Nicole: [in the store with Kenneth, Michael and Terry] How will we know if he hits it?
[there's a huge explosion]

Movie Connections:

References The Shining (1980)

Soundtrack:

Have A Nice Day

Action rather than horror, but worthy remake

As a HUGE fan of the original Dawn of the Dead I was very skeptical of this remake. I wasn't expecting an Academy Award winning blockbuster or anything, but I did want to see the remake do the original justice. I was impressed with the filming more than anything. This is an action movie rather than horror. The outdoor scenes are filmed with a grainy, hand-held camera which gave the audience the feeling of being disoriented much the same way the characters would have felt. The movie was not made in the MTV-generation style that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake was. Dawn of the Dead stuck to the same mythology of the first without giving it a complete reimagining. I could imagine the two movies co-existing, but in different parts of the world.

One of the key differences that I did like was the idea of the zombies running. This made them come across as more menacing rather than being the slow clunkers that are seen in the original trilogy. The idea of being able to walk right past them was abandoned. I also feel that the movie did a good job of showing how quickly people would turn on one another and watch out for themselves only.

One of my favorite "realisms" of the movie is how the characters are too attached to their loved ones to shot them when they become zombies. I'm certain that many of us would react in the same manner if something like this were to actually happen (yes, I know it's impossible). Also, it was interesting to have so many people make it to the mall instead of only four as in the original. Of course some of these characters fit the generic stereotype of a movie such as this, but I'm not surprised considering modern audiences would need such characters to maintain their interest. This was a movie made for film viewers, not film makers. We have the strong and silent male hero, the quick-thinking blond heroine, the official dumb jerk, the official slut, the young and naive girl who loses everything and needs the group's protection, the angry challenger for group leadership who has a change of heart and becomes heroic, the young trainee who disagrees with the angry challenger yet follows due to a sense of duty, and the stupid follower who gets his comeuppence.

One aspect that was missing from this remake was the original movie's social commentary on the commercialism of people. Ken Foree's character of Peter mentioned this in the original whereas Ving Rhames' Kenneth was more of a silent action hero never having much to say. This was another reason that I saw this as a simple action movie -- though I will say that Rhames has more acting ability than Governor Schwarzenegger, Sly, Seagal and Van Damme combined. Rhames also LOOKS like an action hero rather than today's prettyboy "action heroes" such as Tom Cruise, Ben Affleck, Nicolas Cage and Keanu Reeves -- who all look like they couldn't fight their way out of a cooking class for senior citizens.

All in all this movie was not better than the original and won't be nominated for any Academy Awards, but if you're looking for entertainment and can stomach the blood it's worth checking out. I can't wait to buy it on DVD someday.