Dawn of the Dead (2004)
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Template:Infobox Movie (2) Dawn of the Dead (2004) is a remake of George Romero's 1978 film of the same name. Directed by Zack Snyder and with the screenplay written by James Gunn.
Dawn of the Dead also draws influence from the film 28 Days Later with its use of fast, intelligent undead in place of the traditional slow, lumbering zombies. (Although in 28 Days Later's case, the 'zombies' are still alive, still requiring food as is seen in the last few minutes of the movie when two 'zombies' starve to death, not remembering how to eat.) George Romero has announced his distaste for this change, arguing that zombies couldn't move quickly due to rigor mortis. However, this is believed by some to be irrelevant as the onset of rigor is usually not in effect until at least 3-4 hours after death, the body relaxes after 36 hours in rigor, and it is impossible to definitively state the effects on the natural occurrence of rigor mortis from a virus that allows such an unnatural event as reanimation of the dead.
Tagline: When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.
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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
Plot
For an unexplained reason, the dead have begun coming back to life as the undead after being bitten and killed by the living dead (though the audience is led to believe from the introduction that a virus is the cause). Ana, who is played by Sarah Polley, goes home from work at the hospital one night and wakes up the next morning to find her suburban Milwaukee town in ruins around her. Her husband is attacked by a young girl from the neighborhood, and Ana is forced to flee in her car. After crashing the car, she meets up with Police Officer Kenneth, played by Ving Rhames. Kenneth wants to go to Fort Pastor, but instead they meet up with a second group of survivors. They convince Kenneth and Ana to go to the mall with them, for safe refuge. Later we find out that Fort Pastor is gone. They find themselves trapped inside the mall with various other survivors, surrounded by thousands of zombies, a loss of power, and a slowly dwindling food supply.
There is a montage in the film set to a lounge music cover of Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness," performed by Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. During this montage, the survivors engage in normal past time activities such as shopping, playing sports, watching movies and having sex. There is a feeling of macabre comedy as one character casually hits golf balls into a sea of raving zombies below him.
The following scene, where Andy snipes at zombies which resemble celebrities was also very entertaining. These two scenes, along with some of the film’s dialogue really elevate the movie above an average horror-action film.
Conflict breaks out in the group, as is necessary in most zombie movies (general consensus being that zombies are just a reflection of modern society anyways) involving survivor killing survivor. Eventually the group fortify some small busses and make a break for safety, looking to get on a boat and sailing onto a zombie-free island.
The ending is left ambiguous. Using a hand-held camcorder film device, we see during the credits the last few days of the survivors. It ends with them arriving on an island, only to be attacked by a hoarde of zombies. The last image we have is of a zombie falling down in front of the dropped camera, bleeding. We don't know if anyone got away. Zack Snyder later admitted this follow up scene was hastily shot after major filming was complete.
Major Changes Between the 1978 and 2004 Films
- The zombies can actually run - and fast - as opposed to simply shuffling around. This concept is similar to that of the Infected in the zombie film 28 Days Later. Their speed makes zombies extremely mobile and more threatening. In the Romero films, the undead were usually only dangerous in large groups.
- The zombies are much more aggressive. They run, leap, climb and chase after the living with reckless abandon.
- The infection and "undead" process was dramatically sped up. In the Romero “Dead” films, infection was usually a slow process which could take days. When it is convenient for the plot in the new version, several characters change into the undead within seconds of being bit. An example of this is the gun store owner, Andy. He rapidly changes into a zombie after being bitten on the hand.
- The cause of the undead crisis is a blood virus rather than a mysterious plague that effected the entire world. In the Romero films, if a person died in any manner once the crisis started, they eventually rose from the dead. Example; the recently dead rose from funerals at the cemetery in Night of the Living Dead. In the 2004 remake, only a person actually infected with the virus would rise up, thus Mekhi Phifer's character does not rise up when he is shot and killed.
- There is less emphasis on Romero's original satire of the American obsession with shopping malls and consumerism. The 2004 remake is more of an action film.
- While both films portray a mall as a refuge from the zombie hordes, the 1978 version dedicates more scenes showing the lengths to which the survivors went to secure the mall. There was an elaborate scene in which they moved semi-trailer trucks to block doors and glass windows. They also had more zombies within the mall to elude and later kill. In the 2004 version, the plot sort of skims over this major issue and it is pretty much assumed the mall was instantly secure. Oddly, it is not shown how the main group broke into the mall initially. It would be reasonable to assume if they broke an outside window to get in, this would leave a gaping hole for the zombies to enter through later.
Trivia
- Both Ken Foree (Peter from the 1978 original) and Tom Savini (the special effects artist for the 1978 original) play minor speaking roles in the 2004 version - Foree as the televangelist who utters the film's tagline early in the movie ("When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.") and Savini as the county sheriff, a sly reference to the Night of the Living Dead remake that also includes a quick-talking, realist sheriff.
- Scott Reiniger (Roger from the 1978 original) plays the general.
- Zack Snyder (the director) has an uncredited appearance as the commando at the U.S. Capitol Building.
- Johnny Cash's song "When the Man Comes Around" is played to the opening credits.
- Several memorable lines and shots were repeated as a homage to the original 1978 Dawn of the Dead, such as one scene where Andre and Michael shoot an undead from the camera view of the undead (which isn't seen in the final cut of the movie) and where Kenneth repeats a line that Stephen in the original said on the roof top of the mall. He is also wearing the same sunglasses that Stephen was sporting.
See also
External links
- Official site (http://www.dawnofthedeadmovie.net/)
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- The Ultimate Zombie Book List (http://zombies.cjb.net) - Huge listing of zombie novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.