Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Movie Info

Wahoo! Free Mall!

Ana (Sarah Polley) is a nurse who finds her world turned upside down in a moment.  Waking up to see her young neighbor murder her husband and in turn her husband try to kill her, Ana discovers the dead are alive and infection is spreading.  Ana flees and finds herself trapped at the mall with a group of survivors.  Surrounded by zombies, the mall is their home and safety…but as time passes and help is unavailable, leaving home might be necessary.

Directed by Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead is a zombie horror movie.  The film is a remake of the George A. Romero 1978 classic horror film adapted by James Gunn.  The movie was well received by critics and a box office success.  It was credited with other contemporary zombie films to help reinvent the zombie genre.

Someone said there was punch & pie!!!

Dawn of the Dead was a great film and the idea of remaking it by amping up the action and horror sounded like a horrible idea.  Going to the theater to see Dawn of the Dead, I didn’t quite know what to expect.  What I got was a stylish and fun horror film that didn’t ruin the original and is one of the better remakes around.

One of the original Dawn of the Dead’s slight problems was that the pacing was odd.  Here, you hit the ground running…literally.  Much like 28 Days Later, these zombies aren’t lumbering flesh-eaters and really can move.  This adds a lot of urgency to the plot of the film and makes for some tense moments.  Much like the original film, I don’t necessarily see how abandoning the mall so soon is a good idea, but the character here have a good plan (though poorly executed) to go to an island…the credits however reveal how that turned out.

Andy turned into Iggy Pop!

The cast is great.  Sarah Polley always adds a bit of class to films and makes unique choices in what she decides to do.  Ving Rhames provides the muscles and Michael Kelly is the good redneck (and a bit of a precursor to Daryl in The Walking Dead in my opinion).  Jake Weber is likable as the Best Buy employee turned hero, and the award for dumbest character has to be Mekhi Phifer and his zombie baby.  With the rise of Modern Family, it is weird to see Ty Burrell playing essentially his Phil Dunphy character as an ass.  There is also a cameos from original Dawn of the Dead actors Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, and Tom Savani.

Awe…it just wants a pacifier…or a finger

The movie is a gorefest and that is what it needed to be.  No more blue looking zombies, but gross drippy creatures that look intimidating.  Zack Snyder often overdoes his films with crazy edits and extreme camera stuff, but Dawn of the Dead is quite controlled and maybe his most mainstream film.

Dawn of the Dead is a good horror film and a fun thrill ride.  With enough tweaks, you could watch the original Dawn of the Dead back-to-back with the new Dawn of the Dead and not feel like you are watching the same film.  Originally, a sequel was planned called Army of the Dead , but Snyder ended up developing that film into a stand-alone movie released on Netflix in 2021.  Despite having Ving Rhames, a Day of the Dead remake in 2008 was not a sequel to this film.

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Dawn of the Dead (1978)