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EspañolDAWN OF THE DEAD (2004 FILM)
:''For the original film, see Dawn of the Dead''
'Dawn of the Dead' is a 2004 horror film reimagining of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name. The remake and original both depict a handful of human survivors living in a shopping mall surrounded by swarms of zombies, but the details differ significantly. Directed by Zack Snyder, the film was released by Universal Studios and stars Ving Rhames, Sarah Polley, and Jake Weber with cameos from original cast members Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger and Tom Savini. It was released in the United States on March 19, 2004, and in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2004.
'Tagline:'
★ ''"When the undead rise, civilization will fall."
★ ''"When there's no more room in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth."
Ana, a nurse, finishes a long shift at her Milwaukee County hospital and returns to her peaceful suburban home. She and her waiting husband Louis make love and go to sleep, missing warnings beginning to trickle through the local media concerning a mysterious and rapidly-spreading contagion which turns its infected hosts into reanimated flesh-eating ghouls.
The next morning they are awoken by their zombified neighbor, a young girl. When Louis goes to help her she bites him in the throat. Ana locks the zombie out of the room, but despite her frantic efforts, Louis dies, immediately reanimates as a zombie, and chases Ana into the bathroom. Ana escapes out the window and flees from her now chaos-torn neighborhood in her car, before a failed hijacking attempt sends her crashing into a tree. The opening credits roll, showing the worldwide collapse of human civilization.
Ana meets Kenneth, a grim police sergeant traveling to meet his brother at Fort Pastor, a nearby US Army base. With the route to the base blocked by zombies, they join three others - jack-of-all-trades Michael, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant Russian wife Luda - and break into the nearby Crossroads Shopping Mall. A scuffle with a zombified mall security guard results in Luda getting a minor bite-wound.
They then confront three living security guards - C.J. , Bart and Terry - and give up their weapons in exchange for refuge. After the group secures the mall, they head up to the mall's roof to dispose of bodies and paint SOS signs. There, they "meet" another survivor, Andy, who is stranded alone in his gun store, across the mall's zombie-infested parking lot.
Later, a delivery truck arrives at the mall, carrying the driver Norma, jerkish Steve, working man Tucker, elderly Glen, trampy Monica, bitten Frank and his teen daughter Nicole, and an anonymous (and severely-injured) obese woman. These newcomers report that Fort Pastor has been overrun by zombies and no help is coming, causing Kenneth to give up on his attempt to reach the base. Shortly after, the obese woman dies, reanimates and is killed by Ana, who thrusts a metal fireplace poker into her eye. The group determines that bites are how the zombies multiply their numbers; after Ana and Michael argue about what to do with the rapidly-deteriorating Frank, the man is put in a store with Kenneth guarding him since he wants the pleasure of seeing "every single second" before Frank dies. Michael and Ana achieve an awkward reconciliation, which is interrupted by Kenneth's shotgun blast as he destroys Frank's reanimated body.
Though the mall provides many material distractions and the survivors begin pairing off romantically (Ana and Michael, Terry and Nicole, Steve and Monica), the undead surround the refuge in ever-increasing numbers. Finally the mall’s power goes out and Michael, C.J., Bart and Kenneth enter the underground parking garage to turn on the emergency generator. After they meet an unaffected dog, a zombie swarm kills Bart and traps the others in the generator compartment, where they douse the zombies with gasoline and set them ablaze.
Andre, faced with the fact that Luda will soon die, sinks totally into denial, and has his heavily-pregnant and infected wife tied to a bed in the mall's children's store. As she gives birth, she dies and reanimates. Norma checks on the couple, discovering the zombie-Luda and the demented Andre clutching a small bundle of blankets. Norma shoots Luda, causing Andre to snap completely; they exchange more gunfire, mortally wounding each other. Ana arrives onscene and opens the bundle to reveal a zombie baby. She pulls her revolver and a single shot rings through the mall.
At an impromptu memorial, Kenneth says anything is better than "sitting around waiting to die". The remaining mall-dwellers thus plot to fight their way to the local marina, and from there travel out on Steve's small yacht to an island in Lake Michigan. They reinforce two small shuttle buses from the parking garage, removing the seats, welding on a snowplow, attaching metal bars and floodlights, stringing barbed wire, boarding up the windows with shelving, and cutting slits for the deployment of weapons. Chainsaws, propane tanks, and other supplies are also loaded onboard. Meanwhile, Andy is starving, and will not have the strength to join the escape (and contribute much-needed ammunition), so the mall survivors strap a pack of food on the dog from the basement, and lower him into the parking lot in a sling. Unfortunately, while "Chips" makes it safely to the gun-shop, a zombie gets in as well and badly injures Andy. Nicole, distraught over Chips, takes the delivery truck and barges her way into the gun store, where a now-zombified Andy traps her in a storage closet.
Kenneth, Michael, C.J., Terry, and Tucker gather their meager weapon supply and go into the sewers, while Steve is assigned guard-duty on their exit door. They reach the gun store, where they kill Andy, rescue Nicole and stock up on weapons and ammunition. A detonated propane tank is used to clear a path back to the sewers, but the zombies pursue them, Tucker is killed and (thanks to Steve's negligence) the zombies force open the exit door. The survivors pile into the buses and smash through the parking garage's front gates, where another propane bomb is used to clear a path through the parking-lot horde. When Glen moves to take out a last hitchhiking zombie with a chainsaw, a sudden swerve sends him and the weapon slashing into Monica's shoulder instead. The resulting splatter of blood covers the windshield, causing driver Kenneth to lose control and crash. Glen and Monica are killed, while Steve flees the toppled bus and is killed by the hitchhiking zombie.
The others scramble for the second bus, meeting zombie-Steve en route. Ana shoots him dead, then must linger long enough to get the boat keys off his corpse, allowing more zombies to catch up with them. Ana flees back to the bus, where Michael helps her in. After a few moments struggle, they pull away from the zombies and speed to the marina dock, where they crash the bus and dash for the boat. Cornered in the bus by their pursuers, C.J. sacrifices his own life as he detonates a final propane tank blowing up the vehicle, the zombies, and himself. The remainder of the group gets on the boat, except for Michael; he was bitten while helping Ana. Ana pleads with him to come but he refuses, and the boat sets sail with Terry, Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, and Chips. Ana watches unflinchingly as Michael draws his pistol, places it under his chin, and a final gunshot rings out over the water.
The end-credits roll, interspersed with video footage taken by Terry, using a camera from the boat. Following a grim voyage where water, fuel and food supplies all run low, the remaining survivors succeed in reaching an island, only to be immediately attacked by a new swarm of zombies. As the survivors attempt to retreat to the boat, the camera falls to the ground and blacks out, leaving their ultimate fate unknown.
The anonymous bloated female zombie who Ana destroys is played by actor Ermes Blarasin, who also appears as a zombie in the 2005 film Land of the Dead.
The production used real amputees to portray zombies with missing limbs.[1]
James Gunn is only partially responsible for the screenplay, despite receiving solo writing credit. After he left the project to concentrate on '', both Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank were brought in for rewrites. In a commentary track on the Ultimate Edition DVD for the original Dawn, producer Richard P. Rubenstein explained that Tolkin further developed the characters, while Frank provided some of the bigger action sequences.
The mall scenes of the film as well as the rooftop scenes were shot in the Thornhill Square Shopping Centre in Thornhill, Ontario and the rest of the scenes were shot in the Aileen-Willowbrook Neighborhood of Thornhill, Ontario. The set for Ana and Louis's bedroom was constructed in a backroom of the mall.[1] The mall was defunct, which is the reason the production used it; the movie crew completely renovated the structure, and stocked it with fictitious stores after Starbucks Coffee and numerous other corporations refused to let their names be used.[1] (Two exceptions to this are Roots and Panasonic.) Most of the mall was demolished shortly after the film was shot.
The first half of the film was shot almost entirely in chronological order,[1] while the final sequences on the boat and island were shot much later and at a different location (Universal Studios Hollywood) than the rest of the movie, after preview audiences objected to the sudden ending of the original print.[1]
The song that plays over the film's opening credits is "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash. The track has suitably apocalyptic lyrics, contains mentions of Armageddon, numerous Bible references and quotes from the Book of Revelation 6:8. The film also featured "People who Died" by The Jim Carroll Band, as well as both the original version of "Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed and the lounge version by Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. Have a Nice Day by Stereophonics was also used early in the film. Director Zack Snyder personally selected the songs for his film's soundtrack.
The muzak playing in the mall when the survivors first arrive is Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy"; as they flee to the buses it is Air Supply's "All Out Of Love".
In the original film the zombies moved very slowly and were most menacing when they collected in large groups. In the remake, however, the zombies are fast and agile, and are, on the whole, closer to the quick-moving, psychotically violent victims of the 'Rage' virus in the 2002 British horror film ''28 Days Later'' than the traditional shambling Zombie archetype. Many admirers of the original (as well as Romero himself) protested this change, feeling that it limited the impact of the undead.[6][7] This is somewhat borne out by the fact that the remake has almost no close up shots of zombies that last more than a second or two. Snyder mentions this problem in the commentary track of the remake's DVD, pointing out that they seem too human when the camera lingers upon them for longer.
In the original, all 'recently dead' are reanimated by an unidentified source. Zombie bites seem to somehow induce rapid death, and subsequent reanimation. The workings aren't elaborated upon. In the remake, it springs up worldwide overnight, and is definitely blood borne, relying on zombie bites for transmission. In the original, anyone who dies for any reason returns after an hour or two (so long as their brain is intact). In the remake, only those infected return and after a period of less than a minute after death.
The original had a smaller cast than the remake, allowing more screen time for each character. Many fans and critics protested the resulting loss of character development.[8]
In the original version the story unfolds over several months, indicated by the advancing stages of Fran's pregnancy. In the remake the events transpire within approximately 1 month, as evidenced by the supplemental feature '', located on the DVD in the special features section. The character Andy owned the gunshop across the street from the mall in the film, and in this bonus feature Andy records a video diary of his ordeal for future reference. He begins recording on May 7, 2004, the day after he first encountered the flesh eaters, and continues to record until his death on June 6. Also included on the DVD was the supplemental "Special Report", which Max Brooks, the writer of World War Z, was involved; a news program detailing the world-wide effects of the zombie epidemic on humanity. (This second feature is the only time in the production when any onscreen character uses the word "zombie".)
Three actors from the original film have cameos in the remake, appearing on the TVs the survivors watch: Ken Foree, who played Peter from the original, plays an evangelist who asserts that God is punishing mankind; Scott H. Reiniger, who played Roger in the original, plays an army general telling everyone to stay at home for safety; and Tom Savini, who did the special effects for many of Romero's movies and played the motorcycle gang member Blades in the original Dawn of the Dead, plays the Los Angeles County Sheriff explaining the only way to kill the zombies is to "shoot 'em in the head."
Additional references to Romero's original Living Dead movies include: A store in the mall is named Gaylen Ross, the actress that played Fran in the original ''Dawn of the Dead''. A sign for "Wooley's Diner" can be seen, a nod to the character of "Wooley" in the 1978 version. The character Tucker's name is a reference to Rod Tucker, one of the SWAT team members in the original. A truck from the BP corporation is seen, the same company as in the original. The WGON helicopter from the first film is seen flying into the frame in one early sequence. The film's tagline, ''"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth"'', is the same one from the first film, and is delivered in both films by actor Ken Foree. The mall-dwellers' ultimate escape plan echoes a similar attempt by a group of ex-policemen at the start of the original ''Dawn'', while the re-make's opening sequences contain at least two references to the original ''Night of the Living Dead'' film: a car crashes into a gas station and explodes, and the female lead crashes her car into a tree.
Scenes cut from the film's original theatrical release were added back for the "Unrated Director's Cut" DVD edition. Along with gore effects removed to obtain an "R-rating",[9] they include a clearer depiction of how the survivors originally break into the mall, and a short scene where the character of Glen "tortures" the imprisoned CJ and Bart with his reminiscing about his homosexual coming-of-age. The DVD also offers, as a bonus feature, several more scenes which were not included in any version of the film.
In the UK, both this film and ''Shaun of the Dead'' were originally scheduled to be released the same week, but due to the similarity in the names of the two films, UIP opted to push back ''Shaun's release by two weeks.
Received "Two Thumbs Up" on Ebert & Roeper.
Heavily derided by some fans before its release,[10] the film's debut received mostly positive reactions from both moviegoers and critics. Some felt that the film did not retain the social satire and poignancy of the original.[11] George A. Romero is quoted as saying of the film, ''"It was better than I expected. [...] The first 15, 20 minutes were terrific, but it sort of lost its reason for being. It was more of a video game. I'm not terrified of things running at me; it's like ''Space Invaders''. There was nothing going on underneath."''[12] The film grossed over $59 million at the box office,[13] (over $102 million worldwide[14]) and is currently the highest-grossing zombie film ever made.[15] Its success also launched the career of director Zack Snyder.
George Romero's original ''Dawn of the Dead'' film was followed by 1985's ''Day of the Dead''. In 2006 a remake (also starring Ving Rhames) was announced and a trailer was released. Jeffrey Reddick, the screenwriter on this new production, has been quoted as saying that it is not in any way a sequel to Zack Snyder's version. The film was undergoing reshoots as of March, 2007 and its ongoing status is unclear. For more info, go here.
Snyder has committed to at least producing another zombie movie entitled ''Army of the Dead'' [16], but as of summer 2007, it is unclear if the film will be an official sequel to his version of ''Dawn''.
★ Dawn of the Dead
★ List of zombie films
1. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
2. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
3. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
4. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
5. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
6. http://www.ajhakari.com/guestcritics/dawnofthedead2004guest.htm
7. http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7973
8. http://www.pajiba.com/dawn-of-the-dead.htm
9. DVD-only introduction by director Snyder
10. Stop the ''Dawn of the Dead'' remake!
11. http://www.themovieboy.com/reviews/d/04_dawnofthedead.htm
12. Simon Pegg interviews George A Romero
13. 2004 Yearly Box Office Results
14. 2004 Worldwide Box Office Results
15. Guinness World Records 2007, , , , , ,
16. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961772.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
★
★ Official Site
★ Trailers
★
★
★
★ Mistakes Database
★ April 24, 2003 draft screenplay
★ StillTwitching.com
★ Thornhill Square Shopping Centre
★ sequel
'Dawn of the Dead' is a 2004 horror film reimagining of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name. The remake and original both depict a handful of human survivors living in a shopping mall surrounded by swarms of zombies, but the details differ significantly. Directed by Zack Snyder, the film was released by Universal Studios and stars Ving Rhames, Sarah Polley, and Jake Weber with cameos from original cast members Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger and Tom Savini. It was released in the United States on March 19, 2004, and in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2004.
'Tagline:'
★ ''"When the undead rise, civilization will fall."
★ ''"When there's no more room in Hell, the Dead will walk the Earth."
| Contents |
| Plot |
| Cast |
| Production |
| Music |
| Comparisons to the original |
| Deleted scenes |
| Reception |
| Possible sequel |
| See also |
| References |
| External links |
Plot
Ana, a nurse, finishes a long shift at her Milwaukee County hospital and returns to her peaceful suburban home. She and her waiting husband Louis make love and go to sleep, missing warnings beginning to trickle through the local media concerning a mysterious and rapidly-spreading contagion which turns its infected hosts into reanimated flesh-eating ghouls.
The next morning they are awoken by their zombified neighbor, a young girl. When Louis goes to help her she bites him in the throat. Ana locks the zombie out of the room, but despite her frantic efforts, Louis dies, immediately reanimates as a zombie, and chases Ana into the bathroom. Ana escapes out the window and flees from her now chaos-torn neighborhood in her car, before a failed hijacking attempt sends her crashing into a tree. The opening credits roll, showing the worldwide collapse of human civilization.
Ana meets Kenneth, a grim police sergeant traveling to meet his brother at Fort Pastor, a nearby US Army base. With the route to the base blocked by zombies, they join three others - jack-of-all-trades Michael, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant Russian wife Luda - and break into the nearby Crossroads Shopping Mall. A scuffle with a zombified mall security guard results in Luda getting a minor bite-wound.
They then confront three living security guards - C.J. , Bart and Terry - and give up their weapons in exchange for refuge. After the group secures the mall, they head up to the mall's roof to dispose of bodies and paint SOS signs. There, they "meet" another survivor, Andy, who is stranded alone in his gun store, across the mall's zombie-infested parking lot.
Later, a delivery truck arrives at the mall, carrying the driver Norma, jerkish Steve, working man Tucker, elderly Glen, trampy Monica, bitten Frank and his teen daughter Nicole, and an anonymous (and severely-injured) obese woman. These newcomers report that Fort Pastor has been overrun by zombies and no help is coming, causing Kenneth to give up on his attempt to reach the base. Shortly after, the obese woman dies, reanimates and is killed by Ana, who thrusts a metal fireplace poker into her eye. The group determines that bites are how the zombies multiply their numbers; after Ana and Michael argue about what to do with the rapidly-deteriorating Frank, the man is put in a store with Kenneth guarding him since he wants the pleasure of seeing "every single second" before Frank dies. Michael and Ana achieve an awkward reconciliation, which is interrupted by Kenneth's shotgun blast as he destroys Frank's reanimated body.
Though the mall provides many material distractions and the survivors begin pairing off romantically (Ana and Michael, Terry and Nicole, Steve and Monica), the undead surround the refuge in ever-increasing numbers. Finally the mall’s power goes out and Michael, C.J., Bart and Kenneth enter the underground parking garage to turn on the emergency generator. After they meet an unaffected dog, a zombie swarm kills Bart and traps the others in the generator compartment, where they douse the zombies with gasoline and set them ablaze.
Andre, faced with the fact that Luda will soon die, sinks totally into denial, and has his heavily-pregnant and infected wife tied to a bed in the mall's children's store. As she gives birth, she dies and reanimates. Norma checks on the couple, discovering the zombie-Luda and the demented Andre clutching a small bundle of blankets. Norma shoots Luda, causing Andre to snap completely; they exchange more gunfire, mortally wounding each other. Ana arrives onscene and opens the bundle to reveal a zombie baby. She pulls her revolver and a single shot rings through the mall.
At an impromptu memorial, Kenneth says anything is better than "sitting around waiting to die". The remaining mall-dwellers thus plot to fight their way to the local marina, and from there travel out on Steve's small yacht to an island in Lake Michigan. They reinforce two small shuttle buses from the parking garage, removing the seats, welding on a snowplow, attaching metal bars and floodlights, stringing barbed wire, boarding up the windows with shelving, and cutting slits for the deployment of weapons. Chainsaws, propane tanks, and other supplies are also loaded onboard. Meanwhile, Andy is starving, and will not have the strength to join the escape (and contribute much-needed ammunition), so the mall survivors strap a pack of food on the dog from the basement, and lower him into the parking lot in a sling. Unfortunately, while "Chips" makes it safely to the gun-shop, a zombie gets in as well and badly injures Andy. Nicole, distraught over Chips, takes the delivery truck and barges her way into the gun store, where a now-zombified Andy traps her in a storage closet.
Kenneth, Michael, C.J., Terry, and Tucker gather their meager weapon supply and go into the sewers, while Steve is assigned guard-duty on their exit door. They reach the gun store, where they kill Andy, rescue Nicole and stock up on weapons and ammunition. A detonated propane tank is used to clear a path back to the sewers, but the zombies pursue them, Tucker is killed and (thanks to Steve's negligence) the zombies force open the exit door. The survivors pile into the buses and smash through the parking garage's front gates, where another propane bomb is used to clear a path through the parking-lot horde. When Glen moves to take out a last hitchhiking zombie with a chainsaw, a sudden swerve sends him and the weapon slashing into Monica's shoulder instead. The resulting splatter of blood covers the windshield, causing driver Kenneth to lose control and crash. Glen and Monica are killed, while Steve flees the toppled bus and is killed by the hitchhiking zombie.
The others scramble for the second bus, meeting zombie-Steve en route. Ana shoots him dead, then must linger long enough to get the boat keys off his corpse, allowing more zombies to catch up with them. Ana flees back to the bus, where Michael helps her in. After a few moments struggle, they pull away from the zombies and speed to the marina dock, where they crash the bus and dash for the boat. Cornered in the bus by their pursuers, C.J. sacrifices his own life as he detonates a final propane tank blowing up the vehicle, the zombies, and himself. The remainder of the group gets on the boat, except for Michael; he was bitten while helping Ana. Ana pleads with him to come but he refuses, and the boat sets sail with Terry, Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, and Chips. Ana watches unflinchingly as Michael draws his pistol, places it under his chin, and a final gunshot rings out over the water.
The end-credits roll, interspersed with video footage taken by Terry, using a camera from the boat. Following a grim voyage where water, fuel and food supplies all run low, the remaining survivors succeed in reaching an island, only to be immediately attacked by a new swarm of zombies. As the survivors attempt to retreat to the boat, the camera falls to the ground and blacks out, leaving their ultimate fate unknown.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sarah Polley | Ana Clark |
| Ving Rhames | Kenneth Hall |
| Jake Weber | Michael |
| Kevin Zegers | Terry |
| Lindy Booth | Nicole |
| Mekhi Phifer | Andre |
| Ty Burrell | Steve Marcus |
| Michael Kelly | C.J. |
| Michael Barry | Bart |
| Jayne Eastwood | Norma |
| Boyd Banks | Tucker |
| Inna Korobkina | Luda |
| R.D. Reid | Glen |
| Kim Poirier | Monica |
| Matt Frewer | Frank |
| Bruce Bohne | Andy |
The anonymous bloated female zombie who Ana destroys is played by actor Ermes Blarasin, who also appears as a zombie in the 2005 film Land of the Dead.
The production used real amputees to portray zombies with missing limbs.[1]
Production
Title Shot of ''Dawn of The Dead'' (2004)
James Gunn is only partially responsible for the screenplay, despite receiving solo writing credit. After he left the project to concentrate on '', both Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank were brought in for rewrites. In a commentary track on the Ultimate Edition DVD for the original Dawn, producer Richard P. Rubenstein explained that Tolkin further developed the characters, while Frank provided some of the bigger action sequences.
The mall scenes of the film as well as the rooftop scenes were shot in the Thornhill Square Shopping Centre in Thornhill, Ontario and the rest of the scenes were shot in the Aileen-Willowbrook Neighborhood of Thornhill, Ontario. The set for Ana and Louis's bedroom was constructed in a backroom of the mall.[1] The mall was defunct, which is the reason the production used it; the movie crew completely renovated the structure, and stocked it with fictitious stores after Starbucks Coffee and numerous other corporations refused to let their names be used.[1] (Two exceptions to this are Roots and Panasonic.) Most of the mall was demolished shortly after the film was shot.
The first half of the film was shot almost entirely in chronological order,[1] while the final sequences on the boat and island were shot much later and at a different location (Universal Studios Hollywood) than the rest of the movie, after preview audiences objected to the sudden ending of the original print.[1]
Music
The song that plays over the film's opening credits is "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash. The track has suitably apocalyptic lyrics, contains mentions of Armageddon, numerous Bible references and quotes from the Book of Revelation 6:8. The film also featured "People who Died" by The Jim Carroll Band, as well as both the original version of "Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed and the lounge version by Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine. Have a Nice Day by Stereophonics was also used early in the film. Director Zack Snyder personally selected the songs for his film's soundtrack.
The muzak playing in the mall when the survivors first arrive is Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy"; as they flee to the buses it is Air Supply's "All Out Of Love".
Comparisons to the original
In the original film the zombies moved very slowly and were most menacing when they collected in large groups. In the remake, however, the zombies are fast and agile, and are, on the whole, closer to the quick-moving, psychotically violent victims of the 'Rage' virus in the 2002 British horror film ''28 Days Later'' than the traditional shambling Zombie archetype. Many admirers of the original (as well as Romero himself) protested this change, feeling that it limited the impact of the undead.[6][7] This is somewhat borne out by the fact that the remake has almost no close up shots of zombies that last more than a second or two. Snyder mentions this problem in the commentary track of the remake's DVD, pointing out that they seem too human when the camera lingers upon them for longer.
In the original, all 'recently dead' are reanimated by an unidentified source. Zombie bites seem to somehow induce rapid death, and subsequent reanimation. The workings aren't elaborated upon. In the remake, it springs up worldwide overnight, and is definitely blood borne, relying on zombie bites for transmission. In the original, anyone who dies for any reason returns after an hour or two (so long as their brain is intact). In the remake, only those infected return and after a period of less than a minute after death.
The original had a smaller cast than the remake, allowing more screen time for each character. Many fans and critics protested the resulting loss of character development.[8]
In the original version the story unfolds over several months, indicated by the advancing stages of Fran's pregnancy. In the remake the events transpire within approximately 1 month, as evidenced by the supplemental feature '', located on the DVD in the special features section. The character Andy owned the gunshop across the street from the mall in the film, and in this bonus feature Andy records a video diary of his ordeal for future reference. He begins recording on May 7, 2004, the day after he first encountered the flesh eaters, and continues to record until his death on June 6. Also included on the DVD was the supplemental "Special Report", which Max Brooks, the writer of World War Z, was involved; a news program detailing the world-wide effects of the zombie epidemic on humanity. (This second feature is the only time in the production when any onscreen character uses the word "zombie".)
Three actors from the original film have cameos in the remake, appearing on the TVs the survivors watch: Ken Foree, who played Peter from the original, plays an evangelist who asserts that God is punishing mankind; Scott H. Reiniger, who played Roger in the original, plays an army general telling everyone to stay at home for safety; and Tom Savini, who did the special effects for many of Romero's movies and played the motorcycle gang member Blades in the original Dawn of the Dead, plays the Los Angeles County Sheriff explaining the only way to kill the zombies is to "shoot 'em in the head."
Additional references to Romero's original Living Dead movies include: A store in the mall is named Gaylen Ross, the actress that played Fran in the original ''Dawn of the Dead''. A sign for "Wooley's Diner" can be seen, a nod to the character of "Wooley" in the 1978 version. The character Tucker's name is a reference to Rod Tucker, one of the SWAT team members in the original. A truck from the BP corporation is seen, the same company as in the original. The WGON helicopter from the first film is seen flying into the frame in one early sequence. The film's tagline, ''"When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth"'', is the same one from the first film, and is delivered in both films by actor Ken Foree. The mall-dwellers' ultimate escape plan echoes a similar attempt by a group of ex-policemen at the start of the original ''Dawn'', while the re-make's opening sequences contain at least two references to the original ''Night of the Living Dead'' film: a car crashes into a gas station and explodes, and the female lead crashes her car into a tree.
Deleted scenes
Scenes cut from the film's original theatrical release were added back for the "Unrated Director's Cut" DVD edition. Along with gore effects removed to obtain an "R-rating",[9] they include a clearer depiction of how the survivors originally break into the mall, and a short scene where the character of Glen "tortures" the imprisoned CJ and Bart with his reminiscing about his homosexual coming-of-age. The DVD also offers, as a bonus feature, several more scenes which were not included in any version of the film.
Reception
In the UK, both this film and ''Shaun of the Dead'' were originally scheduled to be released the same week, but due to the similarity in the names of the two films, UIP opted to push back ''Shaun's release by two weeks.
Received "Two Thumbs Up" on Ebert & Roeper.
Heavily derided by some fans before its release,[10] the film's debut received mostly positive reactions from both moviegoers and critics. Some felt that the film did not retain the social satire and poignancy of the original.[11] George A. Romero is quoted as saying of the film, ''"It was better than I expected. [...] The first 15, 20 minutes were terrific, but it sort of lost its reason for being. It was more of a video game. I'm not terrified of things running at me; it's like ''Space Invaders''. There was nothing going on underneath."''[12] The film grossed over $59 million at the box office,[13] (over $102 million worldwide[14]) and is currently the highest-grossing zombie film ever made.[15] Its success also launched the career of director Zack Snyder.
Possible sequel
George Romero's original ''Dawn of the Dead'' film was followed by 1985's ''Day of the Dead''. In 2006 a remake (also starring Ving Rhames) was announced and a trailer was released. Jeffrey Reddick, the screenwriter on this new production, has been quoted as saying that it is not in any way a sequel to Zack Snyder's version. The film was undergoing reshoots as of March, 2007 and its ongoing status is unclear. For more info, go here.
Snyder has committed to at least producing another zombie movie entitled ''Army of the Dead'' [16], but as of summer 2007, it is unclear if the film will be an official sequel to his version of ''Dawn''.
See also
★ Dawn of the Dead
★ List of zombie films
References
1. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
2. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
3. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
4. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
5. DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
6. http://www.ajhakari.com/guestcritics/dawnofthedead2004guest.htm
7. http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7973
8. http://www.pajiba.com/dawn-of-the-dead.htm
9. DVD-only introduction by director Snyder
10. Stop the ''Dawn of the Dead'' remake!
11. http://www.themovieboy.com/reviews/d/04_dawnofthedead.htm
12. Simon Pegg interviews George A Romero
13. 2004 Yearly Box Office Results
14. 2004 Worldwide Box Office Results
15. Guinness World Records 2007, , , , , ,
16. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117961772.html?categoryid=13&cs=1
External links
★
★ Official Site
★ Trailers
★
★
★
★ Mistakes Database
★ April 24, 2003 draft screenplay
★ StillTwitching.com
★ Thornhill Square Shopping Centre
★ sequel
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