The Zombies in Dawn of the Dead
2004 Learned to Sprint Since the Original
Don’t let their speed fool you though. A
well placed head shot on the zombies in Dawn of the Dead 2004
will still put them down.
Review
by The Zombie Master Lee Roberts 2006
DVD
Release: 2004 Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring:
Sarah Polley as Ana Ving Rhames as Kenneth Jake Weber as Michael Ty Burrell as Steve Michael Kelly as CJ
Let me begin by saying that when I heard that Dawn
of the Dead was to be remade, I had my reservations. Then I
discovered that the film was to be directed by a television commercial
director. Let me say, without losing my religion, that I was perturbed
to the point of refusing to view the film.
The problem with a personal boycott is that I do love me some
zombies, so when it was released in the theater I found
myself being led uncontrollably to the local multiplex, gleefully
throwing my money down, and rubbing my hands together anxiously waiting
for the show to begin. I am now glad that I did.
You must begin
viewing this film with the proper knowledge. The only
things that make Dawn of the Dead 2004 a
“remake” are that the stars of the movie run into a
mall, there are a bunch of zombies, and the movie title just happens to
be the same as the 1978 original. If you keep that in mind, you should
have an enjoyable time watching.
As the movie starts our heroine, Ana (Sarah Polley), is heading home
from a very hard and long day at work (she is a nurse). Her husband
happens to be waiting for her in the bedroom (as we husbands have a
habit of doing) and after a little idle chatter they start to get
busy.
Ironically,
while the young lovers are doing the wild thing in
the shower, a breaking news story about an unknown virus that is
spreading around the community is showing on the unwatched television.
Side effect to this virus? The dead come back to life with a craving
for human flesh. Mmmmm.
When the morning breaks, Ana and husband are awakened by a neighborhood
child entering their bedroom. (Must be a safe community huh?) Husband
gets up to see what is the matter and gets a piece of neck bitten out
by said neighborhood child. Husband bleeds out on the bed and dies. Can
anyone see where this is going?
In just a matter of seconds, the husband
becomes a raving lunatic zombie going after our heroine - who manages
to lock herself in the bathroom. She narrowly escapes through the
bathroom window only to find out that the world has changed overnight.
Carnage and mayhem ensue.
Ana later meets some other people that have survived the zombie
outbreak and they all head to a shopping mall. There they
find other survivors, have run-ins with very cool looking zombies (I
liked the twitchers myself), and
decide to make a mad dash through town in armored shuttle busses (very
ingenious I must say). The goal? Make their way to the docks so they
can steal a boat and escape to anywhere but where they are right now.
Purists will recognize cameos by Ken Foree
(the televangelist), Tom Savini (the sheriff), and Scott Reiniger (the
general) from the original Dawn of the Dead. All in
all, Zack Snyder and James Gunn (screenwriter) have created a well done
zombie movie in Dawn of the Dead 2004.
Now to the DVD: In my opinion, the only way to own Dawn of
the Dead 2004 is to get your hands on the unrated version -
if not for the extra nine minutes of footage, then for the DVD extras
that are only available on this version.
•Splitting Headaches:
Anatomy of Exploding Heads takes you behind the scenes,
showing you how they made the head-kills look so realistic. (Very cool)
•Raising the Dead is another behind the
scenes look, this time on turning the actors into zombies. (Hoorah)
•Attack of the Living Dead is yet another
behind the scenes, this time on some of the zombie kills. (That rocks)
Whether you have bypassed this film because of preconceived notions of
a bad redo of a Romero classic or you just haven’t been able
to pull yourself away from that all night marathon of Buffy reruns, do
yourself a favor and watch Dawn of the Dead 2004.
You’ll be glad you did. Have
comments about Dawn of the Dead 2004? Contact us!
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Ironically,
while the young lovers are doing the wild thing in
the shower, a breaking news story about an unknown virus that is
spreading around the community is showing on the unwatched television.
Side effect to this virus? The dead come back to life with a craving
for human flesh. Mmmmm. 
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