Dawn of the Dead

Plot synopsis:
Ana (Sarah Polley), a nurse, finishes a long shift at her Milwaukee County hospital and returns to her peaceful suburban home. She and her waiting husband Louis (Justin 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, who bites Louis in the throat. Ana locks the zombie out of the room, but despite her frantic efforts, Louis dies. When Ana unsuccessfully attempts to call 911 for help, Louis immediately awakens as a reanimated 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 (Ving Rhames), a grim police sergeant traveling to Fort Pastor, a nearby US Army base. With the route to the base blocked by zombies, they and three others - jack-of-all-trades Michael (Jake Weber), petty criminal Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his pregnant Russian wife Luda (Inna Korobkina)- break into the nearby Crossroads Shopping Mall. Inside the mall, a scuffle with a zombified mall security guard results in Luda getting a minor bite-wound and Kenneth getting a cut on his arm.They confront three living security guards - C.J. (Michael Kelly), Bart (Michael Barry) and Terry (Kevin Zegers) - 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 (Bruce Bohne), who is stranded alone in his gun store, across the mall's zombie-infested parking lot.The next day, a delivery truck arrives at the mall, carrying the driver Norma (Jayne Eastwood), jerkish Steve (Ty Burrell), working man Tucker (Boyd Banks), elderly Glen (R.D. Reid), trampy Monica (Kim Poirier), bitten Frank (Matt Frewer) and his teen daughter Nicole (Lindy Booth), and an anonymous (and severely-injured) obese woman (Ermes Blarasin). These newcomers report that Fort Pastor has been overrun by zombies and no help is coming. 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 isolated in a store with guard Kenneth, allowing him "every single second" before expiring. 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 malls power goes out and Michael, C.J., Bart and Kenneth enter the underground parking garage to turn on the emergency generator. They meet a friendly dog (Blue) who appears unharmed nor infected. They question this when a zombie suddenly bites Bart, which attracts more zombies that forces the group to flee. While trying to avoid the horde, Michael and Kenneth reach the generator compartment and C.J. joins them when Bart is overwhelmed and killed by the zombies. They eventually work together to 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 and both are killed. Ana arrives on scene 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, and cutting slits for the deployment of weapons. Chainsaws, propane tanks and other supplies are also loaded on board. 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 "Chips", 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 sees the dog and gets in as well and bites 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 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. Along the way, Tucker breaks his legs and, despite C.J.'s desperate attempts to pull him to safety, is attacked by the perusing zombies, forcing C.J. to shoot him dead out of mercy. Thanks to Steve's negligence, the zombies force open the exit door. The survivors pile into the buses and smash out into the parking lot, where another propane bomb is used to clear a path through the waiting horde. When Glen moves to take out a last hitchhiking zombie with a chainsaw, a sudden swerve sends the weapon slashing into Monica's shoulder. 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 attacked 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 short struggle, they pull away 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. 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 futilely pleads with him to come, 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.

Tags: comedy, murder, violence, cult, horror, action, sadist

Review:
Dawn of the DeadI'm not sure I can recall witnessing an opening sequence quite like the one I saw in Zack Snyder's remake of the classic horror film 'Dawn of the Dead.' Besides being rather lengthy (it's over ten minutes before we see the opening credits), it has a bizarre creepiness about it.
Now you have to admit, that line really can't fit perfectly in to many movies but in the ever consistent mood of Dawn of the Dead, it's right at home.Ving Rhames is easily the second best thing in the movie (second only to the fast moving, constantly hungry and occasionally limbless zombies) once he actually starts speaking, and it is welcoming that Sarah Polley's Ana is as composed as she is subtle which is great for the audience because for a change the lead female character is not screaming every 30 seconds because, oh my god, someone is trying to bite me whilst drooling oodles of blood and saliva all over my nice white t-shirt.
As they learn that the zombie outbreak is much more widespread than anyone could have imagined, their chances of survival grow increasingly dim.I know an awful lot of genre fans rail against remakes, but like the update of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), this version of Dawn of the Dead is so good that we should instead be clamoring for more.Writer James Gunn and director Zack Snyder knew that they had to come into the remake with both barrels blasting.
We quickly move to a wide shot of explosions, brutal car crashes and other mayhem.We do finally get a breather while we're learning our cast of characters at the mall in nicely written scenes that bring out personality and depth to the relatively large cast, but horror fanatics need not fret that the film will evolve into a drama--tension and gore are never far removed from the film.Gunn and Snyder earn credit for both paying homage to their source material and taking off into other interesting directions.
This remake is just as intense and titillating as Romeo's original, but with a different spin.The cast is excellent, the cinematography and editing exciting and innovative, and the makeup and "creature" effects are top notch.Even though I've seen greater quantities, the DVD for Dawn of the Dead also has some of the best extras I've seen on a disc in terms of quality.
The movie, a remake of George Romero's classic 1978 sequel to `Night of the Living Dead,' throws a group of people together while society crumbles around them and allows the viewer to watch as humans seek to survive an onslaught of the undead.The movie opens with the unimaginable happening.
One such group includes Ana (Sarah Polley), a nurse who is running scared after losing her husband, Kenneth (Ving Rhames), a tough-as-nails cop, Michael (Jake Weber), who tries to be two-steps ahead of any dangerous situation, and Andre (Mekhi Phifer), whose trying to care of his pregnant wife.Seeking shelter from the waves of zombie attacks, the group decides to head toward a local mall and hole up there until help arrives.
Luckily, `Dawn of the Dead' has strong personalities to fall back on, making it thankfully every bit a character-driven drama as it is a horror-action piece.As Ana, Polley convincingly plays a waif turned survivor with just the right amount of emoting.
The first '`Dawn' had human characters selfishly hoarding material goods for themselves, using the mall not only as a refuge from zombies but also as their own personal palace that provides them with more items than they could ever need.It's to the detriment of the new film that it never takes the concept to this level.
Also, in the original the zombies wanted inside not only to eat the humans but also because they are drawn to the shopping center since is was an important place to them when they were alive.It's a shame that this time around viewers won't get the chance to see zombies wandering around JC Penney or stumbling up and down escalators, the joke being humans amble about aimlessly themselves like the undead at the mall.`Dawn of the Dead' is a very bloody and terrifying film but it lacks the superior gory effects from the 1978 movie.
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.
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.
his remake also starts off on some happy little slope and then when we see the girl who's a zombie, then we all know that it's gonna get better from there.I like how Zack keeps the film's plot on the exact same story line where there are many survivors trapped in a Mall and that there are Zombies trying to get in.
But it was great to have a variety of smart and dumb-witted characters.There were also many sad moments in this film that really left me disturbed and I'm not going to spoil it.Overall it doesn't fall short off of Romero's Classic Dawn of the Dead, having a chaotic situation, fast zombies, different varieties of characteristics & tones of weapons.
Utterly, completely, hopelessly outnumbered, Ana flees her perfect life and hooks up with a bunch of other survivors who take refuge in a huge shopping mall.I will not pretend that the satire of the original is something of my own discovery (as so many, many other reviewers have) and complain that it's pretty much absent in the remake because DOTD 2004 has so many other levels to it.First of all, the zombies (the word is never mentioned in the film) can be seen as the perfect society.
Indulgent, ignorant and wasteful on one side and starving masses grabbing for whatever food they can on the other.DOTD 2004 offers a wider range of characters (more zombie nosh!) boarded up in the mall: cop, nurse, hoodlum, survivalist old lady, pregnant woman, security guards, gay guy, arrogant playboy millionaire, pretty girl and average Joe. It could be argued that they're a far more PC assortment of characters than the original (DOTD 1978 had 2 SWAT cops and 2 reporters-the very people we rely on to protect and inform us in times of crises-chickening out of their utterly futile duties to fend for themselves) but it ends up with character arcs and a sense of sticking together to survive, despite differences, that the original didn't have.The cast is well chosen and all act their parts brilliantly.
I'm glad that Hollywood can still make horror films as bloody and relentless as this, though there were several cuts made to the theatrical version.This new Directors Cut DVD runs 110 minutes and features more gore, bridging scenes, more character development, more violence and the odd restored shot here and there.
"Dawn of the Dead" is a remake of the George Romero film from 1978, which was itself a sequel to his 1968 classic, "Night of the Living Dead." This new version, written by James Gunn and directed by Zack Snyder, follows the original storyline fairly closely, centering on a group of people who are holed up in a local shopping mall while flesh-eating zombies wreak havoc on the world outside.The original, in addition to being a horror film, was also a playful little satire on the consumerism in modern society.
There's even a very subtle homage to the great "Carnival of Souls," the far more gentle precursor to all these over-the-top zombie pictures, when a character describes himself as a church organist who sees his "calling" as "just a job." Although the film isn't really all that scary, "Dawn of the Dead" provides just enough tension and chills to make it worth seeing for any true horror film aficionado..
A group of five surviving humans-nurse Ana,a tough cop Kenneth,ordinary guy Michael and expecting parents Andre and Luda- seek refuge in a local mall.There they encounter a pugnacious security guard,CJ and his sidekicks,Terry and Bart.Later,they spot a truck circling the mall parking lot and rescue the passengers,including smart-ass Steve,sexy Monica,father and daughter Frank and Nicole, Norma and Tucker.Banding together these people try to outrun and out-gun an army of bloodthirsty zombies."Dawn of the Dead" by Zack Snyder differs a lot from the original,but we never learn about the origins of the virus.The characters are well-developed,the direction is extremely impressive and the zombies look truly menacing and they move a lot more quickly than those in the original.The gore is plentiful with head explosions,chainsaw dismemebrments and other zombie mayhem to boost.Generally I'm against remakes of older classics,but "Dawn of the Dead" is a fine zombie flick.8 out of 10..
Many critics call it an attack on consumer America (zombies flocking to the mall = us), and while I admire the message and the obvious passion behind Romero's project, I've always admired Night of the Living Dead (1968)  the first installment in the original 'Dead Trilogy'  the best, and think its allegories about racism are even more subtle than the consumer attack in Dead (which is about as blunt as being hit over the head with a hammer).The remake of Dead boasts a better cast but a lot of the dialogue is just as stiff as its predecessor.
This makes those 'Don't go in the basement!' moments in other horror films look like brilliant ideas.The zombies in this re-imagining of Romero's tale are faster than the slow-walking numbskulls in the original, which begs the question: If they can run as fast as a car, how come they can't manage to outrun humans carrying heavy weapons, and can't manage to figure out how to break into a mall, when all the humans did was throw a toilet seat through a window?
Heck, the movie starts in a hospital, leads into a dramatic loneliness seen, then the alarm clock imagery followed up by riot footage and a red on black title sequence so similar to 28 days later - oh and not to mention they sped up the film half way through, and of course magically all the zombies were fast paced atheletes - even a bloated obese woman, it made me feel bad knowing this movie was made in a america with a much more bloated budget than that of 28 days later, a movie that I feel made some steps forward in a genre that hasn't hardly been improved on since the early 80s.
Ving Rhames is tough as always, and every other cast member is very good.This movie is a great end of the world film, capitalizing on post 9-11 fears and bring Romeros legendary epic into the 21st century.
The directors commentary is great, and I never like those things either.My only regret is I did not know this movie was being filmed in Toronto, or I would have tried to get a job as an extra zombie..
Some stupid comic relief for those who can't handle the "horror" (if you can call it that) and then the breakneck final act which is edited in that MTV,  shaky cam (Blair Witch), cut every nanosecond pace in which the "zombie" attacks in 28 days were edited or for that matter any typical "Fast and the Furious" action film of the past decade which is geared to appease the no-attention-span video game playing fans who make this kind of crap so successful at the box office.
Whenever I begin watching a modern movie with the slightest hint of zombies in it, my expectations are never high, and this was completely true for Dawn of the Dead.
So, when I sat down to begin watching, I was expecting a movie more to the likes of the horrendous Night of the Living Dead 3D; definitely not up to the standard of a George Romero classic.
I saw an interview with the director Zach Snyder who said something I thought was brilliant about doing the Dawn of the dead remake; "The Original is a classic, so I didn't want to do anything to step on the toes of that, so we took the basic premise of a bunch of people holed up in a mall during a zombie apocalypse and wrote a story around that".
Personally I think it works since it explains why things fall apart so fast.The new film, like the old film, is not with out its flaws, they just occur in different places.If you want to see a really good horror/action film that takes its source material and does something other tan resting on its laurels with it, see this movie.
When the zombie action and scare scenes actually happened, there were simply some of the best I've seen on film.Too bad action and scares only happened for 20% of the movie, and even that might be a little high.
This is all wrong; zombies don't move fast, they're slow; and Dawn of the Dead is supposed to be a horror movie, not a quick-edited action fest.
There's so much that still could be done with the idea of zombies, in spite of the greatness of the original Dawn of the Dead, but this film hardly attempts to capitalise at all.
Original DOTD is a classic of horror genre...Remake is a rotten cheese ball...Pondering to the trend of "fast" zombies new version gets rid of character development, suspense, scares and half way decent plot...All the things that made an original film a cult item.
oh by the way that wasn't zombies doesn't look a bit like them if you're a real fan i mean real real fan of zombies film this one will make you disappointed till you wanna kick ur own butt i find that this one is awful and the music is awful why do you Hollywood have always destroy classic films dawn of the dead 1978 is the best zombie movie i ever saw in my life but if you like the remake version i have to say that u're not a real zombies fan sorry but that's real if you wanna know what i mean go buy the original dawn of the dead george roemeo you're still the king but this remake sucks.
The original Dawn of the dead is actually a HORROR movie.
The cast and crew of this remake by name a basic plot only (zombies take over the world and group, unrelated to the characters in the original, hold up in a mall) did an outstanding job in making a very scary, very high energy film that will undoubtedly have it's place in horror history..
Dawn of the Dead was always one of the better Zombie films, and although this remake is not entirely true to the original, it is still a fine movie.Keeping the same basic plot, it successfully thrills and scares the audience with a new breed of zombie, (similar to the infected in 28 Days Later) the undead are pretty quick and therefore far scarier than the conventional slow paced zombies.The film has a strong and believable characters and plenty of action sequences, making it a highly enjoyable 95 minutes of blood soaked fun, if you like that kind of thing.8/10.
This remake is way better than the original, to be honest: It's my favorite zombie-movie.
I think, "Dawn of the Dead" from 2004 is simply the best zombie movie I have seen yet, better than the George A.
"Dawn of the Dead" is the 2004 remake of the original 1978 classic horror film.THE STORY: When dead people start coming back to life it seems like the end of the world.
Besides, the film more than adequately portrays the downside of human reaction -- depression, violence, grief, madness, etc.The only negative I can cite is the speeding-up effect used in the Third Act. It worked at times but too often it came across as awkward or amateurish and just served to confuse the viewing experience.Some people didn't like the zombie birth scene but I found it well-done and effective.The original was filmed at the Monroeville Mall near Pittsburgh, PA, while this remake was shot at the (now demolished) Thornhill Square Mall in Ontario, although the story takes place in Milwaukee.The theatrical version runs 101 minutes (the version I saw) and the Director's Cut 110 minutes.BOTTOM LINE: If you're in the mood for a truly intense, horrifying flick you can't go wrong with this 2004 version of "Dawn of the Dead."GRADE: A-.
Dawn Of The Dead Is A Decent Horror Remake from director Zack Snyder whose admirable in making this movie about a group of people who hold find themselves trapped in a shopping mall with aggressive flesh eating zombies outside waiting for them to make a mistake.
This remake felt more like an action film than horror because it didn't really scare me but that didn't hurt the movie.
Remake of Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead (1978) is pretty good, even though it mostly steers away from the original film.Zombies are running amok, which leaves a number of people trapped inside a shopping mall, but how long will they be able to live there?Dawn of the Dead 2004 basically only keeps the premise of the original film, building a new plot with a larger number of new characters, and with the help of director Zack Snyder it becomes an entertaining flick.
More than any 'zombie' movie I've ever seen, this remake of Dawn Of The Dead feels most as if the world was actually ending.