Dawn of the Dead (2004)

A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.

Director:

Zack Snyder

Writers:

George A. Romero, James Gunn (screenplay)

Stars:

Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer

1 win & 17 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sarah Polley	...	Ana
Ving Rhames	...	Kenneth
Jake Weber	...	Michael
Mekhi Phifer	...	Andre
Ty Burrell	...	Steve
Michael Kelly	...	CJ
Kevin Zegers	...	Terry
Michael Barry	...	Bart
Lindy Booth	...	Nicole
Jayne Eastwood	...	Norma
Boyd Banks	...	Tucker
Inna Korobkina	...	Luda
R.D. Reid	...	Glen
Kim Poirier	...	Monica
Matt Frewer	...	Frank

Storyline

Ana goes home to her peaceful suburban residence, but she is unpleasantly surprised the morning that follows when her husband is brutally attacked by her zombified neighbor. In the chaos of her once picturesque neighborhood, Ana flees and stumbles upon a police officer named Kenneth, along with more survivors who decide that their best chances of survival would be found in the deserted Crossroads Shopping Mall. When supplies begin running low and other trapped survivors need help, the group comes to the realization that they cannot stay put forever at the Shopping Mall, and devise a plan to escape.

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Plot Keywords:

mall | nurse | survival horror | mayhem | hideout | 

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Taglines:

When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for pervasive strong horror violence and gore, language and sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Universal [United States]

Country:

USA Canada Japan France

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 March 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead

Filming Locations:

Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$26,722,575, 21 March 2004, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$59,020,957

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$43,335,424

Company Credits

Production Co:

Strike Entertainment, New Amsterdam Entertainment, Metropolitan Filmexport

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min 110 min (unrated director's cut)

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

An exchange between Kim Poirier (Monica) and Lindy Booth (Nicole) about Nicole playing with the dog more than she is helping was eliminated from the film in order to avoid making Kim Poirier's character sound "too bitchy."

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Goofs

When Chips, the dog, is being lowered from the roof of the mall, to send Andy some food, he is secured with a red hook. The hook is latched in the first scene, but when Chips lands on the ground the latch is missing.

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Quotes

Michael: So what's the plan?
CJ: The plan is you drink a nice tall glass of shut the fuck up.

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Crazy Credits

Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Tom Savini are credited as "Special Appearance from the original Dawn of the Dead."

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Connections

References Waterworld (1995)

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Soundtracks

Down With The Sickness
Written by Mike Wengren, Dan Donegan, David Draiman (as Dave Draiman) & Fuzz (as Steve Kmak)
Performed by Mark Jonathan Davis (as Richard Cheese) & Richard Cheese & Lounge Against The Machine
Courtesy of Ideatown

User Reviews

As good as the original, with exciting new directions and room for a sequel!

Shortly after a number of strange cases begin to appear at the hospital where Ana (Sarah Polley) works, a bizarre zombie "epidemic" hits the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area full force. Sarah escapes her immediate threats and meets a number of other humans who decide to seek shelter inside a large shopping mall. 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. Hardly five minutes into the film we're already into hardcore, high tension, gore-filled horror material. In lesser films, our introduction to full-fledged zombie activity would have been dream material as a kind of teaser. Gunn and Snyder dispense with such weak-willed tactics and immediately launch into Armageddon. 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. You get two excellent short films that effectively extend the feature. In one, a new character from the remake, Andy (Bruce Bohne), who runs a gun shop across the street from the mall, gives us a 15-minute video diary of his last 15 days. It's similar in some ways to the feel of The Blair Witch Project (1999), but for my money, it's much better than that film. In the other, we get a 30-minute condensation of the news broadcasts following the outbreak of the zombie "epidemic". This also easily beats any mock horror documentary (such as The Last Broadcast (1998)) with its hands tied behind its back. Make sure you at least rent the DVD to check out these extras.