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:

How do you kill what's already dead?

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Genres:

Action | Horror

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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

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

Gross USA:

$59,020,957

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$102,278,712

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

The movie trailer shows Andre checking the mall entrance when several zombies attack the outer doors. This scene was replaced in the film with a subdued version showing only one frail-looking zombie pouncing on the glass door. However, the clip used in the theatrical trailer is available for viewing on the DVD and has director commentary explaining why he changed the scene.

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Goofs

At the beginning, when Anna escapes from her home in her car, the headrest suddenly disappears when Anna is driving backwards. In the next shot, the headrest reappears.

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Quotes

Andy: [only on the DVD extra "The Lost Tape: Andy's Terrifying Last Days Revealed"] Kenneth, the black guy, over in the mall... he just wrote me that Fort Pastor's gone. We're on our own. There's no help coming. Yeah, okay. Okay. No problem, you know? People have always put up with shit, right? We survive. That's what we do. We survived the fucking Romans. We survived the Crusades. We survived the Black Plague! We survived fucking world wars! We survived everything! All right? It's just nature's way ...

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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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Alternate Versions

The theatrical R-rated cut of the film is 100 minutes long. However, as usual for Universal Home Video, an unrated "Director's Cut" has been released on DVD alongside the R-rated theatrical print. This cut has been officially timed at 110 min and contains more character development and gore.

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Connections

Referenced in Slither (2006)

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Soundtracks

The Man Comes Around
Written by Johnny Cash (as John R. Cash)
Performed by Johnny Cash
Courtesy of American Recordings L.L.C. & The Island Def Jam Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

One of the best Zombie movies I've seen...

...and I've seen quite a few. This movie is a must for all those enjoy seeing horror-zombie movies with a twist, but not containing excessive amounts of blood and gore, like BrainDead had. Unlike others, I don't think this movie should compare to Resident Evil because zombies here don't act like those ones, oh no, not at all. You surely will need to see the movie to understand, but I was simply delighted. Most important, this movie contains no pseudo-scientific bullsh!t regarding how do the zombies appear, skips through unnecessary preparation, the soundtrack is absolutely beautiful and the end, oh, the end is... what can I say? Great-great-great! Overall, I very much enjoyed seeing this and I guess it's a movie you can see more than once. I, personally, have seen it 4 times in 2 days and I always found something new to look at.