Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)
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| Dawn of the Dead | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster for Dawn of the Dead | |
| Directed by | Zack Snyder |
| Produced by | Marc Abraham Eric Newman Richard P. Rubinstein |
| Written by | 1978 Screenplay: George A. Romero Screenplay: James Gunn Michael Tolkin (Uncredited) Scott Frank (Uncredited) |
| Starring | Sarah Polley Ving Rhames Jake Weber Mekhi Phifer Kim Poirier |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 19, 2004 |
| Running time | 100 min. 109 min. (Director's Cut) |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28,000,000 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Dawn of the Dead is a loose, "reimagined" remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film. The remake and original share a similar premise and central location, but the stories differ significantly. The film was released in 2004 by Universal Studios and features cameos from original cast members Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger and Tom Savini.
Tagline:
- "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] Going To The Mall
An unknown phenomenon (implied to be viral in nature) causes anyone infected by it to rapidly weaken, die and reanimate as a zombie stripped of everything but a relentless hunger for human flesh. This infection is passed on when a zombie bites a victim, allowing the zombies to multiply rapidly.
Ana, a nurse at a Milwaukee County hospital, gets off work and drives to her suburban home, where she chats with a neighbor's young daughter and then happily greets her husband Louis. The couple makes love in the shower before falling asleep together, missing the warnings beginning to filter through the local media.
The next morning, the zombified neighbor-girl enters their bedroom, where she bites Louis in the neck, killing him. He reanimates and attacks, forcing Ana to escape through their bathroom window. She flees in her car from the chaos-torn suburbs, before a carjacking attempt sends her crashing into a tree and knocking her unconscious. The opening credits roll, showing human civilization collapsing across the globe.
Upon awakening, Ana meets and joins police officer Ken, who is trying to reach the nearby Fort Pastor military base. The two of them then encounter jack-of-all-trades TV salesman Michael, petty criminal Andre, and Andre's pregnant wife Luda. With the route to Fort Pastor blocked, the group breaks into the Crossroads Shopping Mall, where they are attacked by a zombifed security guard. Ana blasts him with Kenneth's shotgun, but not before Luda gets a seemingly minor bite on her arm. Unsure if there are more zombies inside, they go upstairs, only to face three living and armed mall security guards named CJ, Terry and Bart, who at first order them to leave. The newcomers finally give up their guns in exchange for being permitted to stay.
The survivors watch television, but all that is on display is more chaos and destruction. After some careful prompting from Michael, the surly CJ orders the newcomers to paint SOS signs on the roof, while he leads the other guards in clearing the mall of its handful of remaining zombies. On the roof, the reassembled group spots Andy, another survivor who is stranded alone across the zombie-filled mall parking lot on the roof of his gun shop, and can only communicate with them via dry-erase boards and binoculars.
As night falls, CJ locks the newcomers in a store, and watches a final TV broadcast: a preacher sermonizes that humanity has brought this catastrophe on itself by ignoring God's word. On the first floor, the other survivors listen to the sounds of the dead milling around the entrances.
The next morning, the mall's automatic systems activate as usual, and CJ orders Terry to turn off the annoying muzak. Terry releases the “prisoners” so they can use a bathroom, then goes on to the mall's control room, where a security monitor shows him a beleaguered delivery truck racing into the parking lot. Once again on the roof, Ana and CJ argue about letting the truck-inhabitants into the mall. Terry sides with the other survivors, CJ and Bart are disarmed and locked up, and the people from the truck are brought inside: Norma (the older truck driver), Glen (an elderly homosexual who works as a church organist) Steve (a sarcastic, apparently wealthy jerk), trampy Monica, teenager Nicole and her father Frank, working man Tucker, and an elderly obese woman.
The new arrivals say they have come from Fort Pastor, which has been overrun by zombies. Ana treats the newcomers: Frank has a bite wound on his hand, but seems to be doing well, while the obese woman is fading fast from more severe bites, and soon dies. Like Louis before her, she immediately reanimates and attacks. Ana kills her, then calls together Michael, Andre, Terry and Ken, and explains her theory that a zombie bite is the vector of infection, based on the reanimations she has witnessed. Michael decides that Frank must be killed. Andre quietly slips away and goes to check on Luda.
Ana rushes to Frank to warn him before the others arrive. Michael does not shoot Frank, but he doesn't soften the truth: bites are how the infection spreads. Frank is put in a store with Ken guarding him, where the dying man bids farewell to his devastated daughter and sends her away, only moments before expiring. Michael goes to apologize to Ana, who thanks him for not killing Frank. From the direction of Frank and Ken, there is a zombie scream and a single gunshot.
With no help coming from the outside, life settles into a routine for the survivors. They sample the various pleasures the mall provides, some of them getting so comfortable they even invent a version of "Hollywood Squares", where they search the parking-lot mob for zombies that resemble famous celebrities, and Andy takes them out with headshots from his sniper rifle. Ana and Michael edge into the beginnings of a romance.
This peaceful interlude ends when the mall’s power goes out. Michael releases CJ and Bart to show him to the power generator in the basement; entering the underground parking area along with Ken, they find an unaffected dog and a zombie which attacks Bart. More zombies appear, finishing off Bart and forcing the others to retreat to the fuel storage area. CJ and Ken hold off the zombies by shooting them through the fencing around the fuel storage, but soon run low on ammo. Michael douses the zombies with gasoline and CJ ignites them with a lighter, breaking the charge.
Meanwhile, Andre has Luda (now heavily-infected and heavily-pregnant) strapped to a bed in the mall's children's store. Even as she goes into labor, she dies and reanimates. He merely gags her as she attempts to bite him; he has sunken completely into denial and grief, and thinks only of bringing his child into the world. Norma enters the store to check on the couple, and finds the restrained zombie and the demented Andre clutching a small bundle of blankets. Norma shoots Luda, causing Andre to completely snap; they exchange gunfire, leaving three corpses to be found by the other survivors. Ana opens the bundle, revealing a dead-eyed zombie infant. She pulls her pistol, and a second shot echoes through the mall.
[edit] Leaving The Mall
The survivors hold a memorial, where Ken says the only thing worse than death is sitting around waiting to die. Michael proposes that they take two small buses from the garage, upgrade them, rescue Andy, and leave for sanctuary. Steve sarcastically suggests they go to the local marina and take his boat out for a pleasure cruise. Ana realizes this is a good idea, as the islands out in the lake were less inhabited, making them safer than the city. Everyone (eventually) agrees to the plan, and begins to retrofit the vehicles. What were just simple parking shuttles become armored with a snowplow shovel, bars, barbed wire and slots prepared for shooting. Several propane fuel tanks and chainsaws are also loaded on board. However, the ammunition situation is grim, with only a handful of bullets and shells left. Andy meanwhile faces the exact opposite problem: he has plenty of ammunition, but no food, and soon will not be strong enough to come with them. Over Nicole's objections, the group straps a food-pack on “Chips”, the dog from the basement, and lowers him to the ground. Just as they hoped, the zombies ignore him and he successfully follows Andy’s whistle over to a small sliding entrance door of the ammunition shop. As the dog enters, however, a zombie also forces his way inside. Shots are fired.
Everyone is apprehensive, but Andy finds the walkie-talkie included in the pack and talks to them. Their relief is short-lived: he's been bitten. Nicole, distraught over Chips, manages to drive the delivery truck over to the shop and get the radio while Andy heads to his roof. His erratic actions there confirm that he is becoming a zombie, and the watchers tell Nicole to hide or get out. Andy goes back downstairs and traps her in a storage closet. The others gather weapons and head into the sewers, exiting through a manhole and breaking into the gun store just ahead of the zombie horde. They terminate Andy, gather up as much firepower and ammo as they can carry, and clear a path by tossing a propane tank from the gun-shop roof and detonating it. They successfully re-enter the sewers but the zombies follow close behind, and CJ is forced to shoot Tucker after he is incapicitated by a broken leg. The others make it back into the mall, but thanks to Steve abandoning his post at the entryway, security is breached. The living dead flood in and everyone has to flee ahead of schedule.
Quickly splitting up into the two buses, the survivors use another propane tank to blast through the parking lot mob, and begin a high-speed drive through the rubble of the predawn city streets. Ken spots a zombie hanging onto the side of their van, and Glen moves to take it out with his enormous chainsaw. At that moment, Ana tells Michael (driving the lead van) to take a hard corner. The sudden swerve sends the chainsaw cutting into Monica instead of the zombie. Blood spatters everywhere, causing Ken to lose control and crash.
Steve exits the wrecked vehicle and is attacked by the hitchhiking zombie, while Monica and Glen are both killed by the chainsaw. As the others scramble for the remaining van, a zombified Steve shambles into view, and Ana shoots him. More zombies appear on the scene, but realizing that Steve's corpse has the boat keys, Ana must linger long enough to retrieve them. This gives the zombies enough time to catch them, leading to another firefight and narrow escape.
The van arrives at the boat yard and smashes through the surrounding fence before crashing to a halt at the edge of the dock. Everyone exits the vehicle except CJ who lingers to hold off the zombies. Swarmed by the attackers, CJ heroically detonates a final propane tank, destroying the truck, the zombies and himself. Everyone boards Steve's boat except Michael, who reveals that he was bitten when Ana got the keys. Ana still begs him to come, but he refuses, unties the boat and says goodbye to what is left of the group (i.e. Ana, Ken, Terry, Nicole and Chips). The boat moves out and Ana watches sadly but unflinchingly as he draws his pistol and places it under his chin. A final gunshot rings out over the water.
The end credits roll, interspersed with footage taken by Terry with a video camera he found on board. The voyage across the deserted lake is grim: the travelers are short on food, potable water and gas. The boat does barely make it to an island, but as the group ventures out onto the waiting dock, there is a roar and a new swarm of zombies comes pouring into view. The camera falls to the dock and goes dark, leaving the final fate of the survivors very uncertain.
[edit] 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 |
[edit] Reception
Heavily derided by fans and critics before its release,<ref>Stop the Dawn of the Dead remake!.</ref> on release the film received mixed to positive reactions from both, and is regarded as both a critical and financial success. <ref>http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dawn_of_the_dead/</ref> Particular praise was given to the 10 minute pre-credit sequence.<ref>http://www.reelfilm.com/dawn04.htm</ref><ref>http://chutry.wordherders.net/archives/001747.html</ref> This segment was played on TV the week before the film was released, a practice that has become common since.<ref>Get a Sneak Peek at the 2004 Version of the Horror Movie Dawn of the Dead.</ref>
Others felt that the film did not retain the social satire and poignancy of the original.<ref>http://www.themovieboy.com/reviews/d/04_dawnofthedead.htm</ref> Romero himself, while having strong reservations about some elements of the film, stated that he thought the film was better than he had anticipated. [citation needed]
[edit] Premise changes from 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. Many admirers of the original (including Romero himself) protested this change, feeling that it limited the impact of the undead.<ref>http://www.ajhakari.com/guestcritics/dawnofthedead2004guest.htm</ref><ref>http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7973</ref> 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, the plague spread slowly over a period of weeks and months. In the remake, it springs up worldwide overnight. In the original, anyone who dies of any reason returns after an hour or two. 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.<ref>http://www.pajiba.com/dawn-of-the-dead.htm</ref>
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 The Lost Tape: Andy's Terrifying Last Days Revealed, located on the DVD. 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", a news program detailing the world-wide effects of the zombie epidemic on humanity.
[edit] Trivia
Image:DawnM.jpg- The opening shots of the film credits begins with a shot of zombie like Muslims praying in a Islamic mosque and various shots of mobs in an Islamic country seemingly making a direct reference to religious fanaticism.
- 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 a mention of Armageddon, numerous Bible references and quotes from the Book of Revelations 6:8.
- Starbucks Coffee, along with many other corporations, did not wish to be featured in the film. All stores in the mall, except for the Roots and Panasonic stores featured in one of the first mall scenes, are fictional.
- Three actors from the original film have cameos in the remake: Ken Foree, who played Peter from the original, plays the evangelist on television who asserts that God is punishing mankind; Scott H. Reiniger, who played Roger in the original, plays the army general on television telling everyone to stay at home for safety; and Tom Savini, who played the motorcycle gang member Blades in the original, plays the Los Angeles County Sheriff explaining the only way to kill the zombies is to "shoot 'em in the head."
- Actual human blood was utilized for the credit sequences.[citation needed]
- The production used real amputees to portray zombies that were missing limbs.
- James Gunn is only partially responsible for the screenplay, despite receiving solo writing credit. After he left the project to concentrate on Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, both Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank were brought in for rewrites. In a commentary track on the Ultimate Edition DVD for the original film, producer Richard P. Rubenstein explained that Tolkin further developed the characters, while Frank provided some of the bigger action sequences.
- No mention of a cause for the living dead is actually mentioned in the film. However, the copy on the DVD box implies that it is a virus.
- The first half of the film was shot almost entirely in chronological order.
- The final sequences on the boat and island were shot much later (Universal Studios in California, a different location) than the rest of the movie. Preview audiences objected to the sudden ending of the original print.
- At the end of the movie when Michael pushes the boat away from the dock, there is no firearm nearby. Yet in the sequence when Michael shoots himself, a gun suddenly appears in his hand.
- 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 Neighbourhood of Thornhill, Ontario. The mall was demolished shortly after the film was shot.
- 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.
- This film contains multiple references to the original. A store in the mall is named Gaylen Ross, the actress that played the female lead in the original. A sign for "Wooley's Diner" can be seen, a nod to the character of "Wooley" in the 1978 version. A truck from the BP corporation is seen, the same trucks as in the original. The WGON helicopter from the first film is seen flying into the frame in one sequence. Even 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. Also, in one of the opening sequences, a car can be seen crashing into a petrol station and exploding. This is a reference to the first film in the series.
- In both the original and the remake versions, Ken Foree speaks the tagline "When there is no more room in hell the dead will walk the earth".
- The music in the film featured both the original version of "Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed and the Lounge music version by Richard Cheese. This was the first time most people had ever heard Cheese, and as a result of the film this is still by far his best known song.
- The word "zombie" is never said in the film. However, the term is used in the news report on the DVD.
- The game Dead Rising seems to be loosely based on this movie as the basic premise is the same. The only difference in the game and the 2004 movie is there is a safe room. In the 2004 movie, the entire upstairs was the safe area.
[edit] Sequel
- Universal has announced that they are working on a sequel.<ref>Zack Snyder talks Dawn of the Dead 2, New Sequel. Retrieved on 2006-11-18.</ref> The survivors are in talks to return for the sequel. The sequel is in no way related to the Day of the Dead (2007 film), although ironically Ving Rhames (Kenneth) is in the latter film (albeit in a much different role than Kenneth).
[edit] External links
- Dawn of the Dead (2004) at the Internet Movie Database
- Official Site
- Trailers
- Dawn of the Dead (2004) at Rotten Tomatoes
- Dawn of the Dead (2004) at Metacritic
- Dawn of the Dead (2004) at Box Office Mojo
- Mistakes Database
- April 24, 2003 draft screenplay
- Maddox Review
- StillTwitching.com
[edit] References
<references/>
| The Living Dead films |
|---|
| Official Romero directed films |
| Night of the Living Dead • Dawn of the Dead • Day of the Dead • Land of the Dead • Diary of the Dead |
| Unofficial sequel/spin-offs |
| Italian Zombi series: Zombi 2 • Zombi 3 • Zombi 4 (aka Oltre la Morte or After Death) |
| Other: Day of the Dead 2: Contagium • Children of the Living Dead |
| Remakes |
| Night of the Living Dead (1990) • Dawn of the Dead (2004) • Night of the Living Dead 3-D • Day of the Dead (2007) |
| Return of the Living Dead series |
| Return of the Living Dead • Return of the Living Dead Part II • Return of the Living Dead 3 • Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis • Return of the Living Dead: Rave from the Grave |
| Spoofs/parodies |
| Night of the Living Bread • Shaun of the Dead |
es:El amanecer de los muertos (2004) fr:L'Armée des morts nl:Dawn of the Dead (2004 film) ja:ドーン・オブ・ザ・デッド sv:Dawn of the Dead (2004) zh:活人生吃
