Film Review: DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)
DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) USA/Canada/Japan/France 1hr 41mins
Director: Zack Snyder
"What are they?" - Michael
"I dunno... why are they coming here?"- Anna
"Memory, maybe ... instinct? Maybe they're coming for us." - Kenneth
Taking on the remake of a movie that has been revered for many decades by zombie fans and classic horror fans alike is not something just anyone can pull off. George A. Romeros DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978) has three main versions that fans are familiar with; the theatrical cut, the extended Cannes film festival cut and Dario Argentos cut ZOMBI. The ideas and values that Romero brought to the genre have been copied a million times over but no one directly made a remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD until 2004. Producers Eric Newman and Marc Abraham are the people responsible for "re-evisioning" DAWN for a modern audience. Between them they put together a team which included James Gunn to write the screenplay and Zack Snyder to direct. At this point in time Gunn only had a few writing credits to his name including TROMEO AND JULIET (1996) and SCOOBY-DOO: THE MOVIE (2002). Snyder was directing music videos for artists Morrissey, Soul Asylum, ZZ Top and Rod Stewart in the mid 90's to early 2000's. As the team was completed they adopted a "go big, or go home" attitude and had a go at creating a DAWN OF THE DEAD for the modern zombie fan. Gunn took inspiration from Romeros original 1978 screenplay and went with 2 main themes of Romeros vision.1) the idea of the global zombie virus (the kind that causes the infected to die, reanimate and spread the virus by bites and the consumption of human flesh) and 2) the iconic building that Francine, Stephen, Peter and Roger took refuge in way back in the 70's...the Mall! To bring it up to date they decided make it a more action packed and socially relevant movie for the modern day gore hungry youth. For some reason, by the late 90's- early 00's, it would seem that the shuffling, shambling ghouls of the classic zombie era were no longer scary to the kids those days... they needed re-inventing in a fashion. It is about this time that fast zombies really started taking form. Of course, Danny Boyle had already planted the seed with 28 DAYS LATER (2002) in the guise of Rage Virus, quick turning, absolutely NOT zombies... infected. With this version of DAWN Gunn had to stay true to Romeros template but also make them scary and athletic like Boyles infected and I think it's safe to say that he managed to nail the zombie aesthetic enough to please both the old school shuffling zombie fans and the people that wanted something more.
I do believe I am already getting ahead of myself, there will be plenty of time to talk walking corpses later but first let me lay down some plot for you. Based in Milwaukee, USA it begins with radio reports of civil unrest and violence heard at the hospital as nurse Anna (Sarah Polley) finishes her shift late and heads home to her boyfriend Luis (Louis Ferreira). When she left the hospital was filling up with quite a few casualties that claim to have been bitten. One of the first undead ghouls you see up close (and a very bold move on their part) is the young girl Vivian who Anna had seen in the street on her way home roller skating around the neighbourhood. She appears in Anna and Luis' bedroom doorway in the early hours of the following morning with a huge wound on her face. As Anna goes to get the first aid kit, Luis tries to calm the girl down, she responds by viciously attacking him and biting a chunk out of his neck. Anna shuts Vivian out of the room as she now turns her attention to Luis who has lost a vast amount of blood and quickly expires. He reanimates in minutes and Anna barricades herself in the bathroom as a blood spewing, cloudy eyed Luis corpse starts to beat down the door. Throwing herself out of the window she gets to her car just as Luis runs out after her. The realisation that the zombie apocalypse has well and truly hit becomes apparent to Anna as she witnesses the deaths of many, many people as her neighbourhood is destroyed around her. After crashing her car she is found by cop Kenneth (Ving Rhames) and they in turn team up with Michael (Jake Weber), Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his pregnant wife Luda (Inna Korobkina) who are trying to find a safe place to lay low and the best place they could think of was the Crossroads Mall. That is pretty much it in terms of the original, there's no political agenda at the start, no helicopter hence no reason for a pilot and no biker gang invasion or even pie fights for that matter (sigh) but that is probably for the best.
The group encounter the Malls security team; the arrogant CJ (Michael Kelly), the slightly dumb Bart (Michael Barry) and the rookie Tony (Kevin Zegers) who they clash with at first but they learn that they have to work together and as more survivors start turning up some bitten, some not they soon start to realise how the virus is transmitted and that perhaps they are not as safe as they thought at Crossroads Mall. An escape is planned but how many of them will survive?
A further similarity to Romeros DAWN is that this 2004 version heavily relies on strong characters. With a decidedly larger cast than the original you quickly make judgements and notice the different personalities, how they react to eachother and who to route for. Ving Rhames as Kenneth (an obvious tribute to Ken Foree I am assuming) plays his part really well as he is quite a down played character. At first he is brooding and moody but shows his protective side when it comes to the group and the great friendship he forms with Andy (Bruce Bohne) the guy in the gun store across from the mall. Sarah Polley as Anna is a likeable and strong female character but for me it has to be Michael Kelly as CJ who steals the show going from asshole to badass as the movie progresses. There are plenty of characters to route for even when it ends in tragedy. A remake would not be a remake without a few cameos and we have some crackers here. Boyd Banks makes an appearance as part of the later survivor group. Tom Savini is Sheriff Cahill who appears in a TV news report as the guy that tells everyone to "shoot them in the head!". Ken Foree has the best part though as the Televangelist that quotes directly the "when there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth!!" line. Of course, with almost every early 00's horror movie we have a canine character, Chips who plays a significant role in getting everyone out of the mall.
As this is a big budget remake the FX, action and gore need to be on point and you notice this right from the get go. There is a whole lot going on in this that makes for a seriously thrilling watch. Even before the opening credits the carnage that unfolds on Annas street as she escapes is absolutely bonkers. The scene when Anna is in traffic stuck behind the bus truely made me pop a mental note in my head to avoid all bus travel in times of apocalypse! The FX are bloody, graphic and gratuitous!! As well as all the zombie carnage there are some spectacular stunts, props and epic chainsaw action.
Now... back to the zombies. As mentioned earlier they are not the typical Romero zombies we all know and love, the virus is one we are familiar with however. The dead don't stay dead. A person is infected via blood and saliva so more often then not, a bite. Reanimation is time dependant. If you suffer a bite it can take a matter of hours for the fever to take hold but once you have expired reanimation will take a matter of minutes. If you are mortally wounded like in the case of Annas doomed boyfriend Luis, then death will come quickly... as will reanimation. These guys are fresh from the dead, fast as fuck and relentlessly hungry for flesh. The justification for them being fast seems to be that unlike Romeros idea that all the dead are susceptible to the virus this one seems to affect only fresh corpses. No long buried cadavers digging themselves up here. They horde and swarm en masse and on quite a few occasions really make you think that there is no hope. They look really great and it is some of the best zombie acting of recent times. I've lost count of how many times I have watched this and even though I know what's coming I am genuinely scared. The bit in the carpark when the power goes out, the escape in the buses (those damn buses again!!!) and the Andre and Luda scenes have stayed with me... not to mention the footage over the end credits!! There are some great practical FX, masses of blood and gore, zombies missing various limbs and major parts of their anatomy and, of course, there are the Twitchers!!
Choosing, like Argentos ZOMBI to lay off the slapstick style comic book humour this DAWN does the funny in slightly different ways. Opting for some really over the top characters like CJ and the introduction of the very obnoxious Steve (Ty Burrell). The interactions between the mall group and Andy the gun store guy is also a lot of fun. In regards to the soundtrack it is definitely not along the lines of Romeros mix of jolly and dramatic incidentals, Goblin and The Gonk or Argento's choice of pretty much just Goblin. This DAWN is an interesting mix that I'm only half on board with. It's a massive "yes" to Disturbeds "Down With The Sickness" and a big chuckle to Richard Cheese' version of the same song. A bit of Johnny Cash is okay but the Stereophonics and Tree Adams can do one! This is just my own personal preference you understand.
I am not championing DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) as my preferred version of the DAWN movies (for me it would be Romeros Theatrical Cut from 1978) but I am prepared to say that DAWN '04 is a fantastic re-imagining of the movie for the modern age. I will also go so far as to say DAWN '04 is THE best remake of any of Romeros trilogy to date and God knows how many times people are going to remake NIGHT and DAY OF THE DEAD but they seem less keen to take on DAWN. Perhaps this is because of the success of this 2004 version and that any attempt to better this is likely to fall very flat. It's big, bold, gory and funny but serious at the same time, it certainly is one of Snyders best directorial efforts. On the ratings scale I score DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) a solid 4 out of 5 brains!
DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004) is available on Prime and DVD/Blu Ray. Directors cut and Special Editions are also available! Which ever version you go for make sure you get the extras with "THE LOST TAPE: ANDY'S TERRIFYING LAST DAYS REAVEALED" if you want to see what happened to Andy.
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