Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)
| Dawn of the Dead | |
|---|---|
 Promotional poster | |
| Directed by | Zack Snyder |
| Written by | 1978 Screenplay: George A. Romero Screenplay: James Gunn Uncredited: Scott Frank Michael Tolkin |
| Produced by | Richard P. Rubinstein Marc Abraham Eric Newman Thomas Bliss |
| Starring | Sarah Polley Ving Rhames Jake Weber Michael Kelly Kevin Zegers Mekhi Phifer Inna Korobkina |
| Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
| Edited by | Niven Howie |
| Music by | Tyler Bates |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date | March 19, 2004 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | Template:Film US |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $28 million |
| Box office | $102,356,381 |
Dawn of the Dead is a Template:Fy American horror remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film of the same name. The remake and original both depict a handful of human survivors living in a shopping mall surrounded by swarms of zombies, but the details differ significantly. Directed by Zack Snyder and his directorial debut, the film was produced by Strike Entertainment in association with New Amsterdam Entertainment, released by Universal Pictures and stars Ving Rhames, Sarah Polley and Jake Weber with cameos from original cast members Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger and Tom Savini.
Plot
Ana, a nurse, finishes a long shift at her Milwaukee hospital, then returns to her peaceful suburban home and waiting husband Luis. The two jump in the shower and miss emergency television broadcasts about a mysterious epidemic. The next morning their neighbor's zombified daughter enters their bedroom and kills Luis, who immediately reanimates as a zombie and attacks Ana, who barely escapes. Ana flees in her car, but crashes into a tree after a bus driver attempts to hijack her car. Accompanying the opening credits is a bleak news-video montage depicting swarms of zombies overwhelming human civilization.
Upon waking, Ana meets Kenneth Hall, a police sergeant. They and three others – jack-of-all-trades Michael, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant Russian wife Luda – break into the nearby Crossroads Shopping Mall. Inside, a zombified mall security guard attacks the group and just barely bites Luda.
They confront three living security guards – C.J., Bart and Terry – who proclaim them "hostiles" and make them surrender their weapons in exchange for refuge. After the group secures the mall, they head to the roof and "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 carrying survivors enters the mall's parking lot closely followed by zombies. Terry sides with the new arrivals, C.J. and Bart are disarmed, Michael and Andre help the newcomers into the mall: Norma (the driver), Steve Marcus, Tucker, Monica, Glen, Frank (who has been bitten), his teen daughter Nicole, and a bloated, heavily-infected woman. They learn Fort Pastor, a nearby army post, has been overrun. Kenneth decides to rescue his brother. On his way out he sees Andy holding a sign asking for info. After a short conversation between them over signs Kenneth rethinks his plan and goes back inside.
The bloated woman dies, but soon reanimates and chases Ana across the room. Ana grabs a pole and rams it through the woman's eye. The group determines that the disease is blood-borne and bites pass the virus to the victim. Andre leaves to see Luda. Frank is isolated in a store with Kenneth, who shoots Frank when he turns into a zombie.
The mall provides many material distractions, including golf, movies, clothes, jewelry, and sports. Relationships develop, and Michael and Ana edge towards a romance. Kenneth and Andy become friends, playing chess via signs and finding zombies with the likeness of a famous person, and Andy sniping the zombie he thinks Kenneth is talking about. The group sits down to dinner, and discovers that Michael was a father; his son most likely died. The mall’s power goes out as Luda goes into labor. She shows signs of infection. C.J. and Bart show Michael and Kenneth where the emergency generator is. When they meet an unaffected dog Michael figures nothing is in the basements or it would have killed the dog. Seconds later a zombie jumps onto Bart's back and attacks him. They are chased by a swarm of zombies. The zombie swarm kills Bart and traps the others in the generator compartment, where they douse the zombies with gasoline and set them ablaze.
Meanwhile, Luda dies. The baby begins to push against the womb, seen as lumps on her stomach. Luda reanimates while Andre becomes delusional, trying to gag the zombie Luda. Norma checks on the couple, discovering the zombie-Luda and the deranged Andre. Andre proclaims "It's a girl", followed by "You wanna kill my family?". Norma shoots Luda in the head, causing Andre to snap completely; they exchange more gunfire and kill each other. The rest of the group arrive and open the bundle Andre was clutching to reveal a zombie baby. This confirms the blood-borne illness theory.
The remaining survivors decide to flee the mall, fight their way to the local marina, and from there travel out on Steve's yacht to an island in Lake Michigan. They reinforce two shuttle buses from the parking garage, removing the seats, welding on a snowplow, attaching metal bars and floodlights, stringing barbed wire, and covering the windows with sections of chain link fence. Chainsaws, propane tanks, gun ports, and other supplies are also loaded on board. Meanwhile, Andy is starving, so the mall survivors strap a pack of food and a walkie-talkie on "Chips", the dog from the basement, and lower him into the parking lot. The zombies are not interested in Chips, and the dog reaches the gun store untouched. However, a zombie gets in through the door before Andy can close it, leaving Andy badly injured. Nicole, distraught over Chips, takes the delivery truck and barges into the gun store, where she is trapped by a zombified Andy.
Kenneth leads a rescue team through the sewers. They reach the gun store, and kill Andy. Nicole and Chips are found unharmed in a closet. The group grabs weapons and ammunition and leave the store. During the return, Tucker slips and falls in the sewer, breaking his leg. C.J. tries to rescue him, but the zombies catch up. The group is locked out of the mall due to Steve's failure as a guard. They form a firing line as they wait for someone to open the door. Ana saves them, and they escape into the mall. However, they are unable to lock the door, forcing an evacuation.
The survivors pile into the buses and escape to the parking lot, where the zombies have formed a dense swarm. C.J. climbs to the top of the van to use the propane bomb to clear a path through the waiting horde. The two vans navigate through the city; after a huge turn, Glen loses control of the chainsaw and he cuts Monica in half. Blood splatters on the windshield causing Kenneth to crash the bus. A hitchhiking zombie attacks Steve as he tries to escape.
C.J. exits the first van to rescue the survivors of the crash. Kenneth and Terry scramble for the first bus with C.J. and Ana, meeting zombie-Steve on the way. Ana kills him after discovering both Glen and Monica's dead bodies in the crash. She retrieves the boat keys off his corpse, then flees to the bus. After a struggle, they pull away and speed to the marina, where they crash the bus and dash for the boat. C.J stays behind and detonates a final propane tank, sacrificing himself. The remainder of the group gets on the boat, except for Michael. He reveals he was bitten during the escape. Ana watches as Michael draws his pistol, places it under his chin, and pulls the trigger leaving Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, Terry and Chips the only survivors.
The closing credits are interspersed with short clips from a camcorder found on the boat. The scenes from the camera begin with Steve's escapades on the boat, followed by the discovery of another boat with a zombie head inside, the boat's supplies running out, engine fires, and the island coming within range. As the group disembarks, a new swarm of zombies attacks. The film ends with the dropped camcorder recording dozens of zombies chasing them, leaving their fate unknown.
Production
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 George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, Richard P. Rubinstein, producer of both the original and the remake, explained that Tolkin further developed the characters, while Frank provided some of the bigger and upbeat action sequences.
The mall scenes of the film as well as the rooftop scenes were shot in the Thornhill Square Shopping Center in Thornhill, Ontario and the rest of the scenes were shot in the Aileen-Willowbrook Neighborhood of Thornhill, Ontario. The set for Ana and Louis's bedroom was constructed in a backroom of the mall.[1] The mall was defunct, which is the reason the production used it; the movie crew completely renovated the structure, and stocked it with fictitious stores after Starbucks and numerous other corporations refused to let their names be used[1] (two exceptions to this are Roots and Panasonic). Most of the mall was demolished shortly after the film was shot. The fictitious stores include a coffee shop called Hallowed Grounds (a lyric from Johnny Cash's song "The Man Comes Around," which was used over the opening credits), and an upscale department store called Gaylen Ross (an in-joke reference to one of the stars of the original 1978 movie).
The first half of the film was shot almost entirely in chronological order,[1] while the final sequences on the boat and island were shot much later and at a different location (Universal Studios Hollywood) than the rest of the movie, after preview audiences objected to the sudden ending of the original print.[1] fat people
Deleted scenes
Scenes cut from the film's original theatrical release were added back for the "Unrated Director's Cut" DVD edition. Along with gore effects removed to obtain an "R-rating",[2] they include a clearer depiction of how the survivors originally break into the mall, and a short scene where the character of Glen "tortures" the imprisoned C.J. and Bart with his reminiscing about his homosexual coming-of-age. The DVD also offers, as a bonus feature, several more scenes which were not included in any version of the film, including an expanded version of the fictional live broadcasts shown in the mall's televisions, which chronicles the zombie infection in the USA and around the world.
Music
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 mentions of Armageddon, numerous Bible references and quotes from the Book of Revelation 6:8. The film also featured "People Who Died" by The Jim Carroll Band, as well as both the original version of "Down with the Sickness" by Disturbed and the lounge, jazz-like version by Richard Cheese (the lounge version was played during the film, while the original version was played when the survivors met their morbid fate at the island). "Have a Nice Day" by Stereophonics was also used early in the film. The muzak playing in the mall when the survivors first arrive is Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and as they flee to the buses it is Air Supply's "All Out of Love". Both muzak pieces, as well as others, were performed by Tree Adams.
Director Zack Snyder personally selected all the songs for the film's soundtrack.
Reception
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 and plot outline, UIP opted to push back Shaun's release by two weeks. It was screened out of competition at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.[3]
The film has received generally positive reviews from both moviegoers and critics. It holds a rating of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes.[4] Roger Ebert said the film "works and it delivers just about what you expect when you buy your ticket" but felt that it "lacks the mordant humor of the Romero version" and the "plot flatlines compared to the 1978 version, which was trickier, wittier and smarter".[5] George A. Romero is quoted as saying of the film, "It was better than I expected. ... The first 15, 20 minutes were terrific, but it sort of lost its reason for being. It was more of a video game. I'm not terrified of things running at me; it's like Space Invaders. There was nothing going on underneath."[6]
The film grossed over $59 million at the box office,[7] (over $102 million worldwide[8]) and is one of the few zombie films to make over $100 million at international box-office.[9] Its success also launched the career of director Zack Snyder, who would go on to direct 300 and Watchmen.
Comparisons to 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, and are, on the whole, closer to the quick-moving, psychotically violent victims of the 'Rage' virus in the 2002 British horror film 28 Days Later and the zombies of 1985's Return of the Living Dead than the traditional shambling Zombie archetype. Many admirers of the original, as well as Romero himself, protested this change, feeling that it limited the impact of the undead.[10] 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 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 George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead, as in Night of the Living Dead, all 'recently dead' are reanimated by an unidentified source. Zombie bites seem to somehow induce rapid death, and subsequent reanimation, even though death by any manner will result in reanimation of the dead as well. The cause is never fully elaborated upon, but news reports in the first film imply that the cause is radiation from a space probe to Venus that was destroyed and landed back on Earth. In the remake, it springs up worldwide overnight, and is most likely a blood or saliva-borne infection, relying on zombie bites for transmission (like rabies). In the original, anyone who dies for any reason returns after several minutes (so long as their brain is intact). In the remake, only those bitten 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 criticized the resulting loss of character development.[11]
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 in the special features section.
Three actors from the original film have cameos in the remake, appearing on the TVs the survivors watch: Ken Foree, who played Peter from the original, plays an evangelist who asserts that God is punishing mankind; Scott H. Reiniger, who played Roger in the original, plays an army general telling everyone to stay at home for safety and Tom Savini, who did the special effects for many of Romero's movies and played the motorcycle gang member Blades in the original Dawn of the Dead, plays the Monroeville Sheriff explaining the only way to kill the zombies is to "shoot 'em in the head." Monroeville is also the location of the mall used in the 1978 film. In addition, a store shown in the mall is called "Gaylen Ross," an obvious nod to actress Gaylen Ross, who played Fran in the original film.
Additional references to Romero's original Living Dead movies include: A sign for "Wooley's Diner" can be seen, a nod to the character of "Wooley" in the 1978 version. The character Tucker's name is a reference to Roy Tucker, one of the SWAT team members in the original. A truck from the BP corporation is seen, the same company as in the original. The WGON helicopter from the first film is seen flying into the frame in one early sequence. 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, and is delivered in both films by actor Ken Foree. Both films have a similar line concerning the concept that zombies were returning to the mall out of instinct for repeating activities from their previous lives. An obese and infected woman is brought into and transported through the mall in a wheelbarrow. This is homage to the wheelbarrow used to carry goods and to transport Roger in the original. The mall-dwellers' ultimate escape plan echoes a similar attempt by a group of ex-policemen at the start of the original Dawn, while the remake's opening sequences contain at least two references to the original Night of the Living Dead film: a car crashes into a gas station and explodes, and the female lead crashes her car into a tree.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d DVD Commentary by director Snyder and producer Newman
- ^ DVD-only introduction by director Snyder
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Dawn of the Dead". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 2009-12-05.
- ^ "Dawn of the Dead (2004) reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ Roger Ebert (March 19, 2004). "Review". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ "Simon Pegg interviews George A Romero". Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- ^ "2004 Yearly Box Office Results". Retrieved 2006-06-12.
- ^ "2004 Worldwide Box Office Results". Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ "Dawn of the Dead (2004)". Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ "John Leguizamo on Land of the Dead". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ "Dawn of the Dead". Retrieved 2009-06-16.
External links
