Dawn of the Dead (2004)

I won't be comparing this remake to the original dawn of the dead film because I haven't seen it. I'm just going to review it as a regular movie as if it wasn't even a remake. The movie begins with a nurse at her suburban home with her husband. They go to sleep and the next morning she finds a neighborhood girl that has been turned into a zombie and she of course runs to her car and escapes. She then discovers the zombie epidemic that has claimed the city in which she lives, and ultimately everywhere. She some other survivors drives to the mall and take refuge there. The acting is pretty good, all the actors give believable performances. The scare factor is definitely there, I thought the zombie attacks were creepy and had a very suspenseful feel to it. The only thing I didn't like as far as the killings go was the accidental ones, there's one character that accidentally gets killed by another survivor and I thought that was pretty stupid. That's really my only complaint as far as that goes, I wouldn't have minded if they were a little less gory but that didn't bother me all too much. The writing was fairly decent, better than your average horror film, which is refreshing to see. The movie has a high entertainment value, which is the only reason anyone would ever want to watch this movie. 8/10 for Dawn of the Dead.

Ana goes home to her husband, after a difficult night shift, but is shocked in the morning when he is brutally attacked by her neighbour. In the chaos of her neighbourhood, Ana flees and comes into contact with 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 to run low and other trapped survivors need help, the group come to realise that they cannot stay there forever, and plan to escape......To say now that Snyder made a film that would stand proud in the serious Zombie horror genre, would be met with guffaws, seeing that since this film, his output has been mediocre to say the least. But in 2004, one film changed the way people would perceive the 'Zombie' genre, and the way most 'zombie' films are made today.But that's enough of Shaun Of The Dead.DOTD doesn't try anything new, aside from the fast zombies that we would all hate to be stuck with, and although it never reaches the height's of the original, it still entertaining and shocking in equal doses, thanks to a wonderful script, and very good performances from all the cast.There is nothing special about this group of people, and they wood be just as nameless as the dead outside, if you were to pass them on a normal day.The film does follow the tropes you would expect from a film like this. You get the leader of the pack, who is just a simple mane with common sense, the people who were there first, thinking they are the kings of the castle. The obligatory yuppie, who whines throughout the movie, until he comes good. We get the tough cop with a heart of gold, and of course, because we have to be all PC, the main protagonist is a woman, who adapts to everything really, really quickly (see also The River Wild).It never lets up, there are some truly disturbing scenes, but foe a remake of one of the most cherished zombie films of all times, it's a pretty solid film.

An overworked nurse kicks back after her tiresome shift, only to find next morning her world has turned into the zombie apocalypse. How will she survive?Perfect horror. The opening sequence is a master class in movie making, mixing tension with enjoyable character, and when we pitch into the main story the simple dialogue and performances keep the show going with wonderful pace. And after a hectic climax we're treated to the greatest end-credits ever.Plenty of gore and gun-blasting, but always humour - especially through the music - and so many character arcs and pay-offs from the excellent writing. Also a healthy dose of satire on religion.I come to praise. But there is a mystery - the director and writer joined the Hollywood clown show after this, so how did they come up with such brilliance in the first place? Logically, it must be Romero's influence as co-writer, but I don't buy that. (ps. The script was re-written by two uncredited writers.)Overall: thankful it got made, however it got made - as enjoyable to re-watch as Jaws and The Shining.

It is impossible to evaluate the success of this movie without comparing it to the original. The fantasy element of living in the mall which drove the classic film, of having all the creature comforts of civilization amid the apocalypse, is missing entirely. The social commentary of the original, that consumerism has become so instinctive that even zombies would gravitate towards the mall, is missing entirely. This isn't "Dawn of the Dead"; this is just a movie that has a mall in it. Also absent are any compelling characters. While the original focused on no more than four survivors, the number is more than tripled in the remake to diminished effect. There are no nuanced portrayals here; the cast never transcends flat character descriptions like "the tough nurse", "the pregnant woman", or "the jerk security guard". As we see them dispatched with the indifference we might reserve for reality show contestants, none of these characters make much of an impression. Original film actor Ken Foret has a brief cameo as a fundamentalist preacher, and in his less than two minutes of screen time he provides a more powerful performance than any of the main cast.The fast zombies are more comedic than scary. Whether they're sprinting after cars like cartoon dogs, bashing their heads through doors, or squealing like pigs as they are picked off by gunfire, the undead never seem to present a credible threat. For all its enhanced budget and updated special effects, this "Dawn of the Dead" does not offer anything that cannot be found in the previous four decades of zombie horror. Once again we have to sit through the usual bickering between survivors over who will lead, the standard "bit by a zombie and waiting to turn" play for our sympathies, the predictable ill- advised trip to the basement. All this and more has been done before, and executed more effectively.Zack Snyder has always been an amazing visualist, and this is one way in which the film redeems itself. The full scope of a neighborhood descending into chaos is revealed through a camera mounted on an escaping vehicle. Two characters saying a tearful goodbye is broken into multiple cuts from several perspectives, distorting time and drawing us into the moment. The daylight scenes appear overexposed, amplifying the idea that this catastrophe is happening in our real world. Sadly, no amount of skillful cinematography can help this mashup of worn out horror movie banalities.