Dawn of the Dead (2004)

 “When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.”

The original Dawn of the Dead is a classic and Zack Snyder (Man of Steel) is one of my least favorite working directors. Those are two pretty big things hanging over this film, but it’s actually great. I first saw this film in high school, prepared to hate it, and ended up really loving it.

Dawn of the Dead was written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and directed by Snyder. It was made on a budget of $26 million, made $26,722,575 upon opening, and went on to make $102,278,712 worldwide. It was released on March 19th, 2004 and received mixed to positive reviews.

Like the original film, Dawn of the Dead follows a group of survivors of a zombie outbreak who take shelter in a mall and attempt to build a new life there while evading the horrors outside. While the original featured only four survivors, this version features a far larger group.

The expanded ensemble works both for and against the film’s favor. The larger cast allows for more varied character dynamics and a larger body count, but at the expense of significant character development for many of them. With the film running a full hour shorter than the original, there’s just not enough time to spend with everyone. 

That runtime is a great boon for the film. While the original is fantastic, its 2 ½ hour runtime does lead to some pacing issues. Here at 110 minutes (if you’re watching the Unrated Cut, which I was), the pacing is much smoother.

While several of them are quite underdeveloped, the cast is generally pretty good. Sarah Polley (Splice) is a fantastic lead, and Ty Burrell (Modern Family) is extremely memorable as the charismatic asshole (several years before his big breakout role). 

Ultimately, a big thing that this film has going for it is that it is exciting. Snyder was early in his career so his less tolerable traits (massive self-importance, egregious slo-mo, etc.) aren’t as apparent. The opening sequence is fucking exhilerating and there are several standout sequences throughout. Though it might be controversial to say, I quite enjoy the use of fast zombies in this film. 

The remake of Dawn of the Dead takes a smart approach by taking the concept of the original (zombies, mall) and crafting a new interpretation of that concept. It’s gory, exciting, and fun. 

Rating: 4 zombie babies out of 5

Other Observations:

• Does the Dog Die? Chips the Dog (the true MVP of the film) survives on screen, though the credits sequence doesn’t look great for him or any of the other survivors.

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: That zombie baby is real fucked up.

• I really don’t like Zack Snyder (an opinion I’ve foolishly shared on Twitter) but I am looking forward to Army of the Dead, it looks pretty good. I wish I could have seen an alternate version of his career where he stayed in horror instead of narcissistic action films.

Next Week: Officially, next week I’m covering a novel, specifically Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. However, if I’m not able to finish re-reading it in time I’ll be covering the remake of The Invisible Man.