Cheap Dawn of the Dead (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut) (DVD) (Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer) (Zack Snyder) Price

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Customer Reviews of Dawn of the Dead (Widescreen Unrated Director's Cut)

Romero's 1978 shocker gets an impressive 2004 make over.
Zack Snyder's fast paced remake of George Romero's 1978 low budget cult film may not win the hearts and minds of all Romero's legion of fans......however that's their bad luck. On it's own merits, the 2004 version of "Dawn of the Dead" is a genuinely scary, roller coaster ride into the genre of the living dead. What it may lack from the original in making comments about consumer greed, dysfunctional society and other social issues, it more than makes up for in being a successful meshing of blood thirsty zombies meets the action movie genre.

The new film steers away from the initial reason highligted in Romero's 1967 "Night Of The Living Dead" , that radiation from an aborted Venus probe are reanimating the recently dead. This time around, an unknown virus, transmitted by bites from infected / undead humans is the cause of the deadly plague. Snyder's film starts off innocently enough in an "everyday" atmosphere surrounding a suburban hospital and an average suburban neighbourhood, however all hell suddenly breaks loose, and the landscape of Everett, Wisconsin is plunged into anarchy as neighbours attack each other and those still mobile, flee to find supposed sanctuary. The other key change is that in the original Dawn, Romero's zombies, whilst hungry for human flesh, just shuffled around the place as if they were heading home after a heavy evening at their local bar, and were only of threat to the films heroes when in weight of numbers. Snyder's zombies however, bear more resemblance to the "infected" in Danny Boyle's recent ( and much over rated ) "28 Days Later".....the zombies in "Dawn 2004" are fast on their feet, hyper aggresive and screech like ravenous hyenas when they are in pursuit of their human prey.

Creative cinematography by Matthew Leonetti, razor sharp editing by Niven Howie and an excellent soundtrack including Johnny Cash singing "The Man Comes Around " over the opening credits all contribute to keep the audience entertained and on the edge of their seats. Sarah Polley & Ving Rhames are the two key leads, one a nurse, the other a police officer, and both meeting up with a rag tag bunch of survivors and taking shelter in an enormous shopping mall. In joke : One of the stores in the centre is named "Gaylen Ross".....lead actress from the first Dawn. In addition, fellow cast members from the original Dawn, Ken Foree ( Peter, the SWAT Trooper ) has a cameo as a TV evangelist, where he repeats his famous quote about "When there's no more room in hell...", and Scott H. Reiniger ( the other SWAT Trooper ) is an Army general on TV telling the populace not to panic. Plus SFX make up maestro Tom Savini, is a local sheriff out leading a posse shooting and burning corpses.

Being a very keen fan of the Romero series of living dead films, I must admit I viewed the approaching remake with some apprehension, however I was more than pleased after seeing the final result. Especially given the most recent key theatrical releases surrounding the living dead ( Resident Evil & 28 Days Later ) were both rather toothless and lack lustre. So, leave your "don't mess with the classics" prejudices at home, and enjoy the latest "Dawn of the Dead" for what it is.....an intelligent, fuel injected horror / action film with just the right dose of humour and sarcasm. Highly Recommended.

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Apocalypse Revisited - The new Dawn of the Dead
Remakes of modern classics are inevitable, so this new version of George A. Romero's apocalyptic masterpiece "Dawn of the Dead" was about due, more than 25 years after the original was released. What surprised me is how much I enjoyed this remake, in the same way I enjoyed Tom Savini's underrated 1990 remake of "Night of the Living Dead", as an updated version that serves more as a tribute rather than a derivative knockoff.

This remake only resembles the original in setting and premise. The zombie pandemic sweeps over civilization overnight, causing widespread chaos from which few have survived. Seven survivors find each other and set up camp in a deserted shopping mall, which is convenient and protected. The survivors are a solid mix: A young sympathetic nurse (Sarah Polley), a grizzled cop (Ving Rhames), a level-headed Joe Everyman (Jake Weber), a young black professional (Mekhi Phifer), his pregnant Russian bride (Inna Korobkina, who has about two lines in the entire movie), and three loud mouthed security guards who cause the required tension. Unlike in the original, the mall itself is merely a setting, a place for survival. There are no satirical stabs at mindless consumerism that the original had, this is strictly a horror movie with a couple choice moments of humor thrown in. Don't expect to see zombies trying on hats or playing in the fountains.

Which brings us to the main attraction - the zombies. "Dawn of the Dead" will inevitably draw comparisons to "28 Days Later" for the fact that these zombies are a far cry from the slow, lurching zombies of George Romero's movies. These zombies will run up to you and rip you to pieces before you can look twice. They have no interest in the mall itself, just the people within. They only have one purpose - human flesh, and they are ravenous for it! The big kudos goes to the makeup effects people, who did a wonderful job making these zombies as nasty as possible. Aside from that, this new version has it's share of dramatic moments. Like the original, people bitten by the zombies invariably become zombies themselves, so the survivors have to make tough decisions when one of their own is bitten. The one element that is downplayed slightly is the apocalyptic subtext, where they could conceivably be the only people left in the world. The emotion associated with that kind of reality is not really expressed here. Instead, the filmmakers have focused on the character tension, the death scenes, and those wonderful fright gags that make up jump 10 inches off your chair. Be ready for them.

It would be too obvious to say that this remake is not as good as the original, because you simply cannot top a masterpiece, but the remake exceeded all my expectations. The style of filming, the acting (which is for the most part pretty good), and the Romero homages (which any fan will easily spot) make this a fun ride for horror fans, as well as a good introduction for people new to the genre. This will be a welcome addition to my horror collection when it comes out on DVD.

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Dawn of the Dead-lacking but effective
Yes, there is no denying Hollywood marketing executives have "contaminated" this film to cater to their targeted demographic. I refer to the extreme grunge music which bookends the film for the benefit of young males. And yes, state of the art special effects have caught up to zombie films. In this case, as in so many others, they tend to overshadow or sacrifice character development entirely. Like I always say special effects do not a movie make. Even one of these elements can "murder" a film's quality but this film hasn't completely "expired".There were two factors which salvaged Dawn of the Dead.<
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> Naturally being a re-make, the movie loosely followed the story line of the original and even made references to other zombie flicks by presenting character types and situations from Day of the Dead, 28 Days Later and others. This film did what the other zombie films didn't. The film presented the guidelines of the genre and broke the rules. The signs of hope, the overcome struggles, the glimmers of a possible future and escape routes were all closed off leading to a "dead" end. (Sorry, I had to do it). I found it to be eerily caustraphobic.<
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> The most important thing which saves this film from an agonizing "death" ironically is the zombies themselves. These are without question the scariest i've seen in any film. The attention to detail, the make-up and special effects isn't what i'm talking about here. There seem to be alot of thought put into how these zombies would behave. They do move quickly and rabidly like in 28 Days Later but they react to threats, wonder aimlessly at times,and they lurk and stalk in groups as they growl like wolves. <
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> Maybe this remake doesn't "live" up to the political and social commentary of it's predecessor. So what! we're talking about zombies here. Maybe the character development is a little weak but theses things didn't stay with me after seeing the movie. This film tapped deeply enough into a childhood fear to keep me looking over my shoulder for days. <
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> I think I can forgive its short comings <
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