r/horror • u/AutoModerator • May 28 '15
Discussion Series Dawn of the Dead (2004) /R/HORROR Official Discussion
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27
May 28 '15
I loved it. Saw it in theaters, bought it on DVD immediately when it came out. The intro including the Johnny Cash song 'When The Man Comes Around' is what got me really hooked. The whole car-driving-through-the-apocalypse is one of the scariest visions society breaking down I've seen on film. The rest of the movie is really fun, in particular sniping "Jay Leno" from the rooftop. And I quite liked the ending as well.
3
u/Purdaddy May 28 '15
I was so psyched when this moving was coming out, I watched the teaser a hundred times online and visited the website obsessively. They aired the first 10 minutes on TV, and I went bananas. Recorded it and still have it on VHS. It was so surreal to me. I think I was in 9th grade at the time so 14 years old? Maybe 15? Saw it in theaters with a few friends and loved it.
Everything is so good. The Richard Cheese soundtrack montage. All the homages to old zombie movies. The action and gore and the new running zombies. The found footage at the end that just leaves you hopeless. Really wish Snyder made a few more zombie movies.
2
May 29 '15
Richard Cheese! Forgot about him, perfect use of that music. And I agree, I think Snyder is good at certain types of movies, such as this one.
1
u/NaumSaid Mar 06 '22
I come from the future, he made another one and is working on more. Not masterpieces at all tho
0
0
May 28 '15
7
u/lsguk May 28 '15
Hopefully we see all that with the new Walking Dead spin off.
As much as there was bad things about the World War Z film, the initial scene of panic when it all really kicks off in the city at the start was brilliant. A glimpse of what caused the panic, and then run.
2
u/stophauntingme May 29 '15
Hopefully we see all that with the new Walking Dead spin off.
Man I'm really crossing my fingers for Fear the Walking Dead...
Re: World War Z - I really enjoyed the suspense & resulting disaster/violence during the Jerusalem segment too.
6
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u/sansashark May 28 '15
This is one of my favourite movies. The original just beats it but I just think the remake is such a fun movie and I can rewatch it any time. One of the main things that I love about it are the characters, even Andy in the gun store across the street. I was really rooting for him to be rescued even though he only had a few lines of dialogue via walkie-talkie.
Plus it has Sarah Polley.
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9
May 28 '15
This is a film that divided people, the "zombies don't run" crowd in particular. Unjustifiably, in my opinion. Why is it that Warm Bodies is okay with zombies being brought back by care and attention and this running malarkey is super ridiculous. Maybe less people saw Warm Bodies. Maybe the wrong crowd saw Warm Bodies. Maybe because this is entitled "Dawn of the Dead", it's like having "The Bible 2: Gospel Harder", right?
No. (I won't mention Warm Bodies again, though)
Thinking about it, I don't think we ever asked for a Dawn of the Dead remake. I guess it was an idea to get the old "of the Dead" franchise back in public conciousness before Romero came out with Land of the Dead. Whatever the case, Zach Snyder gave us this in 2004. I'm not going to lie, I don't think too highly of it, and that is my opinion. It's a totally competent zombie movie that came out prior to the zombie craze that hit a fever pitch with things like World War Z. I will happily watch it on occasion, even enjoy it. But I just don't think it's nearly as good as the original zombie classic. This was a movie for a new generation of cinema goer. A fast-paced action movie with drama thrown in.
It immediately starts with a bang. Zombies are bolting after people and a car accident happens. I think this movie's greatest strength is messing with the zombie formula that we had gotten used to in years prior, only occasionally offset by movies like Return of the Living Dead.
To conclude: Look, it's no where near my favourite zombie film, but it's pretty watchable. Zombies run, deal with it.
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u/Ralkkai May 28 '15 edited May 28 '15
I don't think Warm Bodies was meant to be a zombie movie as much as a relationship metaphor with zombie overtones. The movie started out with a strong message with everyone staring at their phones but ended up just feeling like a fucked up rendition of Romeo and Juliet. I don't consider it part of the zombie genre and view it more as a movie capitalizing on the zombie movie craze.
Now that I got that off my chest...
I think running zombies is one of the more important additions to the zombie formula. after 60 some-odd years of zombies slumping around in a decaying body, The Dawn remake and 28 Days Later brought running zombies to the mix and it was fresh and exciting. I totally agree that it was brought on by the want for more faster-paced, action movies but I love it.
World War Z on the other hand, with the ant-like climbing zombies missed the mark. I think that entire movie missed the mark and Max Brooks is rightfully ashamed for letting such a gem be ruined by Hollywood. I would love to see his book be made into the movie it actually deserves to be made into some day.
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u/BrazenBull00R May 28 '15
One thing I really liked about this one was the ending. It's so bleak and hopeless and nobody wins. I'm really not one for "happy endings". I wish the movie would have had a more timeless soundtrack. The Buttrock over the credits during the first part of it really date it. Oh and one more thing, before we get into the inevitable debate. I didn't have any problem with "fast zombies". It was mostly when they were fresh that they moved quickly, wasn't it? I honestly don't recall, ha ha. The SFX are great, not much CGI to muck it up, not including that baby. That bit aged badly...
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u/Human_Gravy May 28 '15
Absolutely loved this movie. The opening credits with the Johnny Cash song and the montage of clips told you exactly what was in store for audience. Then the beginning parts where you follow Polly(?) from her husband being attacked and then attacking her up until they reach the mall my absolute favorite part of this movie. The general chaos right at her doorstep was really what did it for me.
Unfortunately, there were some negative aspects of the movie too. I think once they reached the mall, they ran out of ideas on what to do with their characters. Adding more of them to the mix livened it up a little but the zombie baby, the man changing in front of them, and the boredom of their daily lives now that they were safely in the mall seemed like filler. I think the inclusion of the man across the street in the Gun Shop was an awesome idea to illustrate the danger was still present and that society was going down the shitter with more and more zombies gathering around the mall that he couldn't even go across the street.
My major gripe with the movie was the catalyst to the ending of the movie. That one girl literally screwed all of them over because she went after the dog! The zombie didn't care about it at all, it was obvious to everyone, and she still did it for no reason. I think there could have been a better reason for everything to go down the tubes, mainly it would have been cool to have seen the gang of bikers from the original DotD make an appearance and mess up their lives at the mall. Instead of escaping on the helicopter, they could have used their armored buses and it would have made for a much better reason to leave the mall.
I loved the ending of the movie playing out between the credits. Just like the beginning of the movie, it showed was what needed to be showed and then we're hit with that punch in the final scene.
One of the best remakes of a movie ever.
4
May 28 '15
I really wish the whole film was able to maintain how amazing the opening sequence was. I didn't really care much for the script once you had everyone congregating at the mall. From here there were just a couple cool moments, like the sniping game, the sequence with the dog and the "domino effect".
Overall I had a good time when I saw it in the theater but it hasn't held up to multiple viewings. I quickly get bored and can't say for sure if I've been able to make it all the way through more than a second viewing without either stopping it or fast-forwarding through the parts the characters couldn't make me care about.
38
u/TheUncleRyRy May 28 '15
The intro credits kick ass and I love a lot of about the kinetic energy of the film. The zombie baby is hilarious and the Richard Cheese track really makes the film charming. The movie is also incredibly rewatch able and is one of the last horror films to not produce constant eye rolls from my friends.
Snyder isn't an incredible director by any means and the film lacks the heart and sincerity of the original. One thing I would like to have seen was the brutal ending not being cut up by the credits. That seemed like a copout to have a Birds ending and then double down with a "Got ya."
One thing I want to mention about this film is that the remake came out about around the same time the Romero big budget Land of the dead did and I think that's the reason it was marketed so heavily. So I like to watch both of those films as a double feature type of deal, since Land is the only one I like between the latter Dead franchise for Romero.