Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 remake of the George A Romero film of the same name made in 1978. Both films depict survivors of a zombie outbreak hiding in a shopping mall as armies of the living dead gather outside. The remake included cameos from three of the stars of the original film.
The End of the World
Ana (Sarah Polley) is a nurse who is just finishing a long shift at a Milwaukee hospital. She returns home and has a night of passion with her husband Luis. The pair miss several emergency broadcasts, and are blissfully unaware that when their neighbour’s daughter wanders into their house the next morning, she is anything other than human. Luis is attacked by the zombie-girl, has his throat almost ripped out and quickly bleeds to death. Moments later he reanimates and attacks Ana, who fights him off and only just manages to escape.
A montage gives the audience an insight into what is happening which plays over the opening credits.
Later Ana meets Kenneth Hall (Ving Rhames), and together they meet three others, Michael (Jake Weber), petty criminal Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his pregnant Russian wife Luda (Inna Korobkina). They make their way to a mall where they are attacked by a zombie security guard that seems to just puncture Luda’s skin. After meeting the mall’s still alive guards, the three are able to take refuge in the building.
The following day other survivors arrive, and as the outbreak continues the group comes to the conclusion that if they remain in the mall they are just putting off death. Their only hope lies in getting away from the city and hopefully finding a way of going somewhere the zombies haven’t infested.
Modern Update of the Classic Original
In the original film, one of the underlying themes was the idea that the zombies were not the most dangerous threat that the survivors faced. In the end it was a biker gang breaking into the mall and letting in the zombies that lead to the place being overrun. In the first version, it seemed that other people were far more dangerous to the survivors than the hordes of zombies. The remake instead focuses on the zombies as the main danger to the survivors trying to stay alive inside the mall.
In addition to the change in focus regarding the threats the survivors face, the zombies have also been changed. The zombies are no longer slow, stupid and easily outmatched by a human. Instead they are fast, aggressive and have more in common with the rage infected population from 28 Days Later (a film made in 2002). The problem with changing the zombies means that the established rules no longer apply. A person can kill a zombie relatively easily; even a group of the shambling dead are no match for a human. The reason zombie’s are dangerous is because of their overwhelming numbers and the fact that they just keep coming. In the remake unarmed individuals struggle to outmatch a single agressive zombie
Dawn of the Dead is a gore fest, people are seen to be ripped apart by the zombies, and one unfortunate survivor even gets very graphically cut in half by a chainsaw. This is a film that is aimed squarely at those with a strong stomach, Luda’s deterioration after being bitten, and the subsequent birth of her child is not for the squeamish.
The cast are all good enough, and are obviously bewildered about what is happening but generally the film lacks the originality of the original (which is fairly obvious considering it is a remake).
The zombies themselves don’t get much screen time and are generally seen as a shambling mass of bodies. Amputees were used during production in order to show zombies that had arms or legs missing. Unfortunately, by pushing the boundaries and making the zombies faster and more aggressive, the film takes the audience away from their comfort zone. A single zombie is not supposed to be much of a threat; it is only on masse that zombies are dangerous. Consequently die-hard zombie fans may be unhappy with the change; however, for those who enjoy gore Dawn of the Dead is a must-see.
7/10
Above average zombie horror but not as good as the original.
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