Dawn of the Dead Year: 2004 Director: Zack Snyder Written by: James Gunn Threat: Zombies Weapon of Choice: Guns Based upon: 1978 film/screenplay by George A. Romero IMDb page:

Other movies in this series:
I don't know, maybe the remake of Night of the Living Dead?

Rish's Reviews
A great man once said that remakes are like sequels, only worse. I was among the legions of fans who decried the very thought of remaking Dawn of the Dead, and I still hate the idea (couldn't this just have been another zombie movie, kind of like Deep Blue Sea was another shark flick?). But hey, the film got good reviews and did extraordinarily well, and I had to give it a shot.
The premise is similar to the 1978 film. Someone apparently switched on the No Vacancy sign in Hell, because the dead are walking the earth. For a ragtag group of survivors, including a nurse, a policeman, a pregnant woman, and Max Headroom, the only place to hide from the manic, unstoppable armies of the living dead is a local shopping mall. Barricaded within, they plan their next move and struggle to survive against odds slimmer than those of me ever sleeping with Shania Twain.
I unwittingly witnessed this film's premiere a couple of weeks ago. Had I known then that the movie would be this good, I would've taken more than one picture. This film was scary, especially early on. I've never really been creeped out by the George Romero films, but there was some much more disturbing to me about this one. These zombies were much scarier than the Romero variety, but I think it's safe to say that they were stolen from 28 Days Later. The human characters weren't as likable as the humans in Romero's film, though Sarah Polley was really nice, and I dig Ving Rhames. Since there's so many characters in the mall this time around, it's hard to get to know most of them, something we didn't have in the original.
The pre-credit sequence had to be more expensive than the entire 1978 film. I found it very tense and disturbing. The makeup was good, though not spectacular (I don't think anything could ever compare to Savini's work in Day of the Dead), featuring zombies of every shape and size, from an enormously fat woman to a little girl, from a guy who looks like Jay Leno to a newborn baby.
The original was more fun, but there are a few fun moments here. Because the situation is so bleak, I tended to latch onto any light moments, and the humour, when there was some, was really dark and really funny. The script was pretty tight, written by the man who unleashed the live-action Scooby Doo movies onto the world (are they Horror?), James Gunn. There were some perplexing moments when characters did things you couldn't understand, as well as a You Stupid Bitch You Deserve To Die scene that had me both frustrated and concerned for her.
I saw it in a completely empty theater (okay, there were two other people there), because I missed it the week before when a big group went. Apparently, in that screening, there was a lot of screaming and shouting at the screen (I actually did catch myself saying, "Don't open the door!" out loud at one point). I'm sorry I missed it with a crowd.
Was it a perfect movie? No. Was it better than Dawn of the Dead? No. But is it worth seeing? Heck yes.
Best Scare: Well, the end credits were completely fucked up, but this is a family website, so I won't comment on that.
I'd Recommend It To: Fans of zombie movies. It's not like a lot get made anymore.

The tyranist's thoughts
It took me ages to get around to seeing this one. Partly, I just somehow missed it in the theatre and there were always other movies to rent. Mostly, I was just afraid that this would ruin what I love of the original.
It didn't, though. Instead, it made me love and respect the original more. What is with all the fast moving zombies? And the herd of people that make it to the mall? And the zombie child?
I suppose that if you had never seen the original (and shame on you if you haven't) then this would be a decent example of the modern zombie genre. The zombies are grotesque and the gore is excessive at times. The plot follows about as much of a line as an end-of-the-world zombie flick can follow. They didn't take advantage of the mall setting as much as they might have. Of course, I've been told that there is a longer cut out there that I might have to find someday.
This is probably worth it if you like zombie movies. But really, you should be renting the original Dawn of the Dead instead.

Total Skulls: 22

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?