Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "When there's no more room in Hell...The dead will walk the earth"

Being one of the many people who cried "heresy" when I heard "Dawn of the Dead" was being remade (particularly after seeing the decidedly average "Texas Chainsaw" remake some months previous) it was with much apprehension that I approached this. So what did I make of it? Read on..

Set in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (away from the familiar Pennsylvanian trappings of Romero's original films). The story revolves around young nurse, Ana Clark (Sarah Polley), who awakes one morning to find that suburbia has turned into the apocalypse overnight.

A virus outbreak has ravaged the population, turning the infected into zombies, who attack the living. Attempting to drive away from the ensuing chaos, she finds herself stuck on the outskirts of town where she hooks up with a stranded policeman named Kenneth (Ving Rhames) and several other lost souls.

Taking refuge in a nearby shopping mall, they form an uneasy alliance with the security guards within. But with the undead outside continuing to mass, and with news that the military and government has fallen, the question remains as to how long they can they survive, and what will be left of the outside world even if they do?

Despite my initial reservations, the fact that Romero had nothing to do with this and it was penned by the same guy behind the Scooby Doo film (what????), I was actually won over and was extremely impressed by this re-imagining of Romero's original film by newcomer Zack Snyder.

Somewhat more akin to "28 Days Later", with zombies that can run like hell as opposed to shuffling round aimlessly, the film features plenty of shootings, bloodshed and ample gore, which was refreshing to see in this current climate, where horror films are virtually blood free. Whilst this may not be quite as good as Romero's original 1978 version, this is still a very worthy homage and definitely worth adding to your collection.

Overall Marks : 7:10

Terrifying Trivia

• Tom Savini and original actors Scott Reiniger and Ken Foree all make cameo appearances during the news footage sequences. Savini appears as a Sheriff, Scott Reiniger as an Army General and Ken Foree as a TV evangelist.
• The films budget was $28,000,000.
• Set in Milwakee, Wisconsin. It was actually filmed in Ontario, Canada.
• The shopping mall in the film was the Thornhill Square Mall, located inThornhill, Ontario, Canada. The mall was in the process of closing down while they were filming and was demolished shortly after the film came out. A community centre and a much smaller mall now occupy the site.
• The truck in which the other survivors arrive at the mall was painted up to match the trucks in the original film, complete with the "BP Trucking" logo.
• The shop on the outside of the mall named "Galen Ross" was named after the actress who played Fran in the original film.
• Matt Frewer, who plays Frank, also played Jobe in "Lawnmower Man 2 : Beyond Cyberspace", although is probably best known as being 80's TV host "Max Headroom".
• The traffic helicopter we see overhead as Ana drives off was painted up to match the WGON TV helicopter used by the survivors in the original film.
• Several scenes were cut for time from the theatrical version. These included additional scenes with Ana, Kenneth and the other survivors and a confrontation with some zombies before they break into the mall. Additional news footage, extra dialogue scenes between the security guards in the holding room and a scene showing Anna and Michael making out. There were also several scenes cut for censorship reasons, including extra gory death scenes of the zombies in the mall, a longer and bloodier battle as Kenneth and the others exit from the gun shop and a clearer shot of the "zombie baby" before they shoot it. Most of these scenes are re-instated on the directors cut release.

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