PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The announcement that Zack Snyder (300, 2006) would be remaking George Romero’s classic, Dawn of the Dead (1978) (read our retro review here) got a resounding, ‘that’s sacrilege!” from myself and my crowd, which, at the time, the only place we would be screaming this other than toward each other was MySpace. I spent months being angry at it. But I was there opening weekend, as most of us purists are for these events. And now, I’d like to think that Dawn of the Dead (2004) is one reason that when faced with the news of a reimagined precious, we tend more toward, ‘I’m optimistic.”
Written by genre favorite and current Hollywood heavyweight, James Gunn (Slither, 2006) the opening alone gives you whiplash and doesn’t let up even after the credits roll. Quite the opposite of the slow burn of the original and a risky choice when your source material is a Romero original. Even the dead move with breakneck speed. With this and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002) released two years earlier, gone were the days of the slow, shambling zombie. (For now.)
Hard-working nurse, Ana (Sarah Polley, Splice, 2009) just wants to get home and relax with her man after a particularly brutal and long shift (so many serious illnesses just because of a few bites and fights). After the day she’s had she doesn’t want to listen to the radio or watch television. She and Louis (Louis Ferreira, Bates Motel, 2016) hit the sack pretty early. They should have watched the news, though. At least then, they may not have been taken by such surprise when their world is turned upside down.
The sweet little girl next door who is always welcome in their home gives them the ultimate rude awakening by taking a chunk out of Louis’s neck, killing him almost instantly, sending him into an undead rage, attacking Ana. Upon escaping the horror in her own home, the scale of the disaster finally hits Ana as she sees people dying in the streets, a city in flames, and total chaos around every corner.
When a man attempts to steal her car and leave her helpless, she veers off the road and crashes. It’s here where she meets up with police officer Kenneth (Ving Rhames, Piranha 3D, 2010) and a few other survivors, Michael (Jake Weber, Medium, 2005), Andre (Mekhi Phifer, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, 1998) and his pregnant girlfriend, Luda.
In about the only real similarity to the original film, the group heads to the nearest safe place – a shopping mall.
George Romero’s zombie films are known for their social commentary, with Dawn of the Dead (1978) being an examination of American consumerism as the dead absent-mindedly head for the mall out of sheer habit since they are creatures that seek to fulfill only the most basic need to feed, and after all, they are us.
Dawn of the Dead (2004) doesn’t seek to make any grand statements regarding the human condition. In fact its most obvious deviation from the original film is when the characters decide that they absolutely do not want to stay cooped up in a mall for the end of days. After opening their doors to a group of other survivors struggling to shake a herd of particularly aggressive dead, they band together (mostly) to create zombie-proof vehicles that may get them across town to the docks where the particularly obnoxious Steve (Ty Burrell, Modern Family, 2009) has a boat that could take them to an island away from the infected. Theoretically.
With subtle nods to Romero’s beloved second zombie film such as a department store named after its female star, Gaylen Ross, and cameos from other icons like Ken Foree, Tom Savini, and Scott H. Reiniger, Dawn of the Dead (2004) shows how to do a remake right by presenting a completely new iteration of a beloved story that pays homage to the original without being just a carbon copy.
In memory of the original Dawn of the Dead (1978) badass, David Emge, and as a great reminder that very few remakes are made with the intent to erase the original, but to reignite the impact they’ve had on moviegoing audiences through the ages, watch Dawn of the Dead (2004). It will be available on Netflix only until the end of March, 2024.
