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 Dawn of the Dead Review
by Ray Garton
2004
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Written by: James Gunn
Starring:
Sarah Polley - Ana
Ving Rhames - Kenneth
Jake Weber - Michael
Mekhi Phifer - Andre
When it's at its best, horror presents us with familiar characters in familiar settings, people we recognize as real whether we like them or not, and people whose lives crackle with authenticity, with reality. Then, once we've settled into all this familiarity and become, perhaps, a bit complacent, it injects an element of horror that makes the comfortable nightmarish and the familiar dangerous. The beginning of Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead does exactly that with wonderful results.
Ana is a hard-working nurse who's already stayed at the hospital an hour after the end of her shift. She's relieved to finally go, and heads for home. Just outside her house, she stops for a pleasant word with Vivian, a little neighbor girl. Inside, she's greeted by her husband. They take a shower, they make love. Then something horrifying happens, and the movie is underway.
It's a powerful and frightening opening that grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go. After that, I was solidly hooked for the rest of the movie, and I was not let down. So often these days, movies have a great first act, a great second act, then they fall apart in the third. Dawn of the Dead doesn't do that -- it keeps the tension high and the suspense tight. It's a full-blown, uncompromising horror movie that gets down to business early on and keeps pounding away until the end.
I suppose I should make a confession before I go any further. I've never been very fond of George Romero's original Dawn of the Dead. It feels dull and overlong to me. The characters do nothing for me, some of those zombies look more like the Blue Man Group, and the score is abysmal. I realize that this will be seen by many as some sort of horror treason or sacrelige, but I just can't help it. I've seen the movie a few times, always hoping it'll be better, that maybe I'll see the light and finally figure out what it is everyone has been raving about over the years. But that never happens. Just to make sure I still felt the same way about it, I watched it again today -- nothing has changed. It's uneven, unfocused, and it never gives me the feeling that I'm there, that I'm involved with these people and their predicament.
In Zack Snyder's remake, however, I'm deeply involved. I'm right there in the mall with these people, and I'm nervous as hell about what's outside trying to get in. This involvement lasts throughout the movie. By the time it was over, I was exhausted.
In the remake, the zombies do not shuffle around slowly -- they're fast, and they're hungry. As in the original, our group of survivors holes up in a shopping mall. They paint signs on the roof to let others know there are people inside -- living people. At one point, a military helicopter flies over, but it shows no sign of having seen them as it keeps going and its thumping sound fades in the distance.
This is one of the very few remakes that is, in my opinion, better than the original. Its pace is faster, and it's genuinely scary. You might not like all the characters, but you believe them, which is more important. James Gunn's script is tight and crackling, and Tyler Bates's score is outstanding. And Dawn of the Dead wins the 'Best Use of a Johnny Cash Song in a Horror Film Award.'
Sarah Polley, who plays Ana, gives a great performance. She's a strong, smart female character with lots of guts. In fact, the whole cast shines.
There's plenty of gore, if that's what you're looking for. But I never had the sense that the gore was the star of the movie. In some horror movies, the gore effects are the star, they are the primary reason the movie exists. Those usually aren't very good movies, because gore alone does not a good movie make. Dawn of the Dead does it right – the gore enhances the rest of the movie rather than overwhelming it.
If you're in the mood for a hardcore horror film that doesn't pull any punches, a movie that will make you bite your nails and give you the jitters, go no further than Dawn of the Dead. It might be a remake, but it stands tall on its own, and in the opinion of this reviewer, towers over the original.
[Out of a possible four Bloodshot Eyeballs.]
Dawn of the Dead
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