Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)

Dawn of the Dead
Promotional poster for Dawn of the Dead
Directed by	Zack Snyder
Written by	1978 Screenplay: George A. Romero Screenplay: James Gunn Michael Tolkin (Uncredited) Scott Frank (Uncredited)
Produced by	Marc Abraham Eric Newman Richard P. Rubinstein
Starring	Sarah Polley Ving Rhames Jake Weber Mekhi Phifer Kim Poirier
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	March 19, 2004
Running time	100 min. 109 min. (Director's Cut)
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000

Dawn of the Dead is a loose remake, or "reimagining", of George A. Romero's 1978 film. The remake and original share a similar premise and central location, but the story differs significantly. It was released in 2004 by Universal Studios and features cameos from original cast members Ken Foree (Evangelist), Scott Reiniger (General), and Tom Savini (Sheriff). Directed by Zack Snyder. Screenplay by James Gunn, with uncredited rewrites by Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank; based on an original screenplay by George A. Romero. 100 minutes, rated R. There is also an unrated version (which contains more gore and some additional character development) that is 110 minutes long.

Tagline:

• When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.

Plot

Template:Spoilers An unknown phenomenon (implied to be a virus, though the film offers no explicit explanation) causes anyone infected by it to rapidly weaken and die. Moments later, they revive as ghouls who tirelessly chase down living humans with the intention of eating their flesh. This strange infection is passed from the zombies to living humans through the resulting bites, allowing the undead to multiply exponentially.

Ana (Polley) works as a nurse at a Milwaukee County hospital. She gets off work after a long day and drives to her suburban home. Arriving there, she chats with a neighbor's young daughter and happily greets her waiting husband. The couple proceeds to make love in their shower before falling asleep together. Throughout this sequence, the characters all ignore or miss warnings that are beginning to filter through the local media.

The two of them awake the next morning to find the neighbor-girl coming into their bedroom; she has been turned into a zombie, and bites Ana's husband in the neck, killing him almost instantly. He revives as another zombie, forcing Ana to escape out the window of the bathroom. He chases her out of the house, and she flees in her car through the suburbs, which are rapidly disintegrating into a maelstrom of violence. Driving down a nearly-deserted freeway, Ana finds herself behind a stalled commuter bus. As she watches the bus-riders attack each other, she is startled into driving off the road when the bus driver tries to hijack her car. After driving over the embankment and ramming into a tree, she is knocked unconscious. The credits roll, showing snatches of TV broadcasts as human civilization collapses across the globe.

Waking up, Ana meets police officer Kenneth (Rhames), who is attempting to get to the nearby Fort Pastor military base and reunite with his brother. Traveling on together, they soon encounter jack-of-all-trades TV-salesman Michael, petty criminal Andre, and Andre's pregnant wife Luda. The new survivors break the news to them that Fort Pastor is unreachable because of the zombies swarming over the freeway. The three say they are heading to the nearby Crossroads shopping mall, and Ana and Kenneth join them.

The group breaks into the mall, checking for zombies and ensuring the other entrances are all sealed. Michael and Andre split off from the main group. Andre is startled by a zombie that flails ineffectually against a side entrance door, while Michael encounters and destroys a zombified janitor inside a sporting goods store. The main group bumps into another zombie, later identified to be a security guard named Ben. Ana shoots it/him, but not before Luda gets a seemingly minor bite on her arm. Unsure if there are more zombies in the mall, they all regroup and flee into the elevator, heading up a level. The next floor brings a new threat -- three living, and armed, mall security guards named CJ, Terry and Bert. A tense standoff ensues. Eventually, though, the newcomers give up their guns to the guards, in exchange for staying inside the mall.

The survivors watch television, only to see more scenes of chaos and destruction. A sheriff (Tom Savini) is interviewed, and he states shooting the victims in the head is the only way to kill them, ordering one of his deputies to shoot one of the bodies (a "twitcher") again in this fashion. The security guards chuckle about the term twitcher, with CJ saying, "America always sorts its shit out."

The next interview is of a military officer, who says that an earlier report about Fort Pastor's status was incorrect, and that people should either head to Fort Pastor directly, or simply wait for search and rescue teams. The news footage shows some victims, clearly bitten, being accepted into the camp. Ken seems cheered that Fort Pastor, and by extension his brother, is still safe. Ana, on the other hand, breaks down and cries while fetching medical supplies. After some careful prompting from Michael, CJ orders them to paint large SOS signs on the roof -- and to clean up the mess they made breaking into the mall.

The security guards find Ben "twitching" in the fountain on the first floor. CJ shoots him in the head, finally dispatching the zombie, saying it's his fault for going down to the first floor. Terry is shocked by this, but continues with the group as they head to the sports store and kill another zombie. On the roof, the rest of the survivors finish working on the SOS messages. The security guards arrive to toss the bodies of the zombies they killed over the side. In the background, zombies are flocking into the mall parking lot.

Gunshots draw the survivors' attention to a nearby gun shop. Another survivor is stranded there; he holds up a sign to let them know his name (Andy) and that he is alone. Just then, a military helicopter flies by. Despite the signs, shouting, and waving, the helicopter flies on, leaving everyone still stranded.

As night falls, CJ decides to lock the non-security guard survivors in a store, so they won't sneak around and steal anything. On the TV, a news reporter gives a final sign off, after which a preacher gives a sermon, saying that humanity has brought down this catastrophe on itself by ignoring God's word. On the first floor, the other survivors must listen to the sounds of the dead milling around the entrances.

The next morning, the mall's automatic systems click on as usual: Muzak starts, and all the lights come on. On the televisions, though, there is nothing but static. CJ orders Terry to turn off the muzak. Terry lets out the survivors, allowing them some freedom. As he turns off the sound system and checks on the cameras, he sees a delivery truck speeding toward the mall.

Within minutes, everyone is on the roof. CJ demands to know who let them out and who gave them permission to loot the stores. Ana wants to save the survivors in the truck, while CJ doesn't want to let anyone in. The situation quickly escalates with CJ and Bart pointing their guns at everyone who disagrees with them. Taking advantage of Bart's momentary distraction, Michael is able to disarm him, allowing Ken to disarm CJ. With the two security guards led away to a holding cell, Michael becomes the de facto leader of the survivors.

His plan is a simple one -- back up the truck to the loading dock, and then let the passengers in through the emergency exit. Things don't go exactly according to plan, but the people from the truck are eventually brought inside successfully. The new survivors are the driver of the truck, Norma, Glen (a homosexual man who works as a church organist), Steve (an sarcastic but evidently wealthy jerk), snippy Monica, teenage Nicole and her father Frank, working man Tucker, and an elderly obese woman being carted in a wheelbarrow.

Ken asks Norma if he can take her truck; he still plans to head to Fort Pastor. Steve almost gleefully breaks the news to Ken that Fort Pastor has been overrun by the zombies. Ken storms up to the roof, where his confronted by the sight of Andy holding up a sign asking for information. Ken uses his own sign to tell him that Fort Pastor is gone, and that no help is coming. Andy then asks what the bad news is; this exchange is enough to draw a chuckle from Ken.

Inside, the wounded are being tended to. Frank has a bite wound on his hand, but seems to be doing well. The obese woman, on the other hand, is fading fast, and quickly dies. As Ana tends to the other injuries, the victim revives as a zombie and attacks them. Ana kills her, and comes to a realization. She calls together Michael, Andre, Terry and Ken, and tell them her theory that a bite is the vector of infected, based on the fat lady and her own husband's transformation. They go over who has been bitten in the group, and Michael decides that Frank must be killed because of how dangerous the infection is. Andre quietly slips away from the meeting to go check on Luda.

Ana, not willing to accept that they have to kill to survive, rushes to Frank to tell him the news before Michael, Ken, and Terry arrive. Michael doesn't shoot Frank, but he doesn't soften the truth -- the bite is how the infection spreads, and it's only a matter of time. Frank is put in a store, with Ken guarding him. A rapidly-deteriorating Frank bids farewell to his devastated daughter, and sends her away. As Ken pulls down the store's security gate, Frank comments that you want every last second you can wring out of life; Ken silently nods, and Frank dies. Michael goes to talk to Ana, apologizing for his insensitivity. As a way of accepting his apology, she says she's glad he didn't do it. There is a zombie cry and a single gunshot.

Life settles in to a kind of routine for the survivors. Andy and Ken play chess across the parking lot. Nicole experiments with graffiti. Glen and Monica enjoy the mall's vast selection of clothes. Couples Terry and Nicole, Steve and Monica, and Michael and Ana all go their own version of dates. Even CJ and Bart are making the most of their time in the holding cell. The survivors get so comfortable with the situation they invent the game of celebrity assassination (where the mall survivors search the mob for zombies that resemble Hollywood stars, and Andy takes them out with headshots).

Ana asks Andre how Luda is doing, since she has been keeping out of the sight of the rest of the survivors. Andre rather gruffly brushes her off, which everyone chalks up to the fact that she's pregnant. Later on, at a special candlelight dinner, everyone recounts some of their previous lives. The power chooses this moment to fail. After a moment of panic, they decide they need to get the generators running.

Michael releases CJ and Bart, getting them to escort him to the basement and tell him where the generator is. Ken also shows up, correcting Michael on how to use the shotgun he has. They cautiously enter the parking area, where they find a dog -- and a zombie. The noise of the attack brings more zombies running. The group makes a hasty retreat to the fuel storage area, losing Bart along the way.

CJ and Ken frantically try to hold off the zombies by shooting them through the fencing around the fuel storage area, but it's a losing battle -- they're running out of shells. Michael douses the zombies with gasoline and gets CJ to light them on fire, breaking the charge and saving them.

Meanwhile, Andre is still tending to Luda. He's strapped her down in the back of the mall's children's store. She's clearly in pain from the labour, and also from the very infected wound on her arm. Andre rapidly sinks into ever-deeper denial about the situation, telling her to breath, even though she's gasping and clearly about to die. Within a few moments, the end comes, but her belly keeps moving, with the baby inside becoming very active. Luda revives and tries to bite Andre, but he simply picks up a gag and places it over her mouth. He's determined to get the baby from her, even if she's a zombie.

Norma enters the store to check up on Luda's condition. What she finds is very bad. Rotting open cans of food, Andre clutching a bundle, and Luda strapped to the bed -- very much a zombie. She pulls out her gun and shoots Luda, causing Andre to snap. He draws his own gun and they exchange fire. The other survivors rush in to find three corpses. Ana examines the bundle in Andre's arm: opening the folds reveals a dead-eyed zombie infant. A shot echoes through the mall.

The survivors gather to hold a memorial for the dead. Ken says that there is one thing worse than death -- sitting in the mall, waiting to die. Ana seconds this, saying she doesn't want to die in the mall either. Michael proposes that they take a couple of the buses he remembers seeing in the garage, upgrade them as best they can, and leave for somewhere safer. Steve sarcastically suggests they go to the marina and take his boat for a pleasure cruise. Ana realizes this is a good idea -- any islands in the lake would be inhabited by fewer people, making them (relatively) safer than being near any city or other population center. Everyone (eventually) agrees to the plan.

Working together, they quickly retrofit the vehicles. What were just simple parking shuttles become armoured with welded-on doors, a snowplow shovel, bars, barbed wire and so forth. Several propane fuel tanks are loaded, and slits are prepared for shooting. However, the ammunition situation is grim, with only a few shotgun shells, 9mm ammo, and .357 slugs left.

Ken lets Andy know that they're on schedule and will be ready to leave in 5 days. Andy, however, faces the exact opposite problem as the mall survivors: he has plenty of ammunition, but no food left -- and he's hungry. Another meeting is held: something has to be done to get food to Andy so he'll be ready to leave with them. Ken gets the idea to use Chips, the dog they found in the basement, to take a load of food over to Andy's shop. As they found out in the basement, the zombies show no interest in the dog. Over Nicole's objections, they strap a pack on Chips and lower him to the ground. Following a dog-whistle deployed by Andy, he successfully scampers over to a little entrance door built into the ammunition shop. Just as it is closing, a zombie manages to force his way inside. Shots are fired.

Everyone is nervous, but Andy finds the walkie-talkie included in the pack and talks to them. Unfortunately, their relief is short-lived: he's been bitten, and the others never told him about the effects of this. Chips starts to bark as Andy changes. Nicole, distraught over Chips, somehow manages to drive the delivery truck over to the shop and get the radio while Andy, his mental facilities rapidly disintegrating, heads to his roof. His actions there confirm that he is becoming a zombie, and they tell Nicole to hide or get out. Andy goes back downstairs and traps her in a storage closet.

A rescue group is formed; they gather their weapons and head into the sewers. They exit through a manhole and manage to break into the gun store just ahead of the zombie horde. Inside the shop they quickly reload their depleted stocks of ammo, and find what's become of Andy banging on the closet door. Ken swiftly terminates the zombie, allowing Nicole to get out. Safe for the moment, the group gathers up as much guns and ammo as they can carry.

Unable to defend themselves hauling their burden, the survivors dash back into the sewers, zombies following close behind. Tucker breaks his leg falling down the ladder, and is caught; he frantically yells to be shot, and CJ obliges. Arriving back at the mall, the team discovers Steve has abandoned his position at the top of the stairwell, leaving them trapped. Mercifully, Ana opens the door just as the zombies start to swarm up the stairs, but the mall's security has been breached, and they are forced to flee ahead of schedule. Quickly splitting up into the two trucks, they drive out into the streets. Unfortunately, there are so many undead outside that the trucks are slowed to a crawl by their sheer masses. A firefight ensues, with guns and chainsaws used to take out as many of the attackers as possible. CJ finally throws a propane cylinder into their path and ignites it; the resulting blast clears away enough zombies for the vans to escape.

The vans start a high-speed drive through the paper-strewn rubble of the predawn city streets. Ken spots a zombie hanging onto the side of their van, and Glen moves to take it out with his chainsaw. At that moment, Ana tells Michael (driving the lead van) to take a hard corner. The sudden swerve (matched by Ken) causes Glen to cut into Monica, instead of the zombie. The blood spatters everywhere, causing Ken to lose control and crash.

Steve exits the wrecked vehicle and is instantly attacked by the zombie that was riding along the side of the van. CJ hops out of the lead van, and helps Ken and Terry unload what they can from the crashed van. Ana sees that both Monica and Glen died from the chainsaw during the accident. Just as they're rushing back to their vehicle, a zombified Steve comes shambling around a corner. Ana pulls out her revolver and kills him, but more zombies are coming -- the noise and sound of shots has attracted their attention. Realizing that Steve's corpse has the keys to the boat, Ana is forced to linger long enough to ransack the body. She is successful, but this delay gives the zombies enough time to catch up to the van, leading to another firefight and escape.

The van arrives at the boat yard and smashes through the surrounding fence before crashing to a halt at the edge of the dock. Everyone exits the vehicle except CJ who stays behind to hold off the zombies, who have chased the van to the marina. Swarmed by the attacking undead, CJ heroically detonates the propane tank still in the truck, destroying the truck, the edge of the dock and much of the zombie swarm.

Everyone gets on the boat except Michael, who reveals that he was bitten when Ana stopped to get the keys. Ana still begs him to come, but Michael refuses. He unties the boat and says goodbye to the group (now down to Ken, Ana, Nicole, Terry and Chips). As the boat moves out into the harbour, he pulls out his pistol and a single shot rings out over the water.

The end credits roll, interspersed with clips of footage taken by Terry with a video camera he found on board. The boat and its passengers barely make it across the lake to an island, but as they pull up to the dock, a new swarm of zombies comes pouring into view. The camera falls to the dock and goes dark, leaving the final fate of the survivors very uncertain.

• Tagline (lifted from the original film): When there's no more room in hell, the dead

will walk the Earth.

Cast

• Sarah Polley...Ana Clark
• Ving Rhames...Kenneth Hall
• Jake Weber...Michael
• Kevin Zegers...Terry
• Lindy Booth...Nicole
• Mekhi Phifer...Andre
• Ty Burrell...Steve Marcus
• Michael Kelly...C.J.
• Michael Barry...Bart
• Jayne Eastwood...Norma
• Boyd Banks...Tucker
• Inna Korobkina...Luda
• R.D. Reid...Glen
• Kim Poirier...Monica
• Matt Frewer...Frank

Reactions

Heavily derided by fans and critics before its release, on release the film received mixed to positive reactions from both, and is regarded as both a critical and financial success. Particular praise was given to the 10 minute pre-credit sequence. This segment was played on TV the week before the film was released, a practice that has become common since.

Others felt that the film did not retain the social satire and poignancy of the original. Romero himself, while having strong reservations about some elements of the film, stated that he thought the film was better than he'd anticipated.

Premise changes from the original

In the original film the zombies moved very slowly and were most menacing when they collected in large groups. In the remake however the zombies are fast and agile. Many admirers of the original (including Romero himself) protested this change, feeling that it limited the impact of the undead. This is somewhat borne out by the fact that the remake has almost no close up shots of zombies that last more than a second or two. Snyder mentions this problem in the commentary track of the new version's DVD, pointing out that they seem too human when the camera lingers upon them for longer.

In the original, the plague spread slowly over a period of weeks and months. In the remake, it springs up worldwide overnight. In the original, anyone who dies of any reason returns after an hour or two. In the remake, only those infected return and after a period of less than a minute after death.

The original had a smaller cast than the remake, allowing more screen time for each character. Many fans and critics protested the resulting loss of character development.

In the original version the story unfolds over the space of several months, which was indicated by the advancing stages of Fran's pregnancy. In the remake the events transpire within approximately 1 month, as evidenced by the supplemental feature The Lost Tape: Andy's Terrifying Last Days Revealed, located on the DVD. The character Andy owned the gunshop across the street from the mall in the film, and in this bonus feature Andy records a video diary of his ordeal for future reference. He begins recording on May 7, 2004, the day after he first encountered the flesh eaters, and continues to record until his death on the day of June 6.

Trivia

• Starbucks Coffee, along with many other corporations, did not wish to be featured in the film. All stores in the mall, except for the Roots and Panasonic stores featured in one of the first mall scenes, are fictional
• Three actors from the original film have cameos in the remake: Ken Foree, who played Peter from the original, plays the evangelist on television who asserts that God is punishing mankind; Scott H. Reiniger, who played Roger in the original, plays the army general on television telling everyone to stay at home for safety; and Tom Savini, who played the motorcycle gang member Blades in the original, plays the Los Angeles County Sheriff explaining the only way to kill the zombies is to "shoot 'em in the head."
• Actual human blood was utilized for the credit sequences.
• The production used real amputees to portray zombies that were missing limbs.
• James Gunn is only partially responsible for the screenplay, despite receiving solo writing credit. After he left the project to concentrate on Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, both Michael Tolkin and Scott Frank were brought in for rewrites. In a commentary track on the Ultimate Edition DVD for the original film, producer Richard P. Rubenstein explained that Tolkin further developed the characters, while Frank provided some of the bigger action sequences.
• No mention of a cause for the living dead is actually mentioned in the film. However, the copy on the DVD box implies that it is a virus.
• The first half of the film was shot almost entirely in chronological order.
• The final sequences on the boat and island were shot much later (and in a different location) than the rest of the movie. Preview audiences objected to the sudden ending of the original print.
• The mall scenes of the film as well as the rooftop scenes were shot in the Thornhill Square mall in Thornhill, Ontario and the rest of the scenes were shot in the Ailleen-Willowbrook Neighbourhood of Thornhill, Ontario.
• In the UK, both this film and Shaun of the Dead were originally scheduled to be released the same week, but due to the similarity in the names of the two films, UIP opted to push back Shaun's release by two weeks.
• This film contains multiple references to the original. A store in the mall is named Gaylen Ross, the actress that played the female lead in the original. A sign for "Wooley's Diner" can be seen, a nod to the character of "Wooley" in the 1978 version. A truck from the BP corporation is seen, the same trucks as in the original. The WGON helicopter from the first film is seen flying into the frame in one sequence. Even the film's tagline, "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth", is the same one from the first film.
• Ken Foree speaks the tag line "When there's no more room in hell..." in both the original and the remake.
• The music in the film featured both the original version of "Down With The Sickness" by Disturbed and the Lounge music version by Richard Cheese. This was the first time most people had ever heard Cheese, and as a result of the film this is still by far his most well known song.

Sequel

• Universal has announced that they are working on a sequel. It has been said the plot will revolve around the four survivors from the first movie: Ana, Kenneth, Terry and Nicole.

External links

• Dawn of the Dead (2004) at IMDb
• Official Site
• Trailers
• Dawn of the Dead (2004) at Rotten Tomatoes
• Dawn of the Dead (2004) at Metacritic
• Dawn of the Dead (2004) at Box Office Mojo
• Mistakes Database
• April 24, 2003 draft screenplay
• Maddox Review