|
Dawn of the Dead is a loose, "reimagined" remake of George A. Romero's 1978 film. The remake and original share a similar premise and central location, but the stories differ significantly. The film was released in 2004 by Universal Studios and features cameos from original cast members Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger and Tom Savini. Tagline:
Plot The Carnage Begins An unknown phenomenon (implied to be viral in nature) causes anyone infected by it to rapidly weaken and die —- and reanimate as a zombie with a relentless hunger for the flesh of living humans. This strange infection is passed on when a zombie bites a person, allowing the zombies to multiply rapidly. The film opens with Ana, a nurse at a Milwaukee County hospital, getting off work and driving to her nice suburban home, where she chats briefly with Vivian, a neighbor's young daughter, and then happily greets her husband Louis. The couple proceeds to make love in the shower before falling asleep together. Throughout the sequence, the characters miss warnings that are beginning to filter through the local media. The couple awakens the next morning to find a zombified Vivian entering their bedroom. Not knowing what is wrong with Vivian, Louis goes to help her but she bites him in the neck, killing him almost instantly. A frightened Ana manages to lock Vivian out of the room, but Louis reanimates as a zombie, forcing Ana to escape through the bathroom window. She flees in her car from her once-idyllic neighborhood, which is rapidly transforming into a collection of house-fires and wrecked vehicles. Driving down a nearly empty freeway, Ana finds herself behind a stalled commuter bus, in which the zombies are attacking riders. She is startled into driving off the road when the bus driver desperately tries to carjack her. After rolling down an 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, to the sound of Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around". Upon awakening, Ana meets police officer Kenneth, who is attempting to get to the nearby Fort Pastor military base and reunite with his brother. They soon encounter jack-of-all-trades TV salesman Michael, petty criminal Andre, and Andre's pregnant wife Luda, who all assert that Fort Pastor is unreachable because of the swarming zombies. Going to the Mall The group instead breaks into the nearby Crossroads shopping mall, checking for zombies and securing entrances. Michael and Andre temporarily go off to search the mall. Andre is startled by a zombie that flails futilely against a side entrance door, while Michael destroys a zombified janitor in a sporting goods store. The main group encounters another zombie, later identified to have once been a security guard named Ben. Ana shoots him with Kenneth's gun and he falls into a decorative fountain, 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 to go up one floor, revealing a new threat: three living and armed mall security guards named CJ, Terry and Bert. A tense standoff ensues after which the newcomers give up their guns to the guards in exchange for being permitted to stay at the mall. The survivors watch television, only to see more scenes of chaos and destruction. In a TV interview, a sheriff explains that shooting zombies in the head kills them, and orders a subordinate to demonstrate by shooting a reanimated body (a "twitcher"). The security guards chuckle about the term "twitcher", as CJ says, "America always sorts its shit out." In another interview, a military officer advises people to either head to Fort Pastor or await rescue teams. The news footage shows wounded victims (most likely how the base is wiped out) going into the sanctuary camp. Ken seems encouraged that Fort Pastor —- and perhaps his brother —- is still safe. Ana, on the other hand, breaks down and cries while fetching medical supplies. After some careful prompting from Michael, the surly 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. 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 zombies they killed off the roof, as more zombies flock to the mall parking lot. Gunshots draw the survivors' attention to the roof of a nearby gun shop, where they spot another survivor holding up a dry-erase board which reads that his name is Andy and he is stranded alone. At that moment, a military helicopter (MH-53) appears overhead, and despite efforts to get its attention, simply flies away. As night falls, CJ decides to lock the newcomers in a store to prevent them from stealing. On the television, a news reporter gives a final sign off, after which a preacher sermonizes that humanity has brought catastrophe on itself by ignoring God's word (he blames the catastrophe on casual sex, abortion, and same-sex marriage, specifically). On the first floor, the other survivors listen to the sounds of the dead milling around the entrances. More Survivors Arrive The next morning, the mall's automatic systems activate 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 after Ana complains about the lack of a bathroom in their "prison". 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. Ana wants to save the survivors in the truck, while CJ does not want to admit anyone else. 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, which enables 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 a loading dock to let in the new arrivals through the emergency exit. Things do not go quite as planned, but the people from the truck are eventually brought inside. The new survivors are Norma (the street-smart older truck driver), Glen (an elderly church organist who is later shown to have a closet interest in crossdressing), Steve (a sarcastic, apparently wealthy jerk), snippy Monica, teenager Nicole and her father Frank, working man Tucker, and an elderly obese woman being carted in a wheelbarrow. Ken asks Norma to borrow her truck, as he still plans to head to Fort Pastor. Steve almost gleefully breaks the news to Ken that Fort Pastor has been overrun by zombies. Ken storms up to the roof, where he sees Andy holding up his board asking for information. Ken informs 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 treated. Frank has a bite wound on his hand, but seems to be doing well. The obese woman, on the other hand, is fading fast from more severe bites, and soon dies. As Ana tends to the other injuries, the woman reanimates and attacks. Ana kills her by stabbing her through the eye, and comes to a realization: she calls together Michael, Andre, Terry and Ken, and explains her theory that a zombie bite is the vector of infection, based on the reanimations she has witnessed. Michael decides that Frank must be killed because of his dangerous infection. Andre quietly slips away from the meeting to check on Luda. Ana, not willing to kill to survive, rushes to Frank to tell him so before Michael, Ken, and Terry arrive. Michael does not shoot Frank, but he doesn't soften the truth: the bite is how the zombie infection spreads. 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 in agreement as Frank dies. Michael goes to talk to Ana, evidently to apologize for his insensitivity -- and they reconcile. Ana thanks him for not killing Frank and in the background , there is a zombie scream and a single gunshot. The Downward Spiral Life settles into 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 go on their own "dates". Even CJ and Bart are making the most of their time in the holding cell by reading relationship magazines (where CJ learns the most important factor in any relationship is "trust"). The survivors get so comfortable with the situation that they invent their own version of "Hollywood Squares", where the mall survivors search the parking-lot mob for zombies that resemble famous celebrities (such as Jay Leno, Burt Reynolds and Rosie O'Donnell), and Andy takes them out with headshots from his sniper rifle. 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 is pregnant. At a special candlelight dinner afterward, everyone recounts some of their previous lives, during which the power fails. After a moment of panic, they resolve to get the mall's emergency generators running. Michael releases CJ and Bart, getting them to escort him to the basement and show him the power generator. Ken also shows up, correcting Michael on how to use his shotgun. They cautiously enter the parking area, where they find an unaffected dog and a zombie which attacks Bart. The noise of the attack attracts more zombies, who take Bart down. The rest of the group makes a hasty retreat to the fuel storage area. CJ and Ken frantically try to hold off the zombies by shooting them through the fencing around the fuel storage area, but it is a losing battle, as they are running out of ammo. Michael douses the zombies with gasoline and CJ ignites them with a lighter, breaking the charge and saving them. Meanwhile, Andre is still tending to Luda. He has strapped her down in the back of the children's store, and she is clearly in pain from the labour — and from the very infected wound on her arm. Andre rapidly sinks into ever-deeper denial about the situation, telling her to breathe, even though she is gasping and clearly about to die. Within moments, her end comes but her belly keeps moving, with the baby inside becoming very active. Luda reanimates and tries to bite Andre, who simply picks up a gag and places it over her mouth. He is determined to get the baby from Luda, even if she is a zombie. Norma enters the store to check up on Luda's condition. What she finds is very disturbing: rotting open cans of food, Andre clutching a bundle and a zombified Luda strapped to the bed. Norma draws 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 blanket folds to reveal a dead-eyed zombie infant. Ana pulls her pistol, and a single shot echoes through the mall. Choosing to Live The survivors gather to hold a memorial for the dead. Ken says that there is something worse than death, and that is sitting in the mall, waiting to die. Ana seconds this, and Michael proposes that they take a couple of the small buses he saw in the garage, upgrade them and leave for sanctuary. Steve sarcastically suggests they go to the local marina and take his boat out for a pleasure cruise. Ana realizes this to be a good idea, as islands on the lake were inhabited by fewer people, making them safer than a city or other population center. Everyone (eventually) agrees to the plan, and begin to retrofit the vehicles. What were just simple parking shuttles become armoured with welded-on doors, a snowplow shovel, bars, barbed wire, chainsaws and so forth. Several propane fuel tanks are loaded, and slots 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 are on schedule and will be ready to leave in five days, planning to pick him up enroute. Andy, however, faces the exact opposite problem as the mall survivors: he has plenty of ammunition, but no food. Another meeting is held: something has to be done to get food to Andy so he will be strong enough to leave with them. Ken gets the idea to use Chips, the dog they found in the basement, to take food 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. Just as they predicted, the zombies aren't even aware of Chips' presence. Hearing Andy's whistle, he successfully scampers over to a small sliding entrance door of the ammunition shop. Just as the door is closing, however, a zombie manages to force his way inside. Shots are fired. Everyone is apprehensive, 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 unaware of the consequences. Chips starts to bark as Andy changes. Nicole, distraught over Chips, manages against all odds to drive the delivery truck over to the shop and get the radio while Andy, his mental faculties rapidly disintegrating, heads to his roof. His actions there (raising his dry-erase board smeared with blood instead of any written message) 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. Nicole's rescuers gather their weapons and head into the sewers. They exit through a manhole and break into the gun store just ahead of the zombie horde. Inside the shop they quickly reload their depleted ammo, and find what has become of Andy, who is furiously banging on the closet door. Ken swiftly terminates his former friend, allowing Nicole to get out. Safe for the moment, the group gathers up as much guns and ammo as they can carry. The survivors clear a path by tossing a propane tank from the gun-shop roof and detonating it, then dash back into the sewers with zombies following close behind. Tucker breaks his leg falling down the ladder and is being attacked; he frantically begs to be killed, and CJ obliges. Arriving back at the mall, the team discovers that Steve has abandoned his post at the locked door at the top of the stairwell, leaving them trapped. Thankfully, Ana lets them in just as the zombies start to swarm up the stairs, but the mall's security has been breached, and they are all forced to flee ahead of schedule. Escape to the Island Quickly splitting up into the two buses, they drive out into the streets. There are so many undead outside that the vehicles are slowed to a crawl by their sheer mass. A firefight ensues, using guns and chainsaws to dispatch as many zombies as possible. CJ finally throws another propane tank in front of the lead shuttle and a large zombie lifts it up for no obvious reason. CJ ignites it, the resulting blast clearing a wide escape path through the creatures. The convoy begins 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 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 attacked by the zombie riding along the side of the van. CJ hops out of the lead van, and helps Ken and Terry salvage what they can from the crashed van. Ana sees that both Monica and Glen died from the chainsaw during the accident. Just as they are rushing back to their vehicle, a zombified Steve comes shambling around a corner. Ana shoots him, but more zombies appear on the scene. Realizing that Steve's corpse has the boat keys, Ana lingers long enough to retrieve the keys from the body. This gives the zombies enough time to catch up to the van, leading to another firefight and traumatic escape. The van arrives at the boat yard and smashes through the surrounding fence before crashing to a halt at the edge of a dock. Everyone exits the vehicle except CJ who lingers to hold off the zombies. Swarmed by the attacking undead, CJ heroically detonates another large propane tank, destroying the truck, part of the dock, several zombies —- and himself. Everyone boards Steve's 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 what is left of the group (ie, Ken, Ana, Nicole, Terry and Chips). As the boat moves out and Ana sadly watches, he pulls out his pistol and places it under his chin. A final gunshot 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. Cast 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 had 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 remake'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 several months, 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 June 6. Also included on the DVD was the supplemental "Special Report", a news program detailing the world-wide effects of the zombie epidemic on humanity. Many fans of the original version feel that the remake doesn't utilize the surroundings (mainly the mall) as well as was done in 1978, which was one of the things that set the mood and made the original version special. Trivia Sequel | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| |