Dawn of the Dead

Dawn of the Dead
by Zack Snyder

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DVD Reviews of Dawn of the Dead

DVD Review: Dusk of Hollywood Innovation
Summary: 2 Stars

But what if a remake not a remake? Take Zack Snyder's *Dawn of the Dead*, which I caught at my local cinema six hours ago. Snyder's first film is gory fun, so long as people understand it is a horror potpourri and not a remake of any kind.

26 Years Earlier

Horror-innovator George A. Romero wrote and directed *Dawn of the Dead*: a direct sequel to his 1968 hit *Night of the Living Dead*. In *Night*, a space probe returns from Venus with a mysterious radiation that animates all dead people. It also grants the dead a poisonous bite which kills people within three days. Risen dead are slow, mindless... and relentless, always hungering for human flesh. Only destroying their brains will stop them. *Night* concludes with America physically in control, but morally and intellectually degraded.

*Dawn* dawns ten years later, when human rivalry and incompetence has allowed the living dead to reach critical numbers. Many Americans refuse to destroy the corpses of their loved ones, forcing authorities to invade barricaded neighborhoods packed with zombies. Meanwhile the pleas of scientists to resort to extreme measures are ignored. While vigilantes and soldiers roam the countryside, four people desert to a mall where they build a capitalist Garden of Eden. Eventually they are forced out by more meddling people and zombies. This sets the stage for a 1986 film, when the dead have conquered the earth.

Along the way, Romero fills his film with social commentary. *Dawn* damns consumerism, while challenging both racism and sexism through its strong black and female characters. It portrays an apocalypse allowed because people could not be rational and cooperative.

Ye who think such commentary obtrusive fear not. Thanks to effects master Tom Savini, Romero's *Dawn of the Dead* offers NC-17 level violence for those inclined. Those who like interpersonal drama will be pleased by the character sketches. Romero also offers plenty of juvenile mischief and humor.

False Dawn

Snyder filmed and cut a different story. So different that the title "Dawn of the Dead" does not apply. *Night of the Living Dead* never happened. Snyder's *Dawn* begins with the world in order (aside from ominous news broadcasts). Five minutes into the film, zombies just show up and start snacking on people. Bites zombify people by some kind of infection. These zombies screech at their prey as they scuttle and leap like the reapers in *Blade II*. Somehow, they conquer the country in a day. A squad of people takes cover in a mall, and then decides to make a break to a deserted island. Snyder's film, unsurprisingly, is much shorter than Romero's.

And less believable. I failed to see how Snyder's zombies could be so widespread so quickly when they can only reproduce through a blood-borne infection. Snyder skips over this with a disposable comment. Likewise, I failed to see how the police and the military could not slow or stop the threat. For all their speed, Snyder's zombies can be stopped by body shots. Furthermore, Snyder's humans more or less unite against the zombie front. Yet one character simply mentions that a nearby Army base was inexplicably overrun. What part of "attack helicopters" do these people not understand?

Snyder's film has no intellectual aspirations of any kind. Nor does ascribe much depth to its ensemble cast. It settles with a commercial "R" rating. And it follows the style of contemporary cinema

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Taking cues from *1000 Corpses* and MTV, the filmmakers depend heavily on quick cuts and grainy video. Snyder also prefers jiggling close ups for his action scenes. Most of America's conquest is related during the opening credit sequence by a montage of stock news footage mixed with flashes of scary faces. The blood-styled credit sequences reminded me of *Freddy vs Jason*. In another *1000 Corpses* nod, Snyder lays an often whimsical soundtrack.

Many sequences are set up, consciously or unconsciously, like those from other horror films. Look for scene and cinematography nods to *Alien*, *The Exorcist*, *Texas Chainsaw Massacre*, and especially *28 Days Later* and *The Blair Witch Project*.

*Dawn of the Dead* references include a few paraphrases of lines from Romero's film. One of the original cast members makes a cameo. Tom Savini pops up as a hardened Sheriff paraphrasing lines from *NotLD*.

Overall, these sequences were too much crammed into too little running time. Action scenes ended too quickly and lack the satisfaction of Romero's drawn-out tension and desperate sequences.

Blood Where Blood is Due

Snyder is not Romero. He aims for scary zombie faces leaping out of shadows and loud noises. The opening sequence where a husband is attacked, zombified, and then attacks his wife impressed me with the horror of having somebody you love suddenly turn on you. Snyder also manages some decent gore scenes involving shotguns, broken sticks, and chainsaws. Snyder seeds his film with horror references to spot as in an Easter-egg hunt, and frequent gasoline explosions for Michael Bay and John Woo fans.

The lead actors are at least superficially appealing; Ving Rhames offers another solid performance as a hard-boiled man, and Sarah Polley's facial features are exploited to the fullest by the cinematographer. I also liked Jake Weber's unfazed rationality.

Dead End

I didn't ultimately like Zack Snyder's *Dawn of Dead*, however. It is not a remake, and so it should not pass as one. If anything, Director Snyder has Americanized Danny Boyle's *28 Days Later* (2002), stirred in a heap o' horror movie references and style, then tacked on "Dawn of the Dead" for its title. A gory, nihilistic romp from first frame to last, Snyder's *Dawn* resurrects the spirit of *House of a 1000 Corpses* and *The Blair Witch Project* more than Romero's classic.

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