Dawn of the Dead Review by The Alpha Craig (4.5 Stars) | MatchFlick

Dawn of the Dead Review by The Alpha Craig (4.5 Stars) | MatchFlick

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	6 reviews review this movie read all reviews

Movie Details

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Starring:
Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, Kevin Zegers, Lindy Booth, Jayne Eastwood, Boyd Banks, Kim Poirier, Matt Frewer, Kim Roberts, Michael Barry, R.D. Reid, R.D. Reid, Inna Korobkina

Directed By:
Zack Snyder

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Dawn of the Dead (2004)

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Movie Review by The Alpha Craig

October 28th, 2007

Holy balls, the Zombies can run in this one!

There are few good "re-imaginings" of classic B-horror movies these days. Dawn of the Dead is one of them in my humble opinion. I have become something of a Zombie movie aficionado these days (not quite to the level of a certain "Zombie Boy", but I am getting there.) George C. Romero was a pioneer when it came to horror, but more specifically Zombie movies. I have seen a remake of "Night of the Living Dead" and about the only thing worth while about it was that Sid Haig was in it. I have a review for that as well (insert shameless self-promotion here.) Getting back to the matter at hand, this movie is what I wanted to see in Resident Evil. I love how the movie just throws you right into the thick of it, with no long-winded explanations of how things started. It is as simple as a man and woman wake up one morning and there are suddenly Zombies everywhere. How can you not love it?

Ana was a nurse who returned home after working an exhausting shift at the Milwaukee County hospital. Her and her husband Louis retired for the evening after watching strange news reports of the dead being reanimated and terrorizing the living without giving any thought to the potential severity of it all. Louis is woken up by the next morning by a neighbor's child who appeared to be hurt. The child promptly bit Louis on the neck, causing him to lose a large amount of blood killing him. Ana tried to help, but was almost bitten when Louis came back to life and attacked her. She was able to make it out alive and found a car to escape in. While speeding away she was involved in a crash and met up with police sergeant Kenneth, Michael, petty criminal Andre and his pregnant wife Luda. They made their way to Crossroads shopping Mall where they were detained by mall security guards C.J., Bart and Terry. They eventually all find a way to work together and try to survive the "Dawn of the Dead."

Okay, I will make this as short as possible because I think it is clear that I liked this movie. Sarah Polley (JOHN ADAMS) as Ana Clark was good as the helpless victim who eventually was given courage by the wizard (seriously, take out the wizard part and my point remains.) Ving Rhames (DAY OF THE DEAD) as Officer Kenneth Hall was pretty much golden in the role. Hey, what can I say, the man was built to play a no-nonsense cop. Jake Weber (MEDIUM) as Michael was a great example of how ordinary people can rise above adversity and take hold of dire situations. Okay that was a bit high brow for me, what I mean is that it's cool to see a dorky guy who sells electronics/appliances can become the quasi-leader of a group of Zombie killers. Ty Burrell (BLACK HAWK DOWN) as Steve Marcus was a total Jeremy Piven in this movie. By that I mean a jerk character that you hate so much that you actually find yourself loathing the actor/actress playing the role. Everybody else in the cast was great too, but those were my favorites so I will wrap it up here. I am as giddy as a schoolgirl to see that "Day of the Dead" is labeled as "in production" on IMDB and hope it comes to fruition. ZOMBIE RULES, and ironically drools at the same time.

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	Tim Oct 28, 2007 7:51 PM
Although this is nothing compared to the original, I thought that this was a decent remake with only a few mistakes. Number one Zombies dont run.....Especially Fat women that can hardly walk before they turn. Number two........Mekhi Phifer should not be allowed to act, much less be in a remake of a George Romero movie. I could keep going but these are the two that irrate me the most.

	The Alpha Craig Oct 28, 2007 8:24 PM
Yeah I was not thrilled with Mekhi Phifer being in this movie. The guy just has too much of a dismissive attitude in his performance and comes across as poorly educated. As for the running thing, I agree to an extent. If the person was in relatively good shape before turning, there is no reason why they can't run. However, if they were wheelchair bound before hand, don't let them run right? Two extremes, but you get the point. Thanks for the comment Tim.

	Zombie Boy Oct 29, 2007 12:45 AM
I have to take issue with you here: zombies ran in Return of the Living Dead 'lo those many years ago, and that is a goddamn fine piece of cinema.

	Zombie Boy Oct 29, 2007 12:46 AM
Um, that was for Tim, not Craig.

	Tim Oct 29, 2007 4:19 AM
I dont remember the first Return of the Living Dead that well, I just remember thinking that part 2 and 3 were terrible and I never have seen part 4 or 5..... If I remember correctly it is the one with the "punk" kids and I cant remember running in that one but regardless Im sure it doesnt stand up to Night, Dawn or Day of the dead. All that needs to be said is : Field Reporter: Are they slow-moving, chief? Sheriff McClelland: Yeah, they're dead. They're all messed up.

	Zombie Boy Oct 29, 2007 4:50 AM
[comment deleted by Zombie Boy]

	Zombie Boy Oct 29, 2007 4:51 AM
Part 2 is terrible, no question. Part 3 is fabulous, but you need to make sure to get the unrated version. The R-rated version is for sh*t. I haven't seen 4 or 5 yet, and that is unlikely to change any time soon. Whether it stands up to the Romero zombie films wasn't necessarily my point: I was simply pointing out that the Dawn remake did not set a precedent for running zombies. I personally go for ROTLD over the Romero films, but that's probably just the punker in me talking :) PS: In James Gunn's original script, there were both fast moving and slow moving zombies, depending on state of decay (I think). But when it came time to shoot, time and budget forced them to pare the script down, and the slow zombies got chucked.

	Tim Oct 29, 2007 5:19 AM
Part 3 was better then part 2, but I still just cant seem to overlook the masterpiece of Dawn, Night and Day when it comes to zombie flicks. For instance....28 Days / Weeks.....(even though you say are not zombies) is fine for me......I mean sh*t they run like tri-athlete runners and I think that ads to the scare factor which is cool but Romero is the zombie king in my book and I dont like it when someone like Zack Snyder who basically got his big break with Dawn of the Dead, changing things that he has no experience with. I would stay away from ROTLD 4 and 5.....its pretty bad when the writer is asked about them and the first thing he says is quote William Butler "Those are not the scripts are wrote."

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