Dawn of the Dead (2004)

 Dawn of the Dead (2004) Review
Dawn of the Dead (2004 remake by Z. Snyder) is an exciting, well-made, no-nonsense zombie-horror film. The film has an excellent cast and fine score by Tyler Bates. The 2.35:1 widescreen DVD is enhanced for 16:9 TVs. May 10, 2008

 Zombie fans must-have!
This is a must-have for zombie fans around the world. Old Romero's idea brilliantly remastered and executed in our times, by the "300" director. Thrills, scares, gore, blood, flesh & meat. Enjoy! :) April 26, 2008

 Dawn of the Dead HD-DVD
Good Movie with positive reviews on its picture and audio quality. Great price. 'Nuff said. April 19, 2008

 Dawn of the Dead.........
Dawn of the Dead is the 2004 'reimagining'(if you will) of George Romero's low-budget zombie classic from the 70's of the same name. Like the original, the film depicts a handful of human survivors who find shelter in a shopping mall only to be surrounded by swarms of zombies. It's quite different than the original. The film is directed by Zack Snyder(best known for the movie, 300). It stars Ving Rhames, Jack Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Sarah Polley and Kim Poirier. Unlike the Night of the Living Dead remake, Dawn of the Dead was made on a $28,000,000 budget and it shows. The movie itself grossed over $102,356,381 to date and is still doing well in DVD sales. It's a favorite among zombie fans. This edition includes footage that was intended to be in the movie originally but was cut for theatrical release. The DVD offers several other scenes which were not included in any version of the film as well as more. Very entertaining reimagining, if you ask me. I enjoyed it very much. April 15, 2008

 Run for your lives! A bloody morning, visceral panic and fun!
Blasphemy? It's just the new style in horror filmaking, so we better get use to it! Romero deserves hughe credit, but even he knows, as it shows in his two latest releases, you have to update your style or get devoured. Every stage in history of the horror cinema was new and improving at the time, regardless of the country or culture, style or sub-genre, and this is not the exception: behold the zombie culture for the 00's .

Standing aside for the obvious and tedious comparisons between the monumental 1978 classic zombie epic and this new energizing version, the first feature film and interesting work of director Zack Snider ( who also did "300"), i would like to take this movie as a fair example and unique precedent for today's new standards in the style of horror filmaking. Romero's work and Zack Snider's vision are almost diametrically different, only sharing the very essence or intentions of the zombie apocalypse. Therefore, you need to see this movie to comprehend what's new, in order to catch the very improvements in the style, aesthetics and simple angles of the source.

In this original revision of the catastrophic plague of the undead, the camera and directing style can only be described as KINETIC TENSION: the action is restless, the desperation for survive exceeds the known speed limits, the zombie's cappacities are exponential in number and power, any blink of an eye may result in a painful and gruesome death. The running murderous corpses are raging, rabid predators very similar to Danny Boyle's virus-eaten victims in "28 days later". With these kind of monsters on the loose, the only chance to survive is running like hell and seek refuge in a mall, along with a large variety of characters representing different social angles, personalities and points of view about the unexplicable horror they witness, but the unaccountable damage to their lives doesn't seem to bother them much. That's a down point: The almost total lack of awareness and personal or collective emotional suffering facing such dramatic and horrifying events. Au contraire, they seem prepared for the devastation of society by being calmed, creative and enlisting to make the best of it. So much for deepness in the story and moral struggle for the characters.

Zack Snider's work is much more involved with action sequences and extreme tension, but leaving behind the creepy and gruesome atmosphere of what the end of the world implies is risky, specially under the attack of pissed-off zombie hordes. So, by leaving both deepness in psychological terror and the grisly atmosphere, the remaing movie is a fair action-gorefest race out of hell. What's wrong with that? And forget about social satire and anti-consumerism, old story: the mall is just a circumstancial fortress instead of a delirious palace of joy.

I'm not leaving my horror back-up behind, no way, is just that classic fans of the zombie mythology understand the diversity of styles, but somehow we can't digest it. The movie's not obviously a masterpiece like the ones in our classic collection, but if we don't give these flicks a chance we will get stuck in our memories, blinded by prejudice.

So don't resist it, enjoy it! A colorful action packed gore film is not worse than a dark atmospheric creepy film, this is the living proof! Dawn of the dead, down with the sickness: Check the Zack Snider's vision of the zombie apocalypse and his incredible rapid-fire kinetic style, this movie represents the new breed of the passionate demented genre we all love! His ideas are fresh and his editing aesthetics and music rules!

April 2, 2008

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