Dawn Of The Dead

Year: 2004

Grade: B

Country: USA

Director: Snyder

Review

2004 – let’s get this part out of the way – the original is way better. this one is good though. tom savini makes an appearance – he did the sfx and played a bit character in the original. it had a grainy, underdeveloped look through much of the film. it didn’t use digital photography like 28 days later, but some of it looked like it was done that way. i don’t know what they did to achieve the look, but it was fitting. i liked mikhi phifer’s performance. sarah polley was the star of the film though. this is only the second film i’ve seen her in so i don’t know how good she is, but she nailed this performance. they changed a lot of stuff in this version, and i don’t want to really discuss all the differences between the two, but i will address a couple of the big ones… the first one was about 30 minutes longer and only had three main characters, this one had like eight. whereas the original had enough social commentary to know it was there, this one had hardly (if) anything to sink your teeth into in the way of commentary. i think that the original just wouldn’t attract audiences these days. it’s much more methodically paced and relies on character development, psychological terror and flurries of violence to make its impression. this film is more of the frenetic horror scenes seen in 28 days later… that kind of phenomenon is interesting. dawn of the dead 1979 influences 28 days later which influences dawn of the dead 2004. something like lotr books influences the neverending story film which influences lotr movies. that example isn’t as good, but you get the point. i think that 28 days later was better. it had better characters overall, it conveyed the sense of chaos, loneliness, and loss more fully, and it was filmed better. this version did slip into horror conventions once or twice which was unfortunate. it’s a good film that could have been better, but could have been a lot worse. 28 days later was a better homage to dawn of the dead 1979, but this one will do just fine to introduce this generation to the original. p.s. stay until the credits are done rolling.

Watched in theater