Release Date: March 19, 2004
MPAA Rating: R for pervasive strong horror violence and gore, language and sexuality
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Michael Barry, Lindy Booth, Ty Burrell, Jayne Eastwood, Michael Kelly, Jake Weber, Kevin Zegers

Plot:
As the United States is turned upside-down by a strange plague-like event in which millions of corpses walk the earth as blood-thirsty zombies (with the recently-deceased that the zombies kill usually returning as zombies themselves, multiplying their number), a small group of survivors of the onslaught, which include a nurse (Polley) and a police officer (Rhames), try to find shelter and protection within a massive shopping mall in the mid-sized city of Everett, WA. What they don't reckon on is that the zombies still have some sort of residual memory, and *everyone* loves going to the mall, right? Realizing that their time is running out, they decide to make another attempt at flight, to a presumably un-zombie-infested island, but to do so, they'll have to get past thousands of zombies in-between...

Review:
Lately, Hollywood hasn't been delivering the best horror films they can. Instead they have been releasing remakes of what many call "classic" horror films. Just a few years ago they remade Psycho, last year it was Texas Chainsaw Masscre and now in the year 2004 we witness the remake of Dawn Of The Dead. All of these films were remade because with the technology nowadays the film can look more polished, creepy and can give the audience a handful of scares.

Now, while many people state that the original Dawn Of The Dead is a classic, I disagree entirely. Having said that, I did enjoy the original Dawn Of The Dead and for its time it delivered somewhat. Its just nothing to brag about as one of the best horror films of cinema because its not, its overrated.

So saying that I adored the original would be a negative statement. And now when we get down to the remake, negative would be understating things. Remakes have a tendency to be either slightly worse then its original, but still watchable or just completely awful and the sight of it being made is horrific. Take the second statement I just said and place it right next to Dawn Of The Dead 2004.

Yes, this remake doesn't deliver whatsoever actually. It fails to even live up to the significance of its name. In fact, the film fails in almost every aspect of movie experience. Signs of entertainment was rare, signs of good acting was not visible and signs that we are all watching a horror film is extremely rare, almost extinct actually. For one thing, a director with some experience would have helped Dawn Of The Dead a lot.

Its the debut of Director of Zack Snyder. He gratefully accepted his first film to be an incompletely unoriginal remake of George Romero's original. If there's one thing that needed enhancement in this film it was the direction. For audiences that are looking for scares, you won't find any in this remake. What Snyder did not emphasize in the film was the setups for big scares, nor did he take his time to suit the film with some good editing.

And of course, fans of the original want to know exactly how the zombies look and how they perform in the film as that is one of the most important aspects. The zombies for one thing are very disgusting, powerful, intelligent and they run quickly. They are basically the total opposite of the zombies from the original film which were slow, stupid and easily escapable.

I have no idea why the zombies were dramatically changed. For one thing, yes the zombies look more brutal and menacing, but one has to notice that zombies were in fact humans before transforming. So indeed the more realistic 1979 version tops these zombies.

One can describe Dawn Of The Dead 2004 as being more bloody than the original. That by no means makes it a better film. There is more violence than one needs though, but one thing that it failed was to show the zombies eating body parts and the human disection of the intestines which was popular in the original. While the zombies were flawed, the characters as well was nothing to brag about.

The characters weren't developed to the full extent. By the end of the film, the presence of each character is quickly being erased from our memories. This is in result of poor character development and a film that moves way too quickly for its own good. With the film progressing quickly, it was non-stop flaws and stupidity that came into effect.

Let me also take a second and say that this remake is in no way a remake of Romero's original. There truthfully is not one element that was drawn from the original film and injected into this one. To add to that, in this remake the characters hardly spend time in the mall and in actuality most of the film especially the last half an hour takes place in the streets.

A horror films intentions are to make the audience enjoy what they witness, jump a few times from their seat and have a few chuckles. However, if there's anything that Dawn Of The Dead isn't then that would be horror. It was a complete comedy fest once the opening credits began rolling. Some scenes are incredibly ignorant and downright stupid, that you almost have to hold yourself down and say "Why, Oh why?"

Simply put, Dawn Of The Dead 2004 is easily more of a comedy than a horror. It completely separates from the original and goes its own route its as simple as that. So if you are definitely looking for a comedy this year, I advise you to check the film out, but bare with it because there is not much entertainment. The sad part is that you won't be laughing with it, you will be laughing at it.

As a horror film alone Dawn Of The Dead 2004 is bad, when compared to the original it's a disaster. This film only makes one realize that with remakes, one must have elements from the original. Also, if you truly want to see an original and well crafted zombie film, do yourself a favor and grab 28 Days Later from the shelves. Its a much darker, creepier film and its by far better filmmaking.