Dawn of the Dead (2004) & Land of the Dead (2pc) [Blu-ray]

Dawn of the Dead (2004) & Land of the Dead (2pc) [Blu-ray] Review

Dawn of the Dead (2004). Whats the point? 3/5.

I'm really failing to see the reasoning behind making a Dawn of the Dead (Ultimate Edition) remake (read my review for the original), especially when this movie has very little to do with Romero's original zombie classic. I am not one of those horror fans that are against updating old horror films; sometimes a horror movie needs a face lift in order for new generations of horror fans to rediscover the original classics. Unfortunately this new version of Dawn of the Dead doesn't follow even remotely the plot of the original, it just takes advantage of the name (still of the coolest names for any horror movie ever) in order to make more money then it otherwise would, and should, have made. Night of the Living Dead the remake was a wonderful homage to the original black and white classic and really could brag being a remake. This movie could have been called any other name, they didn't have to call it a remake because in fact it really isn't, but they did. Don't be fooled, this movie has almost nothing in common with the original so to refer to it as a remake is unfair and misleading.

Now, to the movie itself. Set in modern day Milwaukee Dawn of the Dead follows the life of Anna, a nurse at a local hospital, as a strange and unexplained virus brakes out and quickly throws the world into chaos. One night her life is relatively happy, she's talking about taking a three day weekend with her husband and complains about her rude bosses; then the next morning she watches in horror as her beloved husbands neck is bitten off by the neighbor's sweet little girl and sees him turn into a bloodthirsty killer. Escaping from her home, she looks on as the quiet little suburban neighborhood she lives in is transformed into a battlefield as hundreds of dazed and confused people wander though the streets watching their homes burn and their lives fall apart. Mixed amongst these unsuspecting bystanders are dozens of zombies carrying with them a plague of biblical proportions. Within a week social order collapses, in a month there is nothing but silence. Anna manages to survive by escaping with a former cop, a gangster and his wife, and a guy that works at Best Buy to the local fortress, the Crossroads shopping mall.

It is at that point this scary and intriguing film starts to fall apart. The director made a terrible mistake by deciding to take Anna out of the chaos so quickly. The five minutes between Anna waking and her escape to the mall are by far the most interesting parts of this movie. The chaos in the streets, the mad scramble by the military and police to make sense of the unbelievable situation, and the random zombies running though the streets almost unnoticed are very chilling and by far are the scariest parts of this film. No other zombie film with the exception of 28 Weeks Later (Widescreen Edition) showed the madness that would result from a crises of this nature. However, it only lasts five minutes. Once they enter the mall they are safe, the zombies can't get in and they can't go out, so any advantage gained by making the zombies sprinters instead of walkers is lost. What good is having a running zombie if the characters are unreachable? of course this is a recipe for disaster as the director realizes his mistake and resorts to petty scares like the classic lights going out gag, and everyone going into the dark and creepy basement, and then zombies popping out of nowhere and yelling "boo." These zombie scenes come off as forced and unnatural, making the viewer suspend their belief far too many times for it to be taken seriously; and this movie desperately wants to be taken seriously. This could have been so much better if they had just made it a spoof, but instead they tried to be serous and ended up with this mess.

Although this movie has plenty of memorable moments, it doesn't really add anything new to the zombie genre, unless of course you count the zombie baby which I don't because Peter Jackson already did it in Dead Alive. It contains none of the social commentary of the original and relies of cheap scares and mediocre actors far too much.

Re-watch value; medium.

Land of the Dead. Romero's Best. 5/5.

I Loved Romero's previous zombie movies, of which Day of the Dead (Divimax Special Edition) was the best followed closely by Night of the Living Dead (Millennium Edition) with Dawn of the Dead (Ultimate Edition) coming in last(so sue me it wasn't as good as the others).Land of the Dead beats them all. In the story the world of the previous movies has been completely over run by an army of undead zombies with humanities last survivors' safe behind the walls of a fortified city. To survive, they must leave the safety of their city to gather supplies. But in the outside world once known as earth, the zombies are evolving.

If your not already a zombie, horror, or disaster movie fan I don't suggest you watch this film. Go rent Bambie 2 or whatever it is you wimps watch. This movie is jam packed with gore and flesh eating zombies that the faint of heart might fined disturbing. So if your man enough and don't throw up at the first of blood, go to your nearest wall-mart (or whatever place that sells movies) and pick up a copy of George Romero's Land of the Dead.

Re-watch value; low.

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