official Dawn of the Dead thread

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Had to twist the arms of the crew (Wifey, Nasa, and Nasa's wife) but eventually managed to convince them to come along. I really hope I'm not proven horribly wrong. Will report back - yall do the same.

Anyone see it yet?

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Saturday, 20 March 2004 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

YAWN

― dean! (deangulberry), Saturday, 20 March 2004 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

It's really quite good, certainly better than I expected, except for that awful suckerpunch postscript ending which is basically a big "fuck you" to the audience and the characters, and showed the filmmakers really didn't give a shit. If I see it again, I'm bolting the instant it fades to black on the boat.

Aside from that, very well-acted, well-directed (especially the first 15 minutes or so), and it maintains some of the spirit of the original, with far less satire and more emphasis on the characters (especially since there's about a dozen this time instead of four.

I recommend it.

― Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 20 March 2004 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I just saw this and was really, really impressed. It puts 28 Days Later, which I really liked when I saw it, to shame.

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Saturday, 20 March 2004 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)

it really is on par with 28 Days Later, but won't get the same props because it's not British and indie. fuck that ending though. lame lame lame

― Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 20 March 2004 03:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I kinda liked the ending, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel.

I feel like it's not only on par w/28DL, but a lot BETTER. It seems kinda like the DotD remake shares more superficial plot traits with the Romero movies, but really expands on the ideas and updates them, whereas 28 Days Later went somewhere else plotwise but relied on a lot of the same ideas as the Romero ones.

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Saturday, 20 March 2004 03:24 (twenty-two years ago)

so, when did zombies get all fast? In the old zombie movies, they were slow and lumbering and pretty easy to get away from. Since 28 Days Later, they're all running and shit. What's up with that?

― Octothorpe (Octothorpe), Saturday, 20 March 2004 05:32 (twenty-two years ago)

saw it tonite, i like how they counted bullets.

― anthony, Saturday, 20 March 2004 05:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Shaun Of The Dead? *Now* yer talkin'!

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Saturday, 20 March 2004 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

28 days later was total pike.

― g-kit (g-kit), Saturday, 20 March 2004 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Zombies first got fast, I think, in Return of the Living Dead.

― Gear! (Gear!), Saturday, 20 March 2004 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I said pretty much all I had to say about it in the other thread. No way it was better than 28 Days Later though.

― Jordan (Jordan), Sunday, 21 March 2004 02:02 (twenty-two years ago)

i thought we'd proven by science that 28DL was bobbins ;)

anyway, SHAUN of the dead, goddamit!

― CarsmileSteve (CarsmileSteve), Sunday, 21 March 2004 10:52 (twenty-two years ago)

It wasn't a patch on the original and I didn't think it was as good as 28DL either, but it was fairly entertaining and the opening credits with the Cash song over it was chilling.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Monday, 22 March 2004 03:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The opening with Cash was great. All the music was great, really. Especially "People Who Died" over the closing credits.

― Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Monday, 22 March 2004 03:48 (twenty-two years ago)

but it aint no czech prog band "Zombi"

― Pablo Cruise (chaki), Monday, 22 March 2004 04:18 (twenty-two years ago)

The Cash opening was fantastic. I suspect that if I listened to enough of his religious music over time, I'd have to convert. Not noticing that almost-zombie girl has been missing and that whatshisface has the baby store all shuttered up was sort of lame. Executing celebrity lookalikes - funniest thing I've seen all year.

I think this got discussed more on the other lookalikes - it's not as good as the original trilogy or 28DL, because it didn't have much to say about the post-apocalyptic atmosphere. The original trilogy did it with the characters themselves, and 28DL had that nice Heart of Darkness turn. This was more of a straight monster movie. I dunno, something more could have been done with the hillbilly locking them up - it felt like they were working too hard to make it more Hollywood, everyone's a good guy except for the yuppie turncoat. The ending wasn't insulting (a happily-ever-after on their island paradise would have been worse), but it just seemed half-assed, like the filmmakers couldn't figure out what to do.

Girl who played Nicole - hottness. (She was on the terrible Showtime sci-fi/time travel program - I couldn't figure out what I'd seen her in before)

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 22 March 2004 06:33 (twenty-two years ago)

two weeks pass...

holy shit this movie is awesome.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 10 April 2004 01:06 (twenty-one years ago)

gaaah do we have to do 28 days later again! yeah i agree first 15 mins of dod are super fantastic, sucker ending is loathsome

― prima fassy (mwah), Saturday, 10 April 2004 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

expands on the ideas wtf? explain pls

― prima fassy (mwah), Saturday, 10 April 2004 01:19 (twenty-one years ago)

worth seeing, and i did like the strange ending, but certainly it lacks the originals excellent shopping mall storyline - ie 'we have everything we need here and so life is sweet'. In fact the mall is hardly evident at all, they could've been held up anywhere.

and yeah fast zombies are not as fun as slow ones.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Saturday, 10 April 2004 08:25 (twenty-one years ago)

My God! If the director wanted to ignore the entire political and social themes of the original altogether then why not just make an entirely new film rather than cash in on the title "Dawn of the Dead"? They've dilluted a two and a half hour masterwork into a 90 minute, shallow, souless story of blood and guts and nothing else. Too many characters (I kept thinking, "who's that again?") and a stupid, abysmal ending ripped off from the dire Italian splatter film "Cannibal Holocaust". The new "Dawn of the Dead" has its moments (and why remake the middle section of a trilogy anyway? Hence the rushed opening explaining the sudden spread of the infection), it's an average horror movie, but as anything associated with the Romero movie it's a mess. Unlike last year's "Texas Chainsaw" remake, which acted more as a sequel to the first, this is just... well it misses the point altogether.

― CRW (CRW), Saturday, 10 April 2004 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

first 30 mins: scary
second 30 mins: funny
third 30 mins: absurd.

all-in-all a balanced movie.

― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 10 April 2004 10:02 (twenty-one years ago)

OK out of ten.

― cozen (Cozen), Saturday, 10 April 2004 10:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I laughed out loud when the guy got hit by an ambulance

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 10 April 2004 21:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't seen many horror flicks because I am at heart a pussy, but is it a hallmark of the genre to have as pessimistic an ending as it has? (And pessimistic not in the "Oh no the monster's still there lurking RIGHT BEHIND THEM HOPEFULLY THERE'LL BE A SEQUEL TO SEE HOW THE HEROES WIN.")

― Leee O'Gaddy (Leee), Sunday, 11 April 2004 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

No, it's a lame rip off of the abysmal "Cannibal Holocaust" - the final shot is even identical.

― CRW (CRW), Monday, 12 April 2004 10:51 (twenty-one years ago)

it fucking rocks

get up c'mon get down with the sickness
ya mother get up c'mon get down with the sickness

― fuck, Monday, 12 April 2004 11:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Hi there l have been waiting to see this movie for ages l am from Sydney Australia now l no it came out in the usa in March but when is it comming to Australian cinemas?

― Brendon. James, Thursday, 22 April 2004 07:39 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

whats so bad about the endign again?

― :|, Saturday, 16 October 2004 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

ten months pass...

The Director's Cut didn't seem to add much. I think they actually deleted some T&A scenes for more gore - shocking for a standard Mo' TItties version.

Definitely not as good as when I saw it in the theater - the pre-credits and credits sequence lost all their impact (which may be familiarity or simply watching it on a regular TV screen).

I've now seen all of the original Romeros, Land of the Dead, Dawn remake and Shaun of the Dead. Of them all, Shaun of the Dead works best as zombie flick, social commentary and was funny to boot. The original Dawn and Day are completely overrated - I think I'd actually put this remake ahead of them. It was scary and the original Dawn's 'point' was so obvious it didn't really hit home anywhere (though it had more poignant moments, like the black hero having to kill a kid, and the opening scenes in the projects).

It's funny how mall changes over 25 years altered the plot - no gun stores to buy from and no supermarkets to get real food.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Sunday, 21 August 2005 05:16 (twenty years ago)

you are so wrong

― gear (gear), Sunday, 21 August 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

however shaun of the dead is fantastic, yes. but no the remake is not better than the original

― gear (gear), Sunday, 21 August 2005 05:20 (twenty years ago)

and the original mall didn't have a gun store; they just went to a downtown shop to film those scenes.

― kingfish fucked up his login (kingfish 2.0), Sunday, 21 August 2005 06:57 (twenty years ago)

it's good, but it's not 'Dawn' by a long chalk. and just how on earth is it a 'remake' ?

― Ste (Fuzzy), Sunday, 21 August 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

wu-huh?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 21 August 2005 22:30 (twenty years ago)

the new dawn is a whole lot better than the original. likeable characters, more action, its funnier. the title sequence, the ending. the chainsaw scene! come on guys, cut it out with the nostalgia

― fe7 (FE7), Sunday, 21 August 2005 22:47 (twenty years ago)

http://www.theconnection.org/content/2003/01/30/crackhead173.jpg

― gear (gear), Sunday, 21 August 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38280000/jpg/_38280195_dust300.jpg

― fe7 (FE7), Sunday, 21 August 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

http://www.algonet.se/~tourtel/hovind_seminar/part2_images/Image36.gif

― gear (gear), Sunday, 21 August 2005 23:11 (twenty years ago)

I haven't even seen the remake but I guarantee the original is better.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 22 August 2005 01:03 (twenty years ago)

yeah man it's like comparing The Good the Bad and the Ugly to Tombstone

― gear (gear), Monday, 22 August 2005 01:04 (twenty years ago)

more like comparing la takedown to heat

― fe7 (FE7), Monday, 22 August 2005 01:38 (twenty years ago)

i saw the original for the first time last week. it was awesome!!!!!!!!

― älänbänänä (alanbanana), Monday, 22 August 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

I know it's blasphemy, but I think I'd rather watch Tombstone over TGTBTU most of the time. Kilmer's Doc Holliday was like a hero when I was 12, some really funny lines from Kurt Russell and Dana Delaney as the cherry on top.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 22 August 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

but you're the madman!

― gear (gear), Monday, 22 August 2005 03:18 (twenty years ago)

the new one is ok, i like the opening, but then it pretty much turns into a canadian tv show. booo

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 22 August 2005 05:14 (twenty years ago)

four months pass...

saw this on cable over the holidays and loved it. and i'm a fan of the original. the guy stranded on the roof by himself was fun.

― DR. O. RLY (eman), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 05:50 (twenty years ago)

the new one is ok, i like the opening, but then it pretty much turns into a canadian tv show. booo

-- s1ocki (slytus...), August 22nd, 2005.

otm. still, a lot better than i expected. i might have to rewatch this as i haven't seen it since it came out.

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 06:01 (twenty years ago)

repeated viewing of the new one seemed to improve it for me.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 09:33 (twenty years ago)

it's better than Land of the Dead

― Ward Fowler (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 3 January 2006 14:27 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/03/21/experience_zombie_onslaught_in_derelict_shopping_centre/

― PSOD (Ste), Monday, 26 March 2012 21:51 (fourteen years ago)

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