For this year’s 31 Nights of Horror Challenge, the Night 12 prompt is Mall Madness. We watched the movie Dawn of the Dead on Amazon Prime.

Storyline

Ana goes home to her peaceful suburban residence, but she is unpleasantly surprised the morning that follows when her husband is brutally attacked by her zombified neighbor. In the chaos of her once picturesque neighborhood, Ana flees and stumbles upon a police officer named Kenneth, along with more survivors who decide that their best chances of survival would be found in the deserted Crossroads Shopping Mall. When supplies begin running low and other trapped survivors need help, the group comes to the realization that they cannot stay put forever at the Shopping Mall and devise a plan to escape.

Our thoughts on Dawn of the Dead (2004)

This is not the best remake, and the first 10 minutes are the best of the movie. 

This is more action that horror. 

Good but not so good remake to the original fright flick lacks the brains of its predecessor and does not have its heart. Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames do well with their roles but the film really does not go anywhere with the time it has, and it lacks the bravado of the original film’s climax. My hat’s off to the director for keeping the body count high but shame on him for not getting too involved with his cast of characters, who in the original had some personality. George Romero’s original had a sense of real dread and a nightmarish view on human conflict but this movie is more popcorn than a real meal. Some genuine gore here and there but nothing else in terms of real human emotion. Which is a shame because that what makes the original such a classic in modern horror.

5 out of 10 stars

Trivia

When Ving Rhames heard of a remake of Dawn of the Dead (1978) was in production, he tracked down producers to be in the film.

In an aerial scene in the first 10 minutes when Ana is driving down a highway, a truck can be seen crashing into a gas station/diner. This is a reference to Night of the Living Dead (1968), as Ben mentions he was listening to a radio in a truck in a diner parking lot when a truck crashed into the gas pumps.

Actors Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Tom Savini all appeared in the original 1978 version of this film, but playing different characters. Ken Foree delivers the tagline he delivered as “Peter” from the 1978 version of Dawn of the Dead; “When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.”

Director Zack Snyder cameos as a soldier battling zombies at the United States Capitol during the film’s title sequence. There are also cameo appearances by Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree (who were in the original film) as a general, sheriff, and televangelist, respectively.

The zombie extras were paid $8.50 an hour.