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I think it’s
safe to say that most people have fears.
Some have them to the point of extreme,
and I guess these could be referred to as
phobias. More often than not, these fears
are about tangible things like heights,
enclosed spaces, snakes, or spiders. Then
there are those of us who have irrational
fears. We fear things that will never, ever
happen. I’m going to confess to having
one of those fears, and up until this point
I’ve only admitted it to my wife.
I have an irrational fear of being attacked
and eaten by the undead.
On the surface, this might seem silly, but
let me tell you there are times when I find
myself driving down country roads in the
middle of the night and in my mind’s
eye I can see zombies shambling up from
the sides of the road. I even start making
conscious decisions of what I would do if
they in fact DID start shambling towards
me. (Speeding up comes to mind…).
Sometimes, when I get up in the middle of
the night to get a bottle for the baby,
I look out through our sliding glass doors
to the field behind the house and again,
my imagination runs a bit wild.
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Now, I realize I will never have to deal with
real zombies, shambling or otherwise, so the fear
does not get so bad as to lose sleep or hide under
the bed. Though I will admit to locking the bedroom
door from time to time, but this is more to give
would be robbers a harder time getting in while
I’m sleeping (uh-huh, sure…). The
really funny thing is how I’ve dealt with
this irrational fear over the years. First and
foremost is that I watch any movies that I can
on the subject (this way I can learn what to do
and what not to do to survive a zombie attack),
and have spent a good number of years working
as an effects artist in the haunted house business.
Yep, that’s right. I surround myself with
all manner of creatures, monsters and zombies
on nearly a daily basis. Go figure. Of course,
if any of the guys I work with read this review
and learn of my fear, my life will become a living
hell. (So, if any of you ARE reading this, I’m
just making it up for the sake of this review.)
What all of this has to do with the new DVD release
of Universal’s brand-spanking new remake
of “Dawn of the Dead” is that by writing
about this, it not only allows me a cathartic
release of this otherwise secret fear but lets
you know that I’m somewhat of an expert
on the subject of the undead. And because I have
been a longtime fan of the work of George Romero,
I was amongst the many who were not thrilled with
the idea that someone had the nerve to try and
remake his 1978 classic.
Romero’s ‘Dead” trilogy still
stands as one of the best series of its kind,
and makes Romero the undisputed king of horror
film fans everywhere. The original 1968 release
of “Night of the Living Dead” was
a groundbreaking film for the horror genre in
that it not only pushed the envelope of what could
be shown on camera, but also refrained from having
the typical Hollywood ending where the ‘good
guys’ win. For the time it was made, it
was considered shocking and horrific, and in spite
of its age and low budget status still gives some
people the willies even to this day. Even more
shocking to audiences at the time was it had an
African American as the main lead. Long thought
to be a bit of a social commentary on Romero’s
part, he still claims that he chose the actor
for no other reason than he was the best actor
he had at the time.
(If I can share another little personal side note,
I was into the haunted house thing even back then
while in high school. I went to the premiere with
a friend, both of us dressed up as zombies. We
sat outside the theatre box office and fought
over and chewed on a couple of fake arms that
had been filled with chopped up hot dogs and ketchup.
The theatre manager loved it, some of the patrons…
didn’t. We of course went into the theatre
a little later and watched the movie, much to
the discomfort of the couple we sat next to.)
My point is that when I first heard that ex-Troma
screenwriter James Gunn was going to tackle a
re-write to be helmed by newbie director Zack
Snyder, I was incensed almost to the point of
outrage for what I thought was good reason. I
couldn’t figure out why the studio would
pour so much money into a couple of relative newcomers
instead of funding Romero to make a much desired
fourth installment to his ‘Dead’ series.
I started scouring the Internet for news about
the film, and everything I read just made it sound
like it could actually be a pretty good remake.
I quickly learned never to read online forums,
because there wasn’t any kind of intelligent
discourse going on about the film. Fans were outraged,
but offered very except for non-productive, expletive
enhanced comments. So I started checking out the
some of the news sources and Internet rumor mills
and started to hear things that changed my attitude.
At least a little bit.
News of actors started wafting my way and I was
intrigued by the casting of Sarah Polley, who
has had a long and impressive career in and out
of the indie market. When I heard about Jake Weber
(whom I first saw in TV’s “American
Gothic”), I was even more interested because
I had always considered him to be a highly underrated
actor and was curious to see what he would add
to the mix. The addition of Ving Rhames pretty
much clinched it for me. Rhames is a surprisingly
versatile actor, whose presence seems to instantly
elevate any cast that he joins.
Once I decided that I had to at least give the
film a chance, I patiently waited for its theatrical
release. Then the announcement was made that the
USA Network was going to air the first 10 minutes
of the new “Dawn of the Dead”, completely
unedited, 1 week before it opened. Supposedly
those first few minutes were scary enough to convince
people to go see it. Needless to say, my wife
and I were on the couch and ready to watch when
the time came. We shut off the lights and settled
in.
Let me say, that not only did those first 10 minutes
scare the crap out of me, but the images stayed
with me for the rest of the week and heightened
my already highly irrational fear. For days, if
I got up in the middle of the night for that drink
I didn’t dare look out the sliding glass
door. I had gone from knowing full well that nothing
would be out there to only being fairly sure nothing
would be. That first section of the movie also
involved a little girl, which you’ll know
if you’ve seen the trailers, and every time
I got up, I found that I was bracing myself in
case I saw her in the house. Those first few minutes
just wriggled right into my imagination and wouldn’t
let go.
Part of the reason I feel that it affected me
so strongly is because of the only improvement
that Snyder made over Romero’s version.
In the original, most of the sets outside of the
mall, pretty much looked like sets. Or they took
place in areas that weren’t familiar surroundings
to me. (TV stations, tenement apartments, etc…)
This new version took this irrational fear I have
and placed it right smack dab in the middle of
my neighborhood. The house and the suburb could
have been right around the corner from me. I was
given a look at what it might be like to have
this happen in MY world, and it shook me up.
Was I ready to see the film in theatres? Uhhh…
absolutely. Did the rest of the new “Dawn
of the Dead” live up to that opening sequence?
I’d have to say… mostly. My final
impression of the film was kind of a mixed bag.
There were a few things I didn’t care for
in the movie, but I was surprised to see a lot
that I loved about it. The acting throughout the
film was consistently great, and the scares came
fast and furious. I jumped quite a number of times,
even during my second viewing of the DVD recently.
The blood and gore was very well done, and the
filmmakers were able to give us a lot of it without
ever really going over the top. The zombies themselves
looked great, and I was glad to see that they
opted to use more traditional forms of makeup
effects without relying totally on CGI.
Speaking of the zombies, they were the catalyst
for a lot of Internet jabbering because of the
fact that they didn’t move the way traditional
horror movie zombies moved. They ran and jumped
like Olympic hopefuls. A lot of horror fans didn’t
like this because it made them more like a bunch
of rabid people running around (similar to “28
Days”), not the undead. I lost count of
all the messages I read about how it was a horrible
decision to make the zombies move so quickly.
Fans were really up in arms about it. Of course,
I have a theory about this.
Most horror fans (at least the ones I know) occasionally
imagine what they would do if this ever really
happened. Usually they imagine it like a video
game where you take out a bunch of zombies before
they can get you. Slow-moving zombies are a little
less threatening because they are easier to get
away from or fight (unless there's a horde) allowing
you a better chance at escape. On the other hand,
fast moving-ones are more threatening because
they are likely to catch and eat you. Though they
won’t admit it, I feel that it’s this
difference that fuels the debate. (Granted, this
isn’t the only reason but it is one that
I think exists). Personally I feel threatened
by both and imagine that I would curl up into
a fetal position and suck my thumb if I ever saw
either. In the world of cinema however, I do have
to admit preferring the slow-moving ones because
they are so much creepier.
I also liked the fact that the new “Dawn
of the Dead” went beyond being just a scary
movie. It actually ventured into the realm of
‘action’, with the various attempts
at rescue and escape.
On the ‘not so good’ side, I had a
few personal issues with the plotline involving
a pregnant woman. The outcome was very effective,
but a bit unsettling because my wife and I had
just had a baby girl. In retrospect, I think that
was really the only thing I didn’t like.
In picking up the new DVD of “Dawn of the
Dead”, you are offered the choice of buying
the ‘R’ rated version or the ‘Unrated.’
I have the ‘Unrated’ and it does offer
up a slightly longer version of the film with
a little bit more gore (as well as some interesting
character development) for your money. There are
also quite a few extra features that make the
disc well worth adding to your collection.
First up is a video introduction to he movie by
Snyder, and while he gives you a good idea of
what was added to this version of the film, he
does come off seeming a little goofy (he just
may have been nervous in front of the camera).
He and producer Eric Newman then team up for a
very lively and entertaining commentary for the
movie. Then there are a couple of strange little
video bits that were put together for the disc.
The first one features actor Bruce Bohne, reprising
his role as the gun shop owner Andy. In the film,
he strikes up a friendship with the people in
the mall, communicating only by marker board as
he is trapped in his shop down the street. Here,
there is a video diary of what was taking place
in the shop. It’s kind if interesting, if
not a little bit poignant, but his acting was
a little bit stilted and made the whole thing
a little less than believable. That is the same
problem that plagues the fake news ‘Special
Report’ featurette.
The DVD does have a handful of deleted scenes
which I have a habit of skipping. These particular
scenes were worth a look though. For the makeup
lover, there are three featurettes that focus
on how some of the zombie ‘head shots’
were pulled off, a few of the attack sequences,
and what it took to transform the huge multitude
of extras into an army of zombies
This new remake of “Dawn of the Dead”
really surprised me in that it was a very well-made
and well-thought out film. It was funny, scary,
gross, disgusting and even action-packed. My only
wish is that the filmmakers had opted not to use
the title “Dawn of the Dead”, however.
The movie was good enough to stand on its own
and didn’t need to ride the coattails of
Romero’s fame.
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber,
Mekhi Phifer
Extras: “Splitting Headaches: Anatomy of
Exploding Heads”, “Attack of the Living
Dead”, “Raising the Dead”, “The
Lost Tape”, “Special Report: Zombie
Invasion”, Deleted Scenes, Commentary by
Director Zack Snyder and Producer Eric Newman
Specifications: Widescreen (2.35:1), Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Universal
Release Date: 10/26/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
Website
We'll give Dawn of the Dead: Director's Uncut
Version an A.
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