Actually, that's not true. I did like it, but it left me feeling funny, like after I visit my Uncle Davy's house and he gives me horsey rides in the basement. You know, violated.

I'm a huge sucker for zombie movies, and the merest mention of the living dead sends me instantly into my defense checklist: how many doors are in this room? Windows? Can I get to the street? Anything to build barricades with? Something heavy to whack 'em in the head lying around? One of the safest days of my life was when I finally realized that if I was in the shower when the dead finally got around to emerging from hell to consume the flesh of the living I could use the lid off the back of the toilet tank to knock their blocks off. A small victory, true, but it gave me much more relaxed showers after realizing that I wasn't defenceless in the bathroom.

I've been looking forward to the new DAWN OF THE DEAD so much that I could barely restrain myself and I rented it this past week (I try not to go to movies about zombies in the theater because it'll spend all my time looking over my shoulder and not enough looking at the screen). I watched the movie and it wasn't bad.

SPOILERS AHOY, FOR THIS MOVIE AND ALL THREE ROMERO MOVIES AND RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD


Despite the filmmakers' complete inability to move characters from one location to another in a coherent fashion (in fact, I've almost never seen a movie this geographically challenged), I did like it. I was a little miffed at the way they couldn't disguise the fact that the only reason Mekhi Pifer (sp?) and the French lady existed was for that one shot of the zombie baby. I would have preferred it if both actors had been digitally erased, and the empty space they had previously occupied was replaced with the text: "CREAKY PLOT MACHINERY" until the zombie babe emerged from their blankness. In fact, if this had been the case we could have been spared that corny Mekhi/Ving Rhames scene in the bathroom and instead had a scene of the zombie baby jumping out of its swaddling clothes and munching on some folks.

What I liked was the acting, which was tolerable all around. And the running zombies, which were very scary, although they did act a little like stuntmen just a tad too much (couldn't they get an acting coach for the stuntmen to come in, just for a day, and instruct them on the fine art of not posing stock still right before your squib erupts, and maybe not waving your arms as that's just a bit too melodramatic for a zombie?), but overall the zombies were nice. The script wasn't bad, and it was fun to see Toronto in end-of-the-world action. The long shots of death and destruction were terrific fun, a real nice change from shakey-cam land as seen in so many movies, and the music was overbearing but well done and hard not to like.

But I have a problem. A real problem, and I think it goes beyond just this movie. And hey, look, it's me, not you. Really. I just have to work some things out, if this was another point in my life we could be happy together, but for now I just need to be on my own and think things through. Because, see, DAWN OF THE DEAD taught me why so many horror movies are cult movies. The problem with horror movies is their endings.

Some (I would argue "many" but I don't want to get into an argument where someone lists horror movies with survivors) horror movies have decided that the most horrible thing they can think of is an ending where everyone dies. And that's pretty horrible. No argument there. But when you're making a movie for a general audience (a DAWN OF THE DEAD, say, as opposed to an EVIL DEAD 2) it's not really fair to have everything one sided. You watch a movie, and you invest a little something in the characters. You want to see the ones you like succeed and the ones you don't like pay for being jerks. Even if the characters ultimately fail, as long as they did everything they could, and it was a fair fight, and they failed because of forces beyond their control, then that's okay, too. Sometimes it even makes a larger point, like in NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD or RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. In both cases, the characters won against their adversary but were brought down by an out-of-right-field force that they couldn't control (military industrial complex/rednecks; or Reaganomics/racism).

But in the new DAWN OF THE DEAD the characters just get run to ground by zombies. They run, and they run, until they get tired, and then they get overwhelmed by zombies and eaten. Like going to a boxing match that's been advertised as the fight of the century, and watching a heavyweight champion get in the ring with a seven year-old. The seven-year-old can fight all they want, but they're going to get beaten, and you're going to feel cheated (unless you have a taste for sadistic spectacles). Same as DAWN OF THE DEAD. The characters are shown an overwhelming threat, we're given the illusion that they can escape it, and then the illusion is shown to be just that: an illusion. Which makes all their previous struggle worthless, in retrospect, if the filmmakers have decided it doesn't make a difference. Yes, yes, there's that line by one of the characters before they die, "You want every second of life," or whatever, but compare that one line to the callous way all our lead characters are massacred, practically offscreen, at the end? The filmmakers may think that this is thought-provoking, or deep, but they're just confusing cynicism with intelligence, which is what kids in college do (and from watching the movie's supplements I have to say that the director and company do pretty much seem like college kids, although they're a little too old to be college kids, which is a little bit sad).

The original DAWN OF THE DEAD and DAY OF THE DEAD managed to be scary horror movies, with some thought in them, that were gory and cynical, but they didn't violate the contract with the audience: if you're going to make me pay money and sit here for two hours, then you've got to give me some characters I like, and if you do that you've got to behave responsibly with them. That's not to say that they have to survive, or ride off into the sunset, but you can't just kill them all because you need a stinger in your end credits.

I would have happily watched another 20 minutes of movie for the story to be wrapped up better, but as it is I'm going to think twice if these guys make another movie, because as much as I liked their movie I wound up feeling ripped off. Of course, if their next movie is about zombies, well, I can't help it. I'll be there, but I'll wear protection.

I thought the credits sequences were a poor addition as well...the first time I saw the film I missed them - I ran out of the theater as soon as the credits started(pressing er, biological needs). The second time it was a grim and disappointing capper to what was already one of the worst theatrical experiences of my life - I was the only person in the theater(last day the film was in town) and they forgot to turn on the film...I waited fifteen minutes, went and reminded them, waited another 5, had to remind them again! Carmike is a terrible chain.

I don't mind the idea of remakes as much as some people seem to...I would prefer quality original films as well, but a remake doesn't displace the original film from my mind. I saw the new Dawn as a popcorn entertainment, and a successful one at that. I think part of the problem with comparing the original and the remake is that so much of the consumerism parody of the original has seeped into our culture in the decades since through other sources, that it's not exactly a fresh idea anymore. As a matter of fact, the satire of the original is no longer as sharp when applied to the current culture...the greediness with which the survivors react to their newfound "wealth" is no longer a shocking idea, it's exactly how I imagine people would react if placed in a similar situation. The satire of the 70s is the reality of the 00s.

Yeah, I also thought the closing credits sequence was a really bad idea.
As a whole, I also really didn't like the movie, but the closing credit bit still stood out for me.
I did like the first five minutes. Everything with Sarah Polley and her family was great. Once she met up with the other characters, though, the writing (and the acting) really went to s**t (IMHO).
And I'm not anti-remakes in general (we can all name a few good ones)... but lately it's just one really depressingly stupid script after another.

The girl was the roller-skating neighbor, not Polley's daughter. A lot of people get this wrong, which doesn't reflect all that well on Snyder's direction, I suppose. I found it clear enough, but I can see why someone would miss it.

:lol:

Really? Heh. Well, it should've been her kid... Now the movie's just one teensy tiny bit worse. ;)

I've noticed a lot of people making that mistake too -- I suspect it has to do with the fact that the girl, when zombified, comes into the bedroom of Sarah Polley's character and her husband.

Either way, I'm in the minority who thinks that the pre-credits sequence was awful. A large number of people seem to consider it the best part of the movie, but I couldn't take it seriously at all. The lame false scare with a paramedic being set up as a zombie only for him to be taking a nap; the cheese of the rollerblading girl and the clumsy scene involving Ana and her husband; he sheer silliness of the fast-moving, running zombies; etc, etc. The best part was that well-executed overhead shot showing a car skidding off the road nad exploding into flames.

The chaos in the suburban neighborhood probably was the best part of the film. It was certainly the only part that actually showed a side of the horror such an event would create that had not really been dealt with in the original.

The ending credits also bugged me. [SPOILER HERE] Although I am sure the thinking of the people behind-the-scenes was to give the film one final shock, it came off more as an attempt to have a last laugh at the expense of the characters and ultimately the audience as well.

However, one could always leave the theater before the credits start and believe everyone who left on the boat lived happily ever after (of course, one could avoid the movie completely and have EVERYONE live happily ever after, but that is hardly the point here). The thing that bugged me was the concept of the videotaping being done by one of the characters that we see in the end-credits. The character points it Ving Rhames’ character and he tells the person to get the camera off him. Why? What is the big deal at being filmed? It is not like it is going to be showing off on "America's Funniest Home Videos" anytime soon at that point.

Then we see them get to the island, where they are attacked and we see the camera lying on its side like some half-baked BLAIR WITCH ending. My question is, if the camera was left there, who was watching the video later in order for us to see all the carnage in the ending credits? Aliens? People who survived the attack (and wouldn't that be a fun home movie to watch later on)? Perhaps it was the zombies themselves? "RRRaarrrrghghgh! Hey, remember when you attacked that guy and he dropped the camera as you munched on his stomach. RRaaarrrrghghghghg, good times."

I mentioned all this on another forum and I had a few people thanked me for ruining the ending for them. Thought I would pass it along. :)

I'm not too disappointed with the ending (I took it as a sort of *wink* on how Fulci's ZOMBIE attached itself to DAWN).

On the other hand, I also took the, "Hey, you didn't actually see the characters get munched..." approach.

They could have jumped in the water, watched the zombies spill in after them and sink straight to the bottom, then swim to another boat and get the hell out of Dodge.

Hey, it's a horror flick...I've seen sillier scenarios.

Overall, I thought it was a much better remake than I would have expected, despite some glaring plotholes/motivations that made me go, "Huh?"

I like your theory about the characters being able to swim away from the sinking zombies, except, as we all know from Fulci, zombies not only can swim, but can actually outmaneuver sharks underwater. :)

Ah...but they plod along. No swimming ability. The shark fight played out on the ocean floor. I see the zombies on the sand grasping at ankles just out of reach.

Hey, who knows? Maybe zombies that can run can swim as well...

Yep. Swim, run, work the parallel bars - these zombies are our next Olympic hopefuls! :lol: