31 Days of Horror: Days 15 and 16

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

This particular day I decided that I wanted to check out the original Dawn movie and immediately watch the Zack Snyder remake from 2004. Both are great movies but for different reasons. So lets start with the original title.

The sequel to the popular Night of the Living Dead follows 2 SWAT team members, a TV traffic helicopter pilot, and his reporter girlfriend as they take up refuge in a shopping mall during the mounting threat from the massive infection that’s turning the population into zombies.

We could talk about Romeros well documented and often talked about social commentary about the trappings of consumerism in the late 70s and into the 80s, but, I don’t give a crap about that. I’ll say the message is there, it’s not hard to find but it’s not thrown in your face because really we just care about the survivors and how they’ll get out of their current predicament. The make-up effects were actually kind of crappy at times (blue skin anyone?)yet really cool and visceral at other times. It’s really more of a fun movie which was a departure from the original Night of the Living Dead which was suspenseful and scary too. One thing that did annoy the piss out of me was one of the SWAT guys who kept hooting and hollering like a woman. I get he was trying to draw their attention but damn dude – grow some balls and sound more manly.

If you love Zombies, you have to see this movie.

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

In my opinion, this to remake a horror movie. Zack Snyder takes the source material and makes it his own without departing too much from the original. He does take some liberties with the characters and their background but I really enjoyed what was done. He did away with the shitty music, the annoying screaming the SWAT guys from the original and he even pay homage to it with small cameos by a few of the original actors. The zombies are incredible to look and creepy to see.

If you’ve seen the original and liked it, you should check this out. If you’re a purist and against the idea of remaking classics, then you probably want to avoid it.