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*** Official DAWN OF THE DEAD Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

ChuckSolo

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It seems doubtful that GAR would remake "Day of the Dead" simply because he has stated it is his "favorite" of his famed zombie trilogy. I think that he will probably make the 4th installment before any remakes are planned by him. "Dead Reckoning" has been in the planning stages for some time, according to rumour and on the Divimax disc of "Day of the Dead" he mentions something about trying to arrange financing. Admittedly GAR had to scale down "Day" because of cost constraints and, IMHO, would be great if remade to its original version. Apparently there were supposed to be battles between the soldiers and zombies in the everglades! Now that would be a sight to see!!
 

Mikel_Cooperman

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I am there opening weekend.
Holding off on the DVD of the original until the Special Edition comes out this year.
 

Ryan Wishton

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I will be tuning in...

I just hope this isnt one of those tricks where the first 10 minutes is the best part of the movie...

Very interesting that they will be airing this uncut... It's an interesting idea... Why do I feel this is going to lead to many angry letters from family types and religion going folk???
 

JonZ

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Just saw the 10 minute DOTD preview on USA. Looks pretty cool.

LOVED the helicopter shot of the cars crashing as Polleys going down the highway.

Im gonne be pretty busy with Eternal Sunshine...,Ladykillers and Hellboy.I was gonna wait for DVD for this, now Im thinking maybe Ill go see it.
 

Chucky P

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Looks great!

I laughed when the zombie chasing the car changed his direction and tackled a woman.
 

Justin Bauer

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I also just saw the 10 min thing on USA.

I was not really scared at all. The movie was missing the creepy mood that I thought it would have...but I will still see it.
 

Justin_S

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The first 10 minutes are amazing! SPOILERS for those who didn't watch the preview:

Watching that footage, I was beyond thrilled! How about the ambulance plowing that one asshole? Awesome shot!The husband chasing Polley's car only to go after the other woman was great, especially how he did it all in one smooth movement without a moment's hesitation. That aerial shot of the car crash/gas station explosion was amazing as well, another outstanding shot. The bus carnage was rather disturbing. The totally apocalyptic vibe of the opening is just fucking great! I love apocalyptic stuff, and this opening is some of the best and creepiest apocalyptic viewing I've ever had the pleasure to see.

I'm seeing the film early courtesy of the EB pass I went out of my way to get, and I'm hoping I'm not going to be disappointed. I'm positive I won't be though, so that's not really a concern at all. Anyone else here have EB passes?
 

Sean Bryan

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Well, I just saw the first ten minutes on USA and my heart is still pounding. What I saw so far was very well done.

I'm not a big fan of "zombie" movies, particularly because they are the one "monster" that really freak me out on a primal level. Humans have always been the scariest monster to be, even in the real world with the potential for "mob mentality" and "mob violence".

When I first saw the original Dawn of the Dead on VHS as a kid it freaked the hell out of me. I saw no humor or camp in it (too young to get that from a film where such God awful terror was going on). I don't remember much of the film at all. Only a few things. The mall. A guy who was bit saying that when he died, he'd try not to come back. The image of Zombies tearing into someone's stomach and eating the intestines was burned into my mind. Ever since, I've always found the concept of zombies freakishly scary. Particularly because in reality (or in theory, really) in the right conditions humans could essentially function the exact same way with the right kind of brain damage/insanity, etc.. Just mindless rage/violence and essentially unresponsive to pain.

I guess people that are into zombie movies get different things out of them. Some seem to like the gore. Some seem to like the campiness of some of the films. I guess some just find them "fun".

What I just saw of the new DotD worked VERY well for me. I liked that you see that it was starting the previous day (hearing of bite victims in the hospital, news reports on the drive home that get ignored, etc...). It kind of resonated with me. Something about bad things happening in the world while you are oblivious because you are busy/distracted by your own life and there always seems to be something "bad" going on. It oldy brought me back to the attacks on 9/11 when I went into work late (for 11am) that day. There I was sleeping in my bed, then I woke up, showered, got dressed, tied my tie, and got in my car. I was just going about my normal morning routine while such terror was taking place like 30 miles away. I tune into Stern and hear him talking about what was happening.

So, I don't know, something about the idea of getting hints of this terror starting out quietly, then she goes to sleep while all hell is breaking loose throughout the night such seemed disturbingly "real" to me. The ambulance puling away from the hospital as she left was probably going somewhere where someone was bitten. I can imagine what happened in the hospital as the night went on and bite victims died, then came back and attacked the staff, and the cycle builds slowly from something that is at first frustrating, confusing, situation; a "public health" problem to be solved or dealt with, until at some point individuals look around and realize that the situation has grown completely surreal and out of control. Panic and bad decisions follow, as does death. Yet you still can't really believe what is happening as you realize you are being bitten into. You might even hear yourself saying "This can't be happening, this can't be happening..." as chaos closes in.

My mind just easily and quickly filled in the hours between when she went to sleep and 6:37am. The hospital was one aspect. The suburbs were another. It of course got to the suburbs later at night. It started small, a zombie or two getting to the area and attacking someone outside. Maybe a bite victim escapes and gets to his house, calls the police. The police come and probably get bit, or killed. The bite victim doesn't go to the hospital because he's freaked out. He dies in the night and rips out his wife's throat. Then they kill their two children. It kinda grows exponentially. Starts out small, but quickly explodes and more get attacked, then die and attack even more, etc.. There are still ambulance calls through out the night.

An ambulance arrives at someone's house and when they get to the door the first guy is attacked. The second guy freaks out and runs outside, then he notices a man seeming to be eating someone in the yard across the street and he hears screams and shouts throughout the area. He freaks and jumps in his ambulance and takes off; he's functioning on pure basic survival instinct/panic mode. He'll drive right through anyone/thing that gets in his way.

A man is woken by the sound of his screaming children. He also realizes this is the time his wife gets home from work. He grabs his gun and runs to one of his daughters' rooms from where he still hears screaming. He sees what looks like his wife biting his little girl while she is still screaming. He grabs his wife and pulls her off and sees pure rage (a primal, animal insanity) in his wife's face. He screams her name while she lunges at him, and he throws her to the side. His little girl is no longer screaming. He now hears his older girl (16) screaming from behing the closed door of her room, "Oh God! Daddy, she bit me. She's eating us! She's eating us!!!!" His wife gets up and comes at him and he just shoots. It's surreal. It's not happening. He didn't even think about doing it, but as it was happening everything went into slow motion for him, And he thought to himself, "I'm killing my wife". He immediately turns to his daughter who isn't moving and he shakes her. Nothing. His wife lunges at him again, bleeding from her chest with blood and bits of flesh dripping down her chin. He shoots her in the face, and everything goes quiet, except for the ringing in his ears. "Daddy, Daddy. What's HAPPENINGGGGG?!!!!!" He hears his older daughter scream. "She bit me Daddy!!" He knows his daughter is dead and wants to go to her, but he is in shock and wants to go to older daughter who is wailing in her room. "I'm coming sweetheart. It's alright!" But he can't seem to make himself move. He's frozen in this surreal nightmare, looking from his wife who went insane and killed his daughter to his dead little girl lying twisted on her bed. His little girl suddenly jumps up snarling like a wild animal, and he flings himself back against the wall, trips and falls to the floor. She jumps right at him, and he screams and shoves her, HARD. He threw himself up and went out the door and slammed it. He heard banging on the door, then nothing. Then he hears a strange tearing sound. He cocks his gun and opens the door just a crack. It can't be what he thinks. It just can't be. It is. No, he has to SEE it. His eyes see the most horrible vision he could ever conceive. His daughter is eating his wife's throat, and she quickly turns her head toward him. He slams the door back shut and slowly backs away.

Then he remembers his other daughter. She's not screaming anymore. He runs to her room and tries to open it, but it's locked. He bangs on it. "Sweetheart. It's ok. Daddy's here." He hears nothing. "Sweetie, open the door!" Nothing. He throws all his weight against it. And the cheap molding around the door lock snapped right off as the door flew open. Her bed is empty. He turns to the closet and opens the door. His daughter is curled up in the far corner rocking back and forth repeating quietly, "She bit me, She bit me." She seems to be in some kind of shock. Dad brings her out and tells her it will be ok. He brings her to the living room nd notices the door is ajar and see's his wife's purse lying in a bloody mess on the front porch. He closes and locks the door and puts his daughter on the couch. He grabs the phone and calls 911. A voice in he said says, "I can't believe I'm dialing 911. Another voice says no shit, murderer". The lines are busy. He tries a few times and hangs up. He can still hear his daughter eating his wife, or is that in his head? He tries again, still busy. His daughter's voice come from the couch. "I'm cold, Daddy". He pulls her up, "Come on, can you walk?" He walks to to the bathroom and tries to clean her bites with a wet towel. He realizes they are pretty bad and she has lost a lot of blood. "I have to get you to a hospital." He walks her to the front door and opens it. He hears a scream outside and gun shots. He looses it. "Help! Somebody help us!" He notices and ambulance peeling away from the house next door and some running out of the house after it. "Hey!" And his neighbor turns to run right at him. For second he thinks Dave is coming to help him, then he sees it in his face (along with his blood covered clothes). He yells, "hold it! Wait, WAIT!!" BANG. He shoots him in the chest and Dave falls to the ground. Then Dave rolls himself over and jumps back up. "CHRIST! CHRIST!!!!, Dad screams as his fires again and hits him in the head. Dave went down and didn't move. "Get back inside." He said as he heard more gunshots in the distance, more sirens, and more screams (the screams were closer). His daughter was lying on the porch and he tripped right over her. He picked her up and brought her inside. No. God no. "Sweetheart! Honey? Wake up!" He shook her. "Open your eyes, Jessey. Open your..." Her eyes shot open and her mouth snapped at him. "FUCK!! FUCKKKK!" He ran to the front door and closed it behind him. He couldn't kill his daughter. He couldn't kill his daughters. He heard her banging on the door. He walked in a daze toward his car. Then he heard more shouts, screams, and gun shots. It hit him like a ton a bricks. "It's all over. It's everywhere. It's over." A man and a woman were running at him from across the street, and he shot them both in the face. A few seconds after he thought he remembered the man was yelling "help me, help me!". He didn't have his car keys. He realized he was walking out into the street. He his neighbor, the nurse, was running from her house to her car. "I could use it", he thought. She called his name. She was covered in blood. "she'll eat me", he thought. He pointed the gun at her and told her to stay back. She's probably been bitten. He turned and ran. About 20 minutes later, he was eating the flesh of his neighbors.

I'm sorry to just go on and on with this stuff. But this is what mind just does, automatically. It just spins out these little scenarios in like a fraction of a second as I watched those first ten minutes.

Someone above said they laughed at the zombie (husband) that quickly turned from chasing the nurse's (wife) car and tackled the woman on her lawn. See, I guess some people just see these things differently or get something entirely different out of it. I found that bit chilling. Here's why.

I my mind that woman could have been my mother. She wakes up early and thinks she hears some commotion outside. Pat, Pat, are you up? My dad is still sleeping deeply. Snoring, actually. Mom tries to go back to sleep. It is her day off and she is happy for that. She hates her job, her boss is an ass. Today will be nice. She'll have to deal with that bitch tomorrow, but today she is sleeping in. But she hears more noise. She can't fall back to sleep. Dammit! It's only 6:45am. Well, maybe she'll read the paper and see what's going on with the fire outside. She opens the door but the paper isn't on the porch. Oh I hope it's not on the lawn again and all covered with dew. The fire sounds bad. Where is it? Who's that running? Was that a gun shot? Her adrenaline kicks in and so does her curiosity. At the sound of the gunshot she knew she should get the hell back inside, but she's becoming aware that something big is happening. She hears an ambulance siren, and she sees a car crash down the street. She hears screams. She is amazed, dazed, in shock. Oh God what's happening. Her first thought was terrorists. She's always worried about another terrorist attack. She just snaps back to reality and realizes she has to go inside, but she sees a car speeding down the road. it's that nice nurse. what's her name? Jesus, and man is chasing the car! She never seen anything like this. She can't move. Is that her husband? They must be fighting. She resolves to go inside and call the police. Just as she is thinking this, the man turns right for her and knocks her to the ground. Then my mother dies a terrible, ungodly, brutal death. A few minutes later she is killing my father.

That just tuns my blood ice cold. My mind just tends to do that. For whatever reason, I can find it very easy to empathize with the "hapless victims" in this kind of film. While one person might think it "clever" or a funny sight-gag to see that kind of random, chaotic violence happen to an unsuspecting movie monster victim. I can't help but react more along the lines of "God, that lady could have been my mom!". I guess that is why these kind of movies can really get to me.

Well, I think I'm definitely going to see it. Kinda therapeutic to force myself to go see something that frightens me, I guess. I'm sure I'll have nightmares. But I've had zombie nightmares since I saw the original DotD.
 

Ryan Wishton

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Not blow me away fantastic, but good enough to get me to want to see the whole movie...

Certainly looks better than previous horror offerings like Halloween: Ressurection and House of the Dead...

Then again, sitting on a corner throwing quarters down a sewer would be more exciting than sitting through either of those movies ever again...
 
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Well me being the idiot I am, couldn't help it, after saying I would boycott this movie with my bud Rich Romero I watched the first 10 minutes. I must say I have never seen anything more embarrasing to the name of this classic ever in my life. It was the most pathetic thing I have ever seen, a "reimagination" or "revision" whatever the hell you want to call it, is just a cheap way of covering up the money whoring bastards that the people responsible for this are. I felt like laughing the whole time, and crying tears of hate because I look up to this movie so much. In no way shape or form should you call this movie "Dawn of the Dead" it's degrading to the real talented film makers who didn't need a big budget, special effects, and explosions to make a timeless classic. It's rediculous how Romero gets no credit for this pile of junk, when he can't even get money to make the fourth dead movie. It's really pathetic, and I look down on hollywood and anyone who supports this movie, when they know what hollywood is doing to our classics. This must stop, this was the last straw.
 

Michael Allred

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I respect Romero but I do not worship him. I never liked "Night" or the original "Dawn" ("Day" was cool though.) I never found them remotely scary or thought provoking (as some laughingly defend the original "Dawn" as.)

1985's "The Return of the Living Dead" made zombies *frightening*...these weren't your father's zombies. Slow, lumbering and thoughtless does not scare me. If you can easily STROLL past the monsters, where's the thrill in that for the moviegoer? In "Return.." they were just as strong, just as smart and just as FAST as a human...the playing field was leveled. Plus when a zombie tells you what he's going to eat *off your body*, well....it's a bit unsettling.

I'm VERY pleased that the makers of the new "Dawn" have picked up where "Return" left off and are giving people a reason to be scared of the living dead again instead of wondering why the hell they're watching boring, cliche-ridden zombies like Romero gave us.

You can rail against the new "Dawn" all you want, call it "whoring" or "embarassing" but this IS a new era for the zombie genre. Dan O'Bannon started it in 1985 and the new generation of filmmakers are 'running' with it.

I watched those 10 minutes on the USA Network and was glued to the set for every second. I will DEFINITELY be there opening weekend.

Quick prediction, the new "Dawn" will be #1 this weekend...which is amusing as it will knock "The Passion of the Christ" from it's perch. Why is that funny? Well wasn't Christ the first documented case of the dead coming back to life? :)
 

Justin_S

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Couldn't agree more. While I love Romero's trilogy, his zombies just weren't frightening. Despite the comedy in ROTLD, I still found it to be a frightening film.
 

Ryan Wishton

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I never really cared too much the original Dawn of the Dead... Maybe because I didnt see it until years after it was released... I saw it in Jr. High for the first time in the early 90's and wasnt really fond of it... I think I have seen it twice...

I guess that's why this being a remake doesnt bother me so much... It's only a title... The original movie will always be there for those who want it to be...

Some ask why they dont just re-release the original to theaters??? Well, no one will really go to see an old movie at the theater they can rent... Alien pretty much bombed on it's re-release...

Slow moving zombies were probably more scary to me as a kid... I am not going to hate fast runners because I cant change it now...

No one is going to stop anyone from making remakes... One day there will be remakes of Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, Friday the 13th and every other known horror movie there is...

Excuse for money??? Of course... But, 95% of movies to begin with are...

These movies could easily have seperate titles though... I mean the Texaas Chainsaw Remake had almost nothing to do with the original and should have been a sequel anyways...

This Dawn of the Dead remake could have easily had a different title... Maybe if they title these differently, it wont upset those who love the originals so much...

Why do they title these as remakes??? Because someone is more willing to go see "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" before seeing something called "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 5" and "Dawn of the Dead" before seeing "Dawn of the Dead 2"...

The titles are for money and marketing purposes... Thats true...
 

Brian Kidd

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Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but to me lumbering, brainless killing machines are much more frightening than silly fast zombies. The simple fact that these are our friends and neighbors is scary. They have no soul. Nothing is left of their humanity. No matter how many you kill, they still keep coming. Romero's films were about the collapse of society. The idea is what is scary, not the jolts. It's just a different kind of terror.

As for ROTLD, I agree that it's a great, fun movie and scary in its own way. However, it's more of a comedy than a horror film. As for Romero's films being cliched... HA! The man INVENTED the modern zombie movie. By that very fact his films can't be cliched.
 

John Doran

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personally, i find it odd that anyone could consider any slow, shambling aggressor frightening, or at least even remotely as frightening as one that's fast and bent on your harm.

i mean, if i was walking down the street at night, and some guy stumbled out of the shadows toward me brandishing a knife, once the initial surprise had subsided i'd probably feel mildly baffled if, when i turned to run, he simply staggered slowly after me. either that, or i'd get angry.

the same would be true if i was accosted by a gang of lazy thugs that wouldn't do anything more than a slow walk in their efforts to catch me. i just don't see how that's frightening in the least.

but contrast those reactions with the one you'd have if a bunch of wild-eyed maniacs came around the corner, saw you, and immediately broke into a run right at you; isn't it just self-evident that you'd be many orders of magnitude more scared witless in that situation?

on the other hand, i understand how the idea of "the living dead" is creepy or disturbing, but it seems to me that it only has those qualities when it's a concept that's implemented in a supernatural setting - where the implicit cause of the deads' return to life is something beyond rational (i.e. scientific) explanation. if that's the scenario, then i would say that it's not the slow moving zombies that are frightening, but rather the idea of an inexplicable supernatural evil, and that the less overtly "human" the zombies look and act, the more clearly they represent that concept.

but the night/dawn/day/return of the living dead series all ground their zombies in scientific theories, abeit implausible ones, and this, it strikes me, eviscerates the zombies of their ability to cause fear as zombies, and leaves only the fright they can engender as regular people with whatever kinds of characteristics with which the moviemaker has endowed them: slow-moving or fast-moving beings trying to kill you.

and while anyone trying to eat your brain might be a scary thing, i can tell you i'm going to be a lot more concerned by a guy hopped-up on cocaine and speed than by one that's pumped full of heroine.
 

Dome Vongvises

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Good point. When you watch a lot of zombie films, you realize the reason why people get killed in the first place often involve acts of stupidity or simply running out of bullets (or standing too close to a window). Otherwise, zombies are only scary on the principle that there's no scientific rationale for their existence (or at least one we don't understand yet). It's probably what made Frankenstein scary back in the day. Well that and the religious overtones.

The point being is that zombies just aren't scary on that primal level anymore. And they're not scary on the other level anymore either. It's nice to see a change of pace to see running zombies (or ones that move fast).

Dawn of the Dead is one of those films the die hard fans are probably going to hate me for because I like it for all the wrong reasons. It's gory, it's got zombies, and it takes place in a shopping mall. How cool is that? But I since I don't really care about Romero railing again consumerism I really can't count myself as a fan.
 

MickeS

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I like the original a lot and own the Dead-trilogy on DVD, but the first 10 minutes of this remake blew that one away. The cinematography was beautiful, and the zombies scary as characters, not just as ideas. This marketing certainly worked on me, as I'm now gonna try and make it to the theater and see it. :)
 

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