Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Since it’s October, I decided to review action movies that are also scary. For instance, Dawn of the Dead. Keeping with this theme, I will be reviewing zombie/scary action movies for the rest of the month. If you have any favorites or just ones you want to read about before you watch them, email me and let me know.

I am starting with Dawn of the Dead because it is my all-time, ultimate, favorite zombie movie. I am talking about the remake, the one from 2004. I mean, I love this movie so much I would marry it, and gladly have its zombie babies. It’s action packed from beginning credits to end credits. Even throughout the opening and closing credits it plays clips of stuff going on. The movie opens with a hospital scene where they keep talking about a ‘bite’. Then another patient comes in on a stretcher with a neck wound. The opening scene is so tense I just want to kick my feet like a little girl, because you know crap is about to go down.

There are so many factors about this movie that makes it awesome: the running zombies, the kick-ass heroine, along with the rest of the cast. The running zombies keep you on the edge of your couch as you watch the movie because they are a lot harder to escape and fight than the regular slow moving zombies you can basically run circles around. Also with the running zombies, a lot more characters are bound to die. So it’s really fun to root for your favorite character to make it and scream at the TV when they don’t. It’s an interactive movie. There are tons of exploding heads; because, of course, you can’t take out a zombie without shooting them in the head. The best part about this particular zombie flick is that the head shots are not CGI. They are special effects giving it that real, gory look. Real splatters on the surfaces behind the zombies and real chucks of stuff flying everywhere make the perfect recipe for a fun night with the kids.

Throughout the movie, you are able to get to know the cast and care about them while still getting the action that you crave. I would recommend this flick to any and all who love zombies or scary movies.

Time until zombie related action: ~4 minutes

Guys getting killed (Bad guys): Zombies, freakin’ duh

Best Line: Michael (Jake Weber) is telling another woman what a good job she did by picking up people in a big truck and driving them to the mall. She thanks him and they share a little moment together. Then, Steve (Ty Burrell) says, “Excuse me. When you two fellas are done blowin’ each other, maybe Davy Crockett can tell us the deal here.”

Best Kill: Michael is checking out the rest of the mall to see if there are any zombies. He stumbles across one and tries to hit him in the head. While they fumble around and wrestle with each, a Croquet mallet gets broken and just in time. The zombie is on top of Michael about to bite him when Michael grabs the broken stick and shoves it into the zombie’s head. It goes right through the soft part underneath the chin and up through the skull. Blood squirts everywhere.

Best Explosion: At the end of the movie, CJ (Michael Kelly) is trying to go through a bus to the other end to get away from zombies. He ends up being surrounded and the zombies break in and come after him. CJ holds them off better than I’ve seen any one person do. However, in the end there is just too many of them. So he lights a flare and shoots a propane tank, blowing up the entire bus and a small radius around the bus, holding off the zombies for the others to get away. Our hero!

Best Narrow Escape: This prize would have to go to Ana (Sarah Polley). The opening zombie outbreak Ana has to escape from her husband. They wake up in bed together and their neighbor (little kid) is standing in the hallway. The husband goes to help her and he gets bitten. Ana pulls the little girl off the husband and pushes her down the hall. She quickly closes and locks the bedroom door and turns her attention to her husband. While calling 911, the husband dies and turns into a zombie. He lunges for Ana but she dives into the bathroom slamming the door and falling into the tub. Everything gets quiet and she goes up to the door to listen. Then, her husband shoves his head through the door. Ana opens the window and narrowly escapes, kicking her zombie husband as he grabs her feet. Wow.

Rating: 4 running zombies, out of 5