Dawn of the Dead!

[Worf101]

Unlike the mildly diappointing "Van Helsing" viewed the night before, I found "The Dawn of the Dead" to be a fun pre Halloween fright fest. Taking a page from "28 Days" the flesh eating Zombies in this Dawn are not the shambling dessicated shamblers of George Romero's original, easy to sidestep and easier to kill. No, these current zom's are fast, quick and very nasty and they really heightened the tension.

Good ensemble cast, that get well developed (at least somewhat) in the unrated "Directors Cut". Lot's of scares, lots of splatter (if you go for that kind of thing), tons of dark humor and enough weaponry to make a whole edition of S.O.F. On the whole I liked the film and you could much worse if you're in the mind for a halloween fright. Good soundtrack and even better sound, although no DTS. Johnny Cash sings the opening track and it's amazingly appropriate.


Da Worfster

[Lexmark3200]

First of all, let's celebrate the fact that Michael Bay did not go near this remake of George Romero's "classic" zombie opus; if he had, and cohort Jerry Bruckheimer would have gone along for the ride, 2004's "Dawn of the Dead" would have been a disaster, in my opinion. I am not usually a fan of remakes --- most legendary films, even scholars would agree --- should be left well enough alone. We saw a color version of "Night of the Living Dead" which actually improved the concept ever so slightly and brought those terrified folk hiding in a farm house from those slow moving flesh eating zombies to a whole different level for a whole different generation to enjoy. However, the remake of Tobe Hooper's classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" recently in theaters and out on DVD was a complete disaster in my opinion; the sheer terror, claustraphobia and overall feel of Hooper's original nightmare just wasnt there in the remake. It seemed all the remake, in fact, was there for was to show continuous shots of big tits spilling out of tank tops and camera shots of really nice asses; I was not impressed at all by the "Chainsaw" remake....watching Hooper's original in fact after watching the remake in theaters, even with its terribly flawed DVD presentation (wow....talk about grain and poor audio; of couse this was made on a horribly low budget) made me appreciate the horror of the first film; nothing really gets more terrifying than watching all those sickos in Leatherface's family surrounding our remaining blonde victim and prodding and poking her in all kinds of disturbing ways. I tried to imagine myself in that situation.....and I really didnt want to.

My favorite zombie film has always been "Return of the Living Dead" with Thom Matthews (of "Friday the 13th Part VI" notiriety), and although I own the DVD, I had always wondered just what was so special about Romero's original Dawn of the Dead. It really just bored me. I know it was supposed to make a social commentary more than portray a horror film, but it really did put me to sleep.....even with Tom Savini's expert makeup work. And so the remake of Dawn of the Dead really impressed me when I saw it in theaters this past year; I thought it had surpassed the original, and that is rare in the remake genre....the action was spot-on, I was scared more than a couple of times and the special effects were much better (of course) rendered than on the original. Plus, there's always Ving Rhames.

You all know the story by now, dont you? A small band of survivors make their way to a shopping mall somewhere in Wisconsin after a virus that turns the public into flesh eating monsters spreads across the region. They barricade themselves inside the mall, and try to survive as the zombies loom outside, waiting to devour anything that comes their way. In the original, the creatures walked extremely, pathetically slow; in this remake, they are lightning-quick, along the lines of Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later," a film which is constantly compared to this remake of "Dawn of the Dead." The UK-made film is also about a disease that breaks out in London, turning people into flesh eating monsters. In "Dawn," once someone gets bitten by a zombie, they eventually turn into the undead and crave flesh.

The opening sequence of 2004's "Dawn" is shocking, where we have no clue as to what is going on until a little girl's face is dripping with blood and she opens the door to her parents' room, attacking her father and turning him into a zombie; mom, a nurse, narrowly escapes the attack from her husband, and joins the band of survivors that make it to the mall. There is a pretty-much B-cast here, aside from Ving Rhames, who plays a tough-as-nails ex marine who is now a cop.

As I said, the action is pretty much non-stop, and the special effects and gore are on a level higher than the original Dawn of the Dead; there is even a creepy, softly-made version of Disturb's "Down With the Sickness" on the soundtrack, and its pretty funny and fitting.

Universal has made Dawn of the Dead available in an "Unrated Director's Cut," which is supposed to add gore and nudity, along those lines, but, to be frank, I didnt see much; there is an obvious scene where a naked bitten chick is seen wandering around in the beginning, but her tits are CLEARLY covered up with some computer generated blood. I have read that the Region 4 release includes her naked breasts. Why do we have a Region 1 release here thats supposed to be unrrated and there is no nudity? Again, I dont know what they are doing over at Universal.

Hot on the heels of their Van Helsing DVD, Universal has supplied Dawn with either a wide or full screen version; I opted for the full, and I have some comments about the print used for this transfer. While overall clean and crisp looking, there seems to be source elements baked into the picture quality that are somewhat distracting; this could be because the director was going for a documentary-style look to the color timing here, but there are obvious moments when grain and slight speckles litter the screen. Overall, the color seems "hued" to create a docu-style feel; as I said, this could be intentional on the part of the filmmakers. But this copy of Dawn I picked up at Best Buy (with an added Bonus Disc only available through the chain store) looked very much less than perfect DVD transfer wise.

Inexplicably, like Van Helsing, Dawn is only available with (for an English track) a Dolby 5.1 mix; I guess the geniuses at Universal believe DTS doesn't need to be utilized on these action films, if that makes any sense to anyone. Overall, the track, like Van Helsing, didnt impress me all that much. Again, very front-heavy, and not living up to the rumors the internet provided regarding the "screaming undead coming from all five channels....." I didnt detect much surround usage; it was mainly utilized to create a sense of space for the film, and I was expecting more from such a big budget remake of a classic. Moments like lights turning on in the mall or fences closing, that sort of thing, were rendered in the surround channels nicely, but the moaning and groaning of zombies during their attacks really didnt make their way to the rears with any aggression. I wish I would have waited for some innevitable DTS "Ultimate Edition" of Van Helsing and Dawn of the Dead; for now, these Dolby tracks will have to do, I guess.

I didnt get to the special features yet, but there are a ton, especially including that bonus disc I mentioned that you can get if you buy this DVD at Best Buy.

[Worf101]

Are you vying for a full time DVD reviewer gig or are these reviews from your website somewhere? Qutie good and in-depth. I like them but I'm just wondering about the need to do such in-depth analysis for us chucklheads.

Da Worfster

[Lexmark3200]

Are you vying for a full time DVD reviewer gig or are these reviews from your website somewhere? Qutie good and in-depth. I like them but I'm just wondering about the need to do such in-depth analysis for us chucklheads.

Da Worfster

Hahhahahhaha.....thanks for the kind words Worf.....I actually just love reviewing DVDs; I dont have a website but I do a lot of freelance reviews for DVD ETC magazine and other online sites. I just share this stuff so you guys could perhaps get some info prior to making DVD purchases, etc; I wont into such indepthness if you dont care for it!

[eisforelectronic]

However, the remake of Tobe Hooper's classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" recently in theaters and out on DVD was a complete disaster in my opinion; the sheer terror, claustraphobia and overall feel of Hooper's original nightmare just wasnt there in the remake. It seemed all the remake, in fact, was there for was to show continuous shots of big tits spilling out of tank tops and camera shots of really nice asses;

Jessica Biel is awesome. I really wasn't watching the movie I guess.

[Worf101]

Hahhahahhaha.....thanks for the kind words Worf.....I actually just love reviewing DVDs; I dont have a website but I do a lot of freelance reviews for DVD ETC magazine and other online sites. I just share this stuff so you guys could perhaps get some info prior to making DVD purchases, etc; I wont into such indepthness if you dont care for it!

I LIKE THEM!!!! Me likes in-depth reviews so waste monies me don't. LOL. No honestly I like your takes. I'm not sound engineer like Sir TTTT so I'll let you two wrangle over the minutae, but it's nice to hear your opinion. I only know when a soundtrack sounds really, really bad, I'll relie on you two to tell me when when a DD track is not a good as it SHOULD be.

Da Worfster

[Lexmark3200]

I LIKE THEM!!!! Me likes in-depth reviews so waste monies me don't. LOL. No honestly I like your takes. I'm not sound engineer like Sir TTTT so I'll let you two wrangle over the minutae, but it's nice to hear your opinion. I only know when a soundtrack sounds really, really bad, I'll relie on you two to tell me when when a DD track is not a good as it SHOULD be.

Da Worfster

Thanks Worf.

[Lexmark3200]

Jessica Biel is awesome. I really wasn't watching the movie I guess.

Agreed, totally Eis.....I couldnt recall that piece of ass' name......Jessica Biel....damn, is that one sexy chick or what?

[Dusty Chalk]

So how distracting is she? Is she Natalie Portman cutaway tummy distracting? Carrie Leigh braless distracting? Does it detract from the storytelling? Is it just gratuitous?

J/K...

[Lexmark3200]

So how distracting is she? Is she Natalie Portman cutaway tummy distracting? Carrie Leigh braless distracting? Does it detract from the storytelling? Is it just gratuitous?

J/K...

She's pretty distracting, Dusty.....her breasts are spilling out of her tank top constantly in certain shots, and the camera seems to have an obsession with her beautiful ass behind her tight jeans....

All in all though, I dont think this film needed to be remade. What a travesty to Tobe Hooper's original vision, especially using an ex Marine drill sergeant as a twisted, demented county law man.

[Dusty Chalk]

That was one of them "rhetorical questions", Lex.

(May I call you Lex? Or should I stick with Mr. Mark?)

[eisforelectronic]

So how distracting is she? Is she Natalie Portman cutaway tummy distracting? Carrie Leigh braless distracting? Does it detract from the storytelling? Is it just gratuitous?

J/K...

"Summer Catch", Pool scenes!!!!

[Lexmark3200]

That was one of them "rhetorical questions", Lex.

(May I call you Lex? Or should I stick with Mr. Mark?)

You sure may call me whatever suits your fancy, Mr. Chalk....Mr. Mark sounds just fine, too....Jessica Biehl rhetoerical? Perhaps the only thing rhetorical on that sexy lady is her waistline.....lol.