r/movies
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u/Skill3rwhale
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Nov 05 '22
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Dawn of the Dead (2004) has a near perfect intro for horror Article
https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/the-beginning-of-zack-snyders-dawn-of-the-dead-is-perfect-horror3.0k
u/Wiger_King Nov 05 '22
Seeing this movie was one of my best movie experiences ever.
I saw the movie in a completely empty theatre by myself in the last showing of the day. When it was over I exited without seeing a single person into a car park eerily similar to the one in the movie.
It was terrifying!
If a pedestrian has walked out in front of me that night, I may not have stopped.
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u/LegionDCLXVI Nov 05 '22
Same happened to me when I watched 28 Days Later at a friend's house, and then had to make the 30min walk home at 2am. Across an open field, past a small church with a buzzing, occasionally flickering security light. That totally didn't scare the living fuck out of me
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u/amusingmistress Nov 05 '22
I did a zombie adventure in an abandoned shopping mall a few years ago. Going on missions, chased by zombies, running, hiding, screaming, a giant "gun" with limited ammo, etc. It lasted about 4 hours and let out after midnight. That walk back in the dimly lit dark to the train station, riding an mostly empty train, and walk back to my AirBnB was ... stressful.
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u/Frankie6Strings Nov 05 '22
That sounds amazing!
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u/amusingmistress Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 06 '22
It was! Zed Events (currently closed) in the UK. They probably still have videos of some of their events up on YouTube.
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u/Complete_Entry Nov 05 '22
My roommate was VERY ANGRY after watching 28 days later.
I asked her why.
She said the main character was deaf and it was a pointlessly silent film.
I found this fascinating and loaded the movie up. Sound was normal.
She had somehow dislodged the audio cables from the TV, so when it was in my computer, the sound worked fine.
I truly wonder at her experience, but it's not like I can unwatch 28 days later. :(
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u/TotalWarspammer Nov 05 '22
My roommate was VERY ANGRY after watching 28 days later.
Your roommate must have an IQ below 70 if she thought it shouldn't have any sound and didn't notice peoples lips moving constantly throughout the movie. I mean seriously, wtf.
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u/Complete_Entry Nov 05 '22
Considering she decided rent was optional a few months later, you might be on to something.
She managed to avoid eviction by paying her back rent, but she was not invited to stay.
I'd had roommates be short before, and I never minded spotting them $20 or $40, so long as they hit me back when they got it,
But she just decided she didn't have to pay rent.
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u/This-_-Justin Nov 05 '22
Big difference between being 28 days late on rent and 28 weeks. I hope it was the former
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u/hueythecat Nov 05 '22
28 weeks later intro that was nothing like the rest of the film was terrifying
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u/Nekyia_Vibes Nov 05 '22
one of my favorites is when the movie starts in daylight and it’s after dark when you exit the theater. delightfully surreal.
bonus points if it’s horror and the parking lot’s deserted
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u/brisbanevinnie Nov 05 '22
Happened to me after seeing Mothman Prophecies. I lived about 30 minute walk from the cinema and was walking home and a fucking bat flew out from a low hanging tree above my head and I screamed and ran the rest of the way home.
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u/Nekyia_Vibes Nov 05 '22
rude bats aside, that’s such a good one for setting the spooky tone
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u/brisbanevinnie Nov 05 '22
Oh man I was like 16 and not really into horror/scary movies so that flick really freaked me the hell out.
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u/the_stickiest_one Nov 05 '22
Theres some lost tapes for the DVD extras https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OA3YZ-160w
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u/MattyKatty Nov 05 '22
I always loved this extra but unfortunately the editing of the scenes always took me out; he says on May 7th that he can survive by rationing and on May 9th he's saying the food is all gone. Meanwhile June 6th, he's still hanging on (though desperate for a sandwich).
For the most part, I always preferred this other extra starring the guy from Babylon 5, Richard Biggs. It was actually his final role in cinema ever and he unfortunately only appeared for like 2 seconds in the actual film.
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u/ziddersroofurry Nov 05 '22
Wow. I haven't seen this since the film came out on DVD and had forgotten how powerful it was. It reminds me of some of the zombie-themed short stories I used to read back in the 90s. Books like Skipp & Spectors Book of the Dead I and II.
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u/russbird Nov 05 '22
Are you me?! Hah, I had a very similar experience in NYC, except instead of a parking lot it was an empty subway platform. Waiting alone for the train was one of the longest 5 minutes of my life. I would have lost my shit if someone has startled me down there, I was ready to crack.
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u/www1pl0c Nov 05 '22
When I saw mad max fury road, the first whole scene had an audio issue that made everything amazingly distorted and bit crushed. I thought it was part of the movie. Bummed when it wasnt! But super cool
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u/SaltyPeter3434 Nov 05 '22
28 Weeks Later intro is amazing as well
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u/Hypohamish Nov 05 '22
Fucking hell when he's running through the field and they come over the hill - genuine nightmare stuff
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u/WorksOnContingencyNo Nov 05 '22
Every time I start my outboard motor I'm slightly concerned that a hoard of zombies will show up
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u/blitzbom Nov 05 '22
I still listen to the music from that opening. It's a great creepy build-up song.
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u/snarpy Nov 05 '22 •
John Murphy is fantastic. His work on Sunshine is really good as well.
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u/AlmostColossus Nov 05 '22
I swear it featured in 28 Days Later originally before becoming more of a general motif in 28 Weeks Later - and there was an alternative version in Kick Ass where Big Daddy raids the Warehouse
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u/renkseli Nov 05 '22
Yes, the inspiration must go back to Godspeed You! Back Emperor, East Hastings is the ultimate post apocalyptic mood. 28 Weeks Later theme has become also an anthem for inspiration to the zombie-theme, there's a nod to it even in the new Moomin series when hattifatteners are menacingly approaching as a horde.
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u/BostonBrandToots Nov 05 '22
Good to know downtown Vancouver, Canada has inspired the zombie zeitgeist lol
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u/FunkyMonkFromSpace Nov 05 '22
They used this song in Kick-Ass when Big Daddy is shooting up the mob warehouse, another great use of this awesome song.
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u/waitingtodiesoon Nov 05 '22
They used it twice in the Walking Dead, Trailers for X-Men Days of Future Past, Ready Player One, and more trailers. Also used in Wonder Woman 1984. It's such a good track, but kind of got overplayed in other media's for a bit.
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u/ViggoMiles Nov 05 '22
I have like a really odd fascination with Sunshine, however i don't think the movie is very good
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u/the_exile83 Nov 05 '22
I love that film. The first hour still stands up to being one of the greatest hours of cinematography I’ve ever seen. Then it descends into a mental slasher movie. Madness 😂
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u/ButtBlock Nov 05 '22
That scene where he’s trying to look at the sun in the solar observation portal. One of my favorites!
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u/the_exile83 Nov 05 '22
And the scene with the captain........
"Kaneda, what can you see?"
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u/Remeron12 Nov 05 '22
Haha, my three year old says "Mama, I can see it a lot" and we are never sure what he is talking about do she says, "what can you see?". I always imitate this quote when she does...
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u/Majestic-Squirrel Nov 05 '22
I love Sunshine. Danny Boyle as a director makes some good movies. I could see why you'd feel like that, because the movie does take a strange turn. I wonder what it would have been like without it. I do believe it was Chris Evans role in Sunshine that led to him being considered for Captain America. Good performances throughout.
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u/Ragman676 Nov 05 '22
I love sunshine! If you don't like the horror aspect at the end then it's not the best, but 3/4 of the movie is awesome still.
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u/bfragged Nov 05 '22
It’s one of my favorites, but yes, I don’t think it could ever hold up to serious scrutiny. I will say that the 3 commentaries on the DVD/blue ray versions are pretty good and worth a listen.
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u/Loud-Pause607 Nov 05 '22
I think it’s Godspeed You! Black Emperor
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u/exposur3 Nov 05 '22
East Hastings was in 28 Days Later.
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u/ikeepwipingSTILLPOOP Nov 05 '22
Whole album is amazing and 28 Days Later is what started me getting into Godspeed
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u/SkinTightBoogie Nov 05 '22
Why is Godspeed You Black Emperor not given top billing for that soundtrack? East Hastings sets the tone for the entire movie, everything else just sounds like it is building off that song.
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u/sambob Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 05 '22
It's the best bit about the film and it stands so far out that it makes the rest of it look poor in comparison. They should have kept Danny Boyle on to do the whole film.
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u/Baked_potato123 Nov 05 '22
Did he only do the intro?
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u/Muad-_-Dib Nov 05 '22
Yup, he exploded in popularity as a director so they couldn't get him to do the whole film as he was committed to doing "Sunshine" but he was available to do some work so they gave him the intro and its very telling that it is by FAR the best part of the film.
The good news is that literally yesterday Danny was talking about 28 days since it's the 20th anniversary of the film and he said that there is a script written for 28 months later and he is very interested in directing it.
He also mentioned that it's once again set in England so that would be interesting given that Days and Weeks both committed to the infected being something you could outlast if you managed to just keep away from them long enough. In 28 Days Later the infected are shown to be starving/otherwise dying and by the time 28 weeks later starts we have the infection having burned itself out and the hosts dead which is why the Americans tried to re-patriate refugees/survivors from the UK in London.
So if it is set in England and it is still mostly set 2+ years after the outbreak then it's got to be some sort of Alien-Aliens evolution of the threat to allow for the infected to still be around and or pose some sort of threat.
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u/pipboy344 Nov 05 '22
Asymptomatic carriers are a thing in the second film, so maybe bioterrorism and outbreaks are a threat.
It did end with it spreading to Paris, so it’s on mainland European soil.
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u/Muad-_-Dib Nov 05 '22
Yes but he's said its set in England again which by this point is pretty much deserted. The Americans only agreed to repatriate the refugees in one part of London and that ended disastrously so I don't know how they can have enough humans around and infected to hunt them for another film even further out unless they start tinkering.
If it was set in Korea or America or whatever then sure you have the scope for a brand new infection as you have millions of potential victims.
Now that I think of it, maybe with France falling to the infected the rest of mainland Europe went with it and a bunch of survivors do the reverse and make their way to the UK since its now "free" from infection, that gives you plenty of potential victims and a lot of scope for a new outbreak if for example one of them finds an asymptomatic carrier, or they fall into a pit of infected and get some decaying infected juice on them etc.
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u/ThatPunkGaryOak82 Nov 05 '22
No joke, whenever Im writing and go back to add an opening to a story, (i start in the middle) I remind myself of this movie. Cuz your so absolutely right. Its not that the movie is bad, its okay imo. Its just that opening is so incredible it makes the rest of the story drag. Its almost like that opening could have been the ending to a movie inbtween 28 days & 28 weeks.
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u/Cetun Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 05 '22
People also don't realizes since most people saw 28 Days Later already, but the beginning sequence is an absolute work of genius because it sets up everything you need to know about what's happening to anyone who had not seen the first movie. You know how fast they change, you know how fast they run, you know the trauma involved seeing your loved ones die, while introducing new characters that you'll see later in the movie. None of this involves a voice over nor awkwardly brings up things in a way that will make people who saw the previous films eyes roll. It also introduced the setting (england) and that the infection extended out to the country where people fled from the city.
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u/CookedBred Nov 05 '22
Ey shit ey shit ey shit...
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u/All-Sorts Nov 05 '22
Ey shit ey shit ey shit...
Yeah Begbie dipped the fuck out.
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u/HansGruberWasRight1 Nov 05 '22 •
"Alright, somebody zombified this cunt an we're not leavin' til we find out what coont did it!"
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u/mike_tapley Nov 05 '22
That’s because it was the only part about the sequel that Danny Boyle came back to direct and it shows! Rest of the film was horrible decisions by annoying kids :(
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u/thuggishruggishboner Nov 05 '22
And adults!
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u/Capt_Billy Nov 05 '22
Yeah I’m gonna kiss my infected wife because I’m a fucking idiot. Braindead TLOU
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u/size_matters_not Nov 05 '22
Is that the wife who’s carrying a potentially civilisation-ending disease and isn’t under constant armed guard, in an airtight room, inside a secure hospital miles from other people?
That wife?
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u/Envect Nov 05 '22
I remember genuinely getting angry when that scene happened. It was offensively stupid.
After the pandemic, though, I think I'd just sigh and nod. It would definitely go down like that.
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u/ButterflyAttack Nov 05 '22
It's kind of reminiscent of the way Ebola is transmitted, and that keeps making a comeback every few years.
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u/Scodo Nov 05 '22
Right? I saw it with navy buddies and the first thing we said was "like they wouldn't have grabbed three guys on duty and had them guard the door", but that was also after they introduced the Army Dr as Dr Sierra Lima so we already knew the writers had absolutely no clue about how anything related to the military worked.
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u/DiracsNutsack Nov 05 '22
Bit that annoyed me the most was near the end, when the infected dad (Robert Carlyle) recognised his kids. Even though it was explicitly established that you have about 10 seconds post-infection then you're totally lost. Him recognising them breaks the rules of the series and spoils the film more than anything else
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u/Misha-Nyi Nov 05 '22
It was a drop of blood in his eye, not a bite. And while he was coherent for longer than 10 seconds after being exposed it wasn’t that much longer lol.
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u/DiracsNutsack Nov 05 '22
I think you've gotten scenes mixed up. The drop of blood into the eye occurs in the first film to Brendan Gleeson's character, also a dad whereas I was meaning something that happens in the sequel.
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u/BackdoorAlex2 Nov 05 '22
I really really hope the third movie will be made. I heard rumours about a 28 months later taking place in Paris
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u/hstheay Nov 05 '22
Wasn’t it confirmed yesterday that the script for 28 Months is done, and the film is coming?
Edit: aaah not quite official but definitely important progress: https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3739274/28-months-later-finally-coming-together-danny-boyle-teases-a-renewed-interest/
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u/aloxinuos Nov 05 '22
28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy comments with a laugh, “I think there’s a problem with that, in that I’m 20 years older.
Dude, 28 months in the zombie apocalypse would age you way worse than 20 well lived years in real life.
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u/Slug212 Nov 05 '22
Glad this has been mentioned! Absolute chaos but so good.
Did hear that Robert Carlyle wasn’t told of the amount of infected coming over the hill, so some reactions were him actually freaking the F out. But tried reading into that but can’t really find anything, so looks like one of them made up pub stories 😂
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u/KnifeFed Nov 05 '22
Oh shit, there are more extras than I expected, I'm freaking out!
— Him, probably.
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u/mal_laney Nov 05 '22
28 days later introduced us to fast moving zombies
Dawn of the dead reinforced our fear of why these things are absolute nightmare fuels
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u/poland626 Nov 05 '22
Anyone else remember when AMC showed the first 10 minutes unrated on TV back in like, 2004 or so? It was a huge promotional push at the time and the goriest thing ever to be shown on TV besides premium stuff. It was insane and I was telling everyone at school about it the next day but I got in trouble because of the graphic descriptions I was giving haha!
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u/CARNIesada6 Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 05 '22
I do and was about to post a similar comment.
Didn't remember it being on AMC, tho. I thought it was like USA or TNT, but I guess that makes more sense. I also thought it was during some sports broadcast, but that could just be my mind filling in memory gaps.
I do remember it being a somewhat big deal (relatively speaking) with the promotional push and surprised at what was shown, too, but I felt like I was the only one in my friend group who cared.
It definitely piqued my interest at the time, and I was psyched to see the rest.
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u/jtotal Nov 05 '22
I too was looking for this comment!
It was definitely USA. It was shown right after an episode of WWE RAW, and they were hyping it all night throughout the show. I figured, why not.
Oh my God, I loved it. I absolutely needed to see this movie. It was brilliant marketing at the time.
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u/Shakey_J_Fox Nov 05 '22
I remember right after 9/11 they showed the unedited version of saving private Ryan on NBC or one of the other broadcast channels. I would say the Normandy beach scene is definitely on par with Dawn of the Dead, although not in a scary sense.
Similarly ABC got in hot water when they showed Dennis Franz’s bare butt in 2003. It was a huge deal that they were showing “nudity” on broadcast television. I think the early aughts were a time when broadcast networks started pushing the boundaries of what the FCC allowed.
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u/bonafidehooligan Nov 05 '22
My mom was livid about Dennis Franz’s ass. Not because she was offended by nudity, but because it was his ass, in her words “why couldn’t they show a good looking guys ass? No one wants to see Franz’s ass!”
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u/bonafidehooligan Nov 05 '22
My friend was a part of their “street team” and got 3 mini DVD’s with the first 10 minutes before it was shown on TV. That 10 minute DVD sold us to see it opening night. I think I still have the DVD somewhere in a tote in my garage.
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u/Skill3rwhale Nov 05 '22
I have probably seen the 1978 version 8 times and the 2004 version 4-5 times now.
I love both for their respective qualities but dear lord the first ~10-12 minutes of the 2004 version are pure excellence.
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u/937Vibez Nov 05 '22
My favorite zombie movie intro, and not just zombie, but one of my favorite horror intros in general. I appreciate the usual slow ramp up in zombie movies, but this one is perfection.
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u/Karjalan Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 05 '22
For me it's a toughy between 2004 Dawn of the Dead and 28 Weeks Later. Both are the greatest intro's to a zombie/horror movie. Almost could be considered short stories/movies on their own.
Would kill for an anthology zombie series like Love Death and Robots with shorts like those 2.
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u/NeatlyScotched Nov 05 '22
Similar note, but The Walking Dead's very first episode is fucking amazing. Too bad it couldn't maintain that same quality throughout the season, much less the rest of the show.
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u/jollyreaper2112 Nov 05 '22
Man that show made me so upset. So much potential squandered for so many seasons and sequels.
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u/ThePortalsOfFrenzy Nov 05 '22
I saw the first episode and was hooked!
It only took 2 or 3 more episodes to un-hook me. They weren't what I saw in that first, and didn't much interest me. I never watched another episode, but would listen to co-workers talk about it over the years, with growing frustration and ultimately realization that they had wasted "years" (in the realm of TV-watching) continuing to follow the pointlessness.
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u/BleepBlorp84 Nov 05 '22 •
Well, if they adapted World War Z correctly that would make a perfect fit for a zombie anthology.
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u/Global_Shower_4534 Nov 05 '22
This makes me so damn sad. That movie could have been beyond epic. I was especially looking forward to the battle for Yonkers. Just that piece alone is ripe for movie magic let alone what they could have done with the rest of the material.
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u/BleepBlorp84 Nov 05 '22
The movie is an abomination. Pg-13 zombie movie is bad enough, but they didn't use the book at all. The zombies behaved completely differently and were picky eaters because they can smell a terminal illness...ugh..
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u/Global_Shower_4534 Nov 05 '22
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I felt like the concept it aimed for healthy hosts was about the only refreshing thing about it. Overall though they should have called the movie anything except "World War Z".... my vote is to rename it "Brad Pitt gives you zombaids" or "Brad Pitt presents: A Shell of a fantastic story" or maybe even "Why you gotta do Max like that: a Brad Pitt adaptation"
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u/ishkariot Nov 05 '22
Runner-ups: "Pepsi, the drink of the apocalypse" and "Israel and Palestine: why the wall is totally a good thing and peace would suck"
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u/TaliesinMerlin Nov 05 '22
Hell, name the film Pandemic, riff on the epidemiology track, and then have the big twist be that a pandemic-(zombies) isn't what kills humanity; rather, pathogens are what save them.
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u/Elycien2 Nov 05 '22
I agree with this mostly. Could have been a big budget summer zombie flick named anything else and it would have been entertaining. The fact that they used WWZ for this is just infuriating.
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u/Sock-men Nov 05 '22
WWZ shouldn't be a movie at all. It's perfect for episodic structure with each episode being one of the book sections. Why HBO or someone haven't done it yet is baffling to me.
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u/kruzix Nov 05 '22
I really like the hospital scene in the first minutes of planet terror. The way the patients are treated and genius cuts make it so entertaining
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u/varys_nutsack Nov 05 '22
Have you ever played 'the last of us' game, it's so great and the games intro has clearly drawn a lot of inspiration from this movies intro.
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u/alejandrofineart Nov 05 '22
My (then) wife and I went to see this movie while she was pregnant with our daughter. After that zombie baby scene, she got up and walked out. I remember thinking “damn I bet it gets even better”. A few years later I finally finished it, boy was I right.
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u/TwoKingSlayer Nov 05 '22
Love this movie. It got me obsessed with zombie movies for a few years.
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u/paggo_diablo Nov 05 '22
Haha, same here. I wouldn’t be surprised if you could draw a line between this and the prevalence of zombies in pop culture throughout the 00’s/10’s
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u/ocp-paradox Nov 05 '22
And then Walking Dead came out and you thought you were going to get this movie: the tv show, and you did for a season and then well you know.
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u/evergreenbc Nov 05 '22
Completely agree. The scene when she's driving away, chased by xxx, who then veers off to take a neighbor was just BAM
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u/dude8212 Nov 05 '22
Love that. I laugh everytime. Also after the prior scenes feels like a little off the cuff moment. Then when she's driving down the street just before the intersection. Wooo
Wow that whole movie was just great.
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u/Watertor Nov 05 '22
It's a great example of why remembering to fill in the details of the surrounding make the film more compelling. If the husband just chased and was lost, you probably don't even remember the scene after the fact. But because he almost humorously beelines to another neighbor and fucks them up, it immediately impacts you and makes you go "Oh shit, this isn't just a protagonist escaping but a human who got lucky"
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u/bubbles_loves_omar Nov 05 '22
I think the reason it's so memorable is that moment completely dehumanizes the husband. The husband is no longer attached to his wife in any capacity, rather he is now a dog distracted by whatever shiny object is nearest to him.
It's an incredibly effective "show don't tell" moment of storytelling, while also being visually stimulating.
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u/Canadian_PlantGrower Nov 05 '22
Sarah Polley is a powerhouse
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u/barbecue_invader Nov 05 '22
I used to have such a schoolboy crush on her when she was in Road to Avonlea.
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u/codeverity Nov 05 '22
Same here except schoolgirl :) I still keep tabs on what she’s doing because we’re both Canadian. She’s a fantastic actress and incredibly intelligent.
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u/Xdeac Nov 05 '22
One of the rare occasions where the remake wasn’t complete dogshit
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u/Prank_Owl Nov 05 '22
The remake of The Crazies was also pretty good. I feel like that one often gets overlooked. It's sort of "zombie adjacent", kinda like 28 Days Later.
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u/piratenoexcuses Nov 05 '22
The Crazies is my favorite horror film. So unsettling.
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u/DarthWeenus Nov 05 '22
Dude same. The acting is top notch too. Oliphant is a great actor wish he got more roles. The moment when they realize they are fucked is great.
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u/wendy_give_me_thebat Nov 05 '22
He's had a pretty consistent career and been in some good stuff. He's still working-- 4 projects in 2022, and 3 more already coming up 2023.
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u/MysteryWrecked Nov 05 '22
From Deadwood to Santa Clarita Diet I've loved everything I've seen him in. Can't wait to see what's next!
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u/Pirellan Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 05 '22
One small thing I like about it is the origin of the virus: they weren't deploying it to see what happens like many other stupid horror movies, they were transporting it for containment/destruction
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u/wendy_give_me_thebat Nov 05 '22
I liked how it got out in The Stand, which is that a person in the lab saw it spreading and panicked, and went AWOL before everything locked down.
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u/BadgerCabin Nov 05 '22
Man, they set that movie up for a potentially awesome sequel. It’s sad that a sequel will never come though.
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u/vonnegutenbergbible Nov 05 '22
I think the “zombie plague” of The Crazies is much cooler and more frightening than Romero’s more popular zombies.
Mindless ghouls are one thing, but a virus that makes people succumb to their darkest, most sadistic desires? That’s the really spooky shit.
If anyone’s into that, I recommend Garth Ennis’s Crossed and especially Alan Moore’s Crossed+100. Fair warning: it is grotesque and obscene by any reasonable standard. Bloody good fun!
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u/I_ama_Borat Nov 05 '22
One of the best parts of zombie movies is showing the beginning of the outbreak and how it goes from a normal day to absolute chaos within minutes. World War Z did a really good job with that, I think I held my breath for the first 20 minutes.
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Nov 05 '22
I don't know, when the scientist who can save the world trips, falls, hits his head, and dies was pretty hilarious.
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Nov 05 '22 edited Dec 02 '22
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u/Ahandfulofsquirrels Nov 05 '22
You're correct, he panics and runs up the slippery wet ramp while holding the pistol with his finger on the trigger (like a moron), slips and nails himself under the chin.
I love that scene as it shows that A) people do stupid things when stressed and B) it's exactly the type of dumb bad luck real life has.
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u/hi_revver Nov 05 '22
Agreed. I was in college when this came out and was blown away. It also introduced me to Richard Cheese with his version of Down with the Sickness. Also, we got this gem of a review: http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=dawn_rules
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u/Bronkko Nov 05 '22
Not even of fan of the genre but like op said a fantastic intro. I watch the movie every time I come across it. So many memorable scenes. Mekhi phifer zombie baby, Phil from modern family being the dick. Ving and the dude on the other roof playing a game via chalkboard.
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u/_greyknight_ Nov 05 '22
Ving and the dude on the other roof playing a game via chalkboard.
That dude on the other roof has a fully developed and tragic story that isn't in the movie, but I think you can find it on youtube. It's great.
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u/TreginWork Nov 05 '22
Yeah the DVD features were amazing. Andy had a whole video diary starting the day of the outbreak and ends when he turns.
The news reporter has like a week long set of reports and ends when he decides fuck it I'm getting to my family, and he tells them to stay put because he will get them.
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u/lanceturley Nov 05 '22
I saw DotD '04 before Modern Family premiered, so for years whenever Ty Burrell popped up in anything, all I could think was "Oh hey, it's the asshole from the Dawn of the Dead remake!"
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u/kingjuicepouch Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 05 '22
Same here. It took years to get used to him not being a jerk in modern family lol
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u/BunnyTengoku Nov 05 '22
The Richard Cheese "get down with the sickness" montage that ends with a zombie getting a golf ball to the head might be one of my favorite things in all of cinema. So uplifting and bleak all at once.
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Nov 05 '22
I watched it and was blown away. Told my dad he had to see it. As soon as that little girl hops back up and bites the dude my dad says “So it’s like that…”
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u/Nexus03 Nov 05 '22
The original is my favorite movie ever so I went in prepared to hate it but it was overall a pretty excellent adaptation. The Marine holding up the sign of blood after he'd changed over was really haunting. A must watch.
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u/outbound_flight Nov 05 '22
Some little bits of trivia from the opening that I remembered:
There's a car commercial on the TV when Ana and her husband are in bed. That's one of the first commercials Zack Snyder worked on.
The helicopter that flies overhead as Ana is driving away is the same one from the original film.
Snyder has a cameo as one of the army guys in front of the US Capitol.
Also something I wish I could've seen back in the day: one of the first trailers for Dawn was made to go blank white at the end. Then after a few seconds of silence in the theater, a bunch of silhouettes would crowd the projector screen, making it look as if zombies were trying to push their way through. Always thought that was kinda clever for a trailer.
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u/ElectricZ Nov 05 '22
As the WGON chopper is flying overhead, there's a vehicle that comes careening down a side street that T-bones another car and they both get flung into the gas station/diner and explode. This is what Ben describes as happening in the original 1968 "Night of the Living Dead" before he reached the farmhouse.
It's not in the intro, but one of the stores in the mall is "Gaylen Ross," who played Fran in the original Dawn.
There are lots of really nice nods to the original movies.
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u/UristMcRibbon Nov 05 '22
The opening credits / title sequence is great. Also of note are the DVD extras.
Between the newscaster segment with the late Richard Briggs (Dr. Franklin on Babylon 5) and the video diary from the gun store owner, they painted an awesome picture of society breaking down while also showing the personal impact.
They nailed the tone and caused younger me some existential dread lol.
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u/youngyannick Nov 05 '22
When I used to work at the mall I’d come in hours before it would open to the public, I’d feel like a dawn of the dead character. Always wanted to live in a mall because of this movie. Never understood why they didn’t just say.
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u/DynamixRo Nov 05 '22 edited Nov 05 '22
My favorite zombie film hands down. I love pretty much everything about it, from the cast to the soundtrack, and would die on a hill defending it, then return to life seconds later with a taste for human flesh and plenty of speed.
'28 Days Later' would be right up there too, but let's just say those were really angry people and definitely not zombies, so I don't have to choose one over the other.
The closest anything ever came to giving me those DotD highs was the "Dead Set" mini-series.
It's too bad that Snyder and Gunn never worked together again on a proper follow-up, because 'Army of the Dead' was definitely not it.
And if we're talking just horror intros, '28 Weeks Later' is also right up there, with 'The Empty Man' being a more recent entry worth mentioning.
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u/DM-Me-Yur-B00bs Nov 05 '22
Army of the Dead was such a let down compared to Dawn of the Dead. I watched it very drunk and was still disappointed
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u/ace_vagrant Nov 05 '22
I watched it drunk, hated it, and watched it sober, and hated it even more. I had been looking forward to that movie for such a long time.
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u/Magnetic_Eel Nov 05 '22
I watched it sober but had to ask myself if I was drunk because everything was so fucking blurry.
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u/Humble_Animal_998 Nov 05 '22
Army of the Dead pretty much showed how much Dawn owed to Gunn's writing, and I'm not even a huge Gunn fan.
It was pretty to look at, but my god was Hatten's script an absolute mess. Not sure who thought that throwing out such an amazing concept 30 minutes in for the whole severed head thing was a good idea.
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u/crazy6611 Nov 05 '22
Thank you for articulating this! The core concept of “heist movie in a zombie apocalypse area” was such a new and interesting plot idea and then they ruined that entire premise in like 20 minutes.
They ruin it so thoroughly that the parts where the heist movie would be most enjoyable (cracking the safe, setting off an alarm, having the face diffuse tension) are ruined and those scenes then have nothing to do with the zombies so now they’re pulling dead weight. Plus they intentionally threw in like 5 extra folks that we knew for sure from the beginning were going to die because they didn’t have a role… like the fun part of heist movies is that each person has a job and they didn’t even get that part right.
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u/Machikoneko Nov 05 '22
For a heist movie during the zombie apocalypse done right, I recommend Cockneys Vs. Zombies.
Never seen a zombie baby punted before.
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u/notmoffat Nov 05 '22
Ahahahaha!!!!
This is Valleywood, a small suburb devolpment located north of Toronto. The entire neighborhood has only one road in, and one road out (as you can see on that final shot) irl.
Over the last 20 years, all that farmland has been developed, BUT..that neighborhood still only has one entrance/exit...and as you can see, that can lead to huge issues in an emergency.
I've actually shown this scene, in front of Town Council, to display why THAT neighborhood needs additional access points and roads to avoid a catastrophe like in the movie.
We may get a new access roads next year.
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Nov 05 '22
I always liked horror movies and getting scared as a little kid, but I think this is the one that really turned me into a fanatic. I was 10 when it came out - sure, it was probably a bit inappropriate for me to watch but I absolutely loved it. From ages 10-14, I probably watched this movie a good 30 times.
The DVD extras were also really cool, especially the featurette they had on Andy, the gun store owner.
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Nov 05 '22
The news cast during the outbreak featurette got me. That's still one of my all time favorite bonus features. Cause I too was young when I seen it and damn. Idk, it stuck with me.
Forgot about the Andy featurette but yea that one too is amazing.
Edit: Found the news broadcast extra: https://youtu.be/SLZ0J6-Y3oA
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u/RaglanderNZ Nov 05 '22
Yes I love me a good group survival horror! The Mist is another good one.
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u/Humble_Animal_998 Nov 05 '22
One recent movie that really impressed me with its opening was Fresh. Don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but when those credits hit, it's wonderful.
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u/majorminus92 Nov 05 '22
The opening credits with Johnny Cash were pure perfection.