4K UHD Review: Dawn of the Dead (Collector’s Edition) – 2004 version

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

George Romero grabbed horror and yanked it into the future when Night of the Living Dead hit movie screens in 1968. The movie might have been black and white, but plenty of people were grossed out by the imagery of undead creatures eating the living. It was a nightmare inducer. A decade later Romero brought back the undead in color for Dawn of the Dead. While the Night had the living seeking refuge in a remote farmhouse, Dawn had people trapped in a shopping mall. The movie was made during the times when shopping malls were becoming the hot places in your town. Dawn of the Dead also grossed out viewers and was a massive hit. It was rather confusing when in 2004, they announced a remake of Dawn of the Dead was coming. What could they do to improve a horror masterpiece? Director Zach Snyder and screenwriter James Gunn gave us zombies and a shopping mall, but their Dawn of the Dead is a different experience from Romero’s original.

Ana Clark (The Sweet Hereafter‘s Sarah Polley) thinks she’s going to have a three-day weekend after a long week at the hospital as a nurse. She has a romantic night with her husband, but is rudely woken up early in the morning by her daughter. Turns out the kid has changed and not quite in the puberty way. The kid has become some sort of undead hellchild and wants to devour her parents. There’s no sending the kid to boot camp to get them straightened out. Ana has to flee the house and sees that the neighborhood has gone insane with people turned into zombie creatures. She gets in her car and makes a run for it. Eventually she gets inside the nearby shopping mall with a group of other not-zombies that includes a cop (Pulp Fiction‘s Ving Rhames), a TV salesman (Medium‘s Jake Weber), an expectant father (8 Mile‘s Mekhi Phifer) and a jerk (Modern Family‘s Ty Burrell). The group have to constantly deal with the nightmare of an army of the undead gathering in the surrounding parking lots and trying to get inside. They have to worry about the living inside getting infected or just dying and becoming the living dead. They have to start worrying about what will they do next since there’s no end in sight. How long can the food court hold out? Can they conceive of a plan to survive?

What makes the remake of Dawn of the Dead interesting is that it was made around the time that indoor shopping malls began to lose their status. By 2004, developers and retail real estate owners focused on building strip malls with Big Box anchors since they require less support staff. The new Dawn of the Dead is about a dying lifestyle and not merely undead consumers returning to shop at the mall in the original. This differing aspect will make you not get confused by the two versions. There’s a great cast in the remake to make you feel bad when one of them gets bit and turn. Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames really seem like survivors as they stand on the mall roof and look down at the undead mass circling the parking lot like people waiting for the Black Friday sale.

This was the first feature film for Zach Snyder (300 and Justice League) after a rather long career directing commercials and music videos. There’s a lot of camera tricks that came out of his past. He uses plenty of close ups of items hitting the floor from cigarettes to shotgun shells. There are two cuts of Dawn of the Dead in the boxset. The Unrated Cut has all the gore and nastiness that the MPAA couldn’t approve for the R-rated version. This is the version on the 4K UHD disc and the first Blu-ray. The second Blu-ray has the R-rated version. I’m not sure why you’d want to see the R-rated version except maybe your great Aunt Anna has come over and she can’t deal with the sight of zombie limbs chopped up with a chainsaw. Screenwriter James Gunn has gone from a Troma graduate to directing the Guardians of the Galaxy movies and Peacemaker TV series. Snyder and Gunn make their Dawn of the Dead much more than a retread of Romero’s classic. While Romero had nothing to do with this remake, the success allowed him to finally make Land of the Dead that Universal released. Dawn of the Dead: Collector’s Edition 4K UHD is perfect to pick up on your next shopping trip.

The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD transfer looks sharp and brings out the details in the undead people that want inside the mall. The Blu-ray version look fine. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 and 2.0 on all three versions. You can listen in the way your entertainment center is wired up. The movies are subtitled in English.

DISC ONE (4K UHD – UNRATED CUT)

Audio Commentary with Director Zach Snyder and Producer Eric Newman has the duo discuss how they made the film. They even build sets inside the mall for other scenes. Zach points out an ad he shot for a car company.

DISC TWO (BLU-RAY – UNRATED CUT)

Audio Commentary with Director Zach Snyder and Producer Eric Newman is the same track as the 4K UHD disc.

Introduction To The Unrated Cut With Director Zach Snyder (1:16) has the director discuss how this differs from the R-rated Cut.

Splitting Headaches: Anatomy Of Exploding Heads (5:36) goes into what it takes to make a stunt man’s head go boom. There’s a lot of fake blood and squibs on this set.

Attack Of The Living Dead (7:24) gets into how you make the undead a serious threat. They show all the various things the effects department does to the actors to get the right look on the dummy heads. They cover the major zombies.

Raising The Dead (7:54) goes into the undead extras that are needed to terrorize the last of humanity at the mall.

Andy’s Lost Tape (16:22) is supposedly a tape recovered after the undead epidemic involving the “neighbor.”

Special Report: Zombie Invasion (21:05) is the channel 3 news report on the events. Tom Savini shows up as a sheriff.

Undead And Loving It: A Mockumentary (5:09) is Zack and the crew claiming they used real zombies on the set.

Drawing The Dead (2:48) has Zack going into his storyboards with artist Mark Yates.

Storyboard Comparisons (5:51) let you see the storyboards with finished clips from the film.

Hidden Easter Egg (23:30) is Surviving the Dead. You need to click around to get the making of feature. Max Brooks talks about zombies in cinema and mentions George Romero. You get to see a really young James Gunn.

DISC THREE (BLU-RAY – THEATRICAL CUT)

Take A Chance On Me (15:28) is an Interview with Actor Ty Burrell long before Modern Family. He goes into getting on the film.

Gunn For Hire (9:26) is an interview with Writer James Gunn. He admits that the original was his favorite movie and he had the poster on his bedroom wall. He discusses how he changed the film to make his version.

Punk, Rock, & Zombie (23:10) meets up with actor Jake Weber. He felt the film could be a good remake with the advances in makeup and special effect. He discusses working with Zack Snyder. People come up and tell him how much they liked the film.

Killing Time At The Mall: The Special Effects Of Dawn Of The Dead (25:36) meets up with Special Makeup Effects Artists David Anderson and Heather Langenkamp Anderson. David says he saw the original in the theater. He gets into the visual board they used to define the effects for the undead.

Deleted Scenes (11:30) with Optional Commentary By Director Zach Snyder And Producer Eric Newman. They let you know why certain shots didn’t need to go in the film film.

Theatrical Trailer (2:34) promises you won’t think of the mall the same way.

Still Gallery (8:12) has dozens of press photos, behind the scenes shots, posters from around the world, lobby cards, the Japanese press book,

Scream Factory presents Dawn of the Dead: Collector’s Edition. Directed by Zach Snyder. Screenplay by James Gunn. Starring Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer & Ty Burrell. Boxset contents: 1 4K UHD disc & 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated & R. Running Time: 110 & 101 minutes. Release Date: January 31, 2023.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.