Dawn of the Dead - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Dawn of the Dead: Collector's Edition



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
(Being that we reviewed the Scream Factory Special Edition Blu-ray back in 2017, this writeup will be an exact copy of that except for the video score and the conclusion)

Remakes are always a bit of a hit or miss scenario. I’m not opposed to the idea of remakes, as many GREAT classic films are actually remakes of other sub-par or less desirable sources (Ben Hur, Twelve Monkeys, The Thing), but I always approach them with a sense of trepidation and suspicions, as they are just as easily a rip-off without additional enjoyment as they are a new classic. ESPECIALLY in the horror genre, where the original is almost always cherished far more than other areas of film. I grew up watching George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead as young as 7 years old (at least that’s my first memory of having seen portions of it) and remembering it scaring the living tar out of me. When I first heard that some upstart called Zack Snyder was doing a remake of this classic film, I immediately poo-pooed the idea of it and refused to see it in theaters until my friend dragged me to go see it with her. I was floored when I actually came out liking it BETTER than Romero’s seminal classic film, mostly due to the fact that Snyder kept the tone and feeling of the movie down to a T while updating the visuals and terror of the movie to a more modern era.

After pulling a double shift on nurse duty, Ana (Sarah Polley) comes home to her husband and daughter for a well needed bout of R&R. Only thing is, rest and relaxation is the last thing that she’s going to have as her daughter mutates into the living dead before her very eyes and her husband infected with the same evil in the process. Escaping her home town only to see death and devastation around her, Ana meets up with surviving cop Kenneth (Ving Rhames), TV salesman Michael (Jake Weber), gang banger Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his pregnant girlfriend Luda (Inna Korobkina). Realizing that there’s nothing but death as far as the eye can see, the group make their way to the local mall, where they hideout with a trio of suspicious and power mad security guards who pretty much dominate their every move.

Things don’t get much better there, as the security guards try to control the group, and it’s not until they overpower and take things over themselves that they have a semblance of freedom. Taking in more passengers nets them a couple of infected people. Which in turn puts the entire group at risk. The only thing that that the survivors can possibly do is make an escape plan to get out of the surrounded mall, grab as much supplies as they can, and somehow make it out a boat where they can try to escape the virus fallout zone and hopefully find land where they are safe.

What makes Dawn of the Dead (the remake) so good is that it doesn’t try to EMULATE the original Romero film, but neither does it stray too far from that base. Snyder does a great job of making the movie a veritable blood bath, with blood, guts, gore and entrails hanging from every corner. Instead of copying the “teenager in peril” slasher phase of the 90s, Snyder chose to make it a gory zombie movie that is as hyper kinetic as his next few films have proven him to be. As much action and carnage as 300, but with a great cast of characters that actually play well off of each other. Even though he doesn’t stick to the more methodical stylings of Romero, Carpenter, or Argento, Snyder still pays homage to the previously mentioned artists by interjecting in several hints and nods through various scenes and musical choices.

Cast wise this is a great pairing. Jake Weber was always the husband in Medium to me, but he is a fully fleshed out hero in Dawn of the Dead, employing a believable mix of naive newbie with a strong sense of determination .Ving Rhames is the hulking beast of a man who wants to get things done, while Ty Burrell is pure and utter self centered evil. Even Andre is played well, as a gang banger/thief who is willing to team up with the afore mentioned people and survive. Ana is naturally the center of attention, and Sarah Polley is above reproach for playing the terrified, but hardened nurse who does what needs to be done, yest still exercises her conscience. Snyder has a few other fun cameos in the film, even interjecting famous horror director/actor Tom Savini as a tough as nails town Sheriff .

The movie isn’t perfect, but Snyder did a great job for his freshman effort as a director, and James Gunn (yes, of Guardians of the Galaxy fame) did a stellar job at writing the blood soaked script. The film starts to stumble in the 2nd act when the truck load of people come in, but it picks up for a thrilling conclusion that fits perfectly in with the genre.




Rating:

Rated R for pervasive strong horror violence and gore, language and sexuality (Theatrical) / Not Rated by the MPAA (Unrated Cut)




4K Video: Video:

The picture quality for Dawn of the Dead was something I was fully expecting to be a “meh” 4K UHD when viewing. Zack Snyder heavily stylized this flick to death, giving it a massively burnished orange and yellow tone, with THICK grain, and some wonky looking blacks. The Universal Blu-ray back in 2008 was rather “meh” considering it was encoded with the more bitrate intensive VC-1 codec, and Scream Factory’s 2017 release looked only marginally better in AVC. That being said, I was floored at how great the new 4K remastered UHD looks. And it’s not just because of the new remaster. The Unrated Blu-ray included also sports the 4K remaster and it’s not even in the same ballpark as the UHD. The 4K disc simply looks better in every regard.

Yes, there is going to be some grungy grain levels. Yes, the flick still has that heavily stylized burnished orange and yellow look to it. But the clarity and sharpness is night and day different. The 4K disc just handles the grain better (a cleaner and more nuanced look to the structure) and the fine details are superb. Also the over blown contrast found on the Blu-ray is handled much better, along with the color grading. The HDR/DV is MUCH better at dealing with oranges and reds (just look at the fireball at the beginning of chapter 12. It looks like a blurred orange mess on the Blu-ray but you can tell the individual flames and color changes inside the fireball on the 4K disc), and the blacks are incredible. The old Blu-ray always crushed like crazy with black levels, but here you can actually see all of the details that you were missing in those dark spots. There’s still a few weird spots (like the helicopter scene on the roof in the sky has some vertical lines), but overall this is a fantastic looking 4K UHD disc that is a hefty upgrade over the Blu-ray.





Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA and 2.0 DTS-HD MA tracks are direct ports from Scream Factory's 2017 Blu-ray, so my comments below will be the same comments I made for that edition

Scream Factory seems to have recycled the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track from the Universal release (which is in no way a bad thing) and added their obligatory 2.0 DTS-HD MA downmix as well. The 5.1 mix is deep and heavy, pounding us mercilessly with deep waves of LFE from the opening shots of the film. When the survivors are inside of the mall it’s a bit more toned down, with dialog taking front and center combined with some mild ambient noises from the surrounding areas. Bullets hit with great impact, and the shotgun that Ving Rhames carries sounds like a veritable howitzer cannon. Surrounds get a good workout with all of the zombie munching and craziness that ensues from the escape, right down to the battle to get away from the mall at the end. It’s a tour de force track that hasn’t aged at all in the in the near 9 years since it was first released on Blu-ray. Excellent all around.







Extras:

4K UHD Disc
• Audio Commentary With Director Zach Snyder And Producer Eric Newman
• Optional English subtitles for the main feature

Blu-ray: Unnrated Cut
• Audio Commentary With Director Zach Snyder And Producer Eric Newman
• Introduction To The Unrated Cut With Director Zach Snyder
• Splitting Headaches: Anatomy Of Exploding Heads
• Attack Of The Living Dead
• Raising The Dead
• Andy's Lost Tape
• Special Report: Zombie Invasion
• Undead And Loving It: A Mockumentary
• Drawing The Dead Featurette
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Hidden Easter Egg

Blu-ray: Theatrical Cut
• Take A Chance On Me – An Interview With Actor Ty Burrell
• Gunn For Hire – An Interview With Writer James Gunn
• Punk, Rock, & Zombie – An Interview With Actor Jake Weber
• Killing Time At The Mall: The Special Effects Of Dawn Of The Dead – An Interview With Special Makeup Effects Artists David Anderson And Heather Langenkamp Anderson
• Deleted Scenes With Optional Commentary By Director Zach Snyder And Producer Eric Newman
• Theatrical Trailer
• Still Gallery
• Optional English

Final Score: ​

The 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead is still probably one of my favorite horror remakes. Especially when you consider the fact that this was Zack Snyder’s first feature film and he knocked it straight out of the park. Intense, blood soaked, and a thrill ride from beginning to end, I still enjoy it as much as, if not more, than the Romero original. The 4K UHD disc is nothing short of superb in the video department, handily outclassing the Blu-ray, and while it recycles the same 5.1 audio that it’s had for the last 10+ years, still sounds fantastic. My only gripe with the set was that the Unrated Cut was the only cut remastered for 4K. We still have the theatrical cut in the set, but it’s the older Blu-ray release, as it looks like they didn’t go back and remaster it for the set (the Unrated Blu-ray is updated with the new 4K master, but the Theatrical cut appears to be a bit for bit clone of the 2017 special edition Theatrical cut). All in all, a fantastic film and a great looking release. I personally give it a solid thumbs up to upgrade to.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ving Rhames, Sarah Polley, Ty Burrell
Directed by: Zack Snyder
Written by: James Gunn, George Romero
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, English DD 2.0
Subtitles; English SDH
Studio: Scream Factory
Rated: R
Runtime: 110 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 31st, 2023

Recommendation: Great Watch