Dawn 04's Homages

[Monrozombi]

DOTD 04 is on Starz right now, since its summer tv and nothing else is on I turned it on. I was watching it and something crossed my mind for the first since watching it. What do you believe are the main driving forces behind all the little homages in this film? (WGON chopper, Gaylen Ross, Wooley's, BP trucks, original actors cameos) Do you think its because of the impact the film has had on the horror genre? It's cult status? or for us fans who sit here on HPOTD and watch these films constantly? What do you think?

[Yojimbo]

DOTD 04 is on Starz right now, since its summer tv and nothing else is on I turned it on. I was watching it and something crossed my mind for the first since watching it. What do you believe are the main driving forces behind all the little homages in this film? (WGON chopper, Gaylen Ross, Wooley's, BP trucks, original actors cameos) Do you think its because of the impact the film has had on the horror genre? It's cult status? or for us fans who sit here on HPOTD and watch these films constantly? What do you think? Discussed this with my wife the night we first saw O4, and came to conclusion that it was both 1) to reduce the sting felt by true believer fans when they view this non-romero affiliated version of what many considered sacred territory and 2)to get those fans to feel as if those items were placed there soley as an inside joke for them and in so doing fool them into believing that this remake was made with the utmost respect to the original and it's fans. Certainly the film has had a deep impact of the horror genre, starting with it's being one of the progenitors of the entire splatter genre of the late 70s and 80s, and continuing to have a great impact outside of it specific genre of orignation. References to this film abound, even in non-horror themed worlds. Do not get me wrong, I liked the remake. But I must admit that a lot of it pissed me off, and in many instances I felt that the attempts by the makers of the remake to win support of the fans by inserting the odd bit of homage here and there was not only facetious but insulting. I would have liked this film better if it didn't call itself DAWN OF THE DEAD, but had those references all the same.

[xopher]

Discussed this with my wife the night we first saw O4, and came to conclusion that it was both 1) to reduce the sting felt by true believer fans when they view this non-romero affiliated version of what many considered sacred territory and 2)to get those fans to feel as if those items were placed there soley as an inside joke for them and in so doing fool them into believing that this remake was made with the utmost respect to the original and it's fans. Certainly the film has had a deep impact of the horror genre, starting with it's being one of the progenitors of the entire splatter genre of the late 70s and 80s, and continuing to have a great impact outside of it specific genre of orignation. References to this film abound, even in non-horror themed worlds. Do not get me wrong, I liked the remake. But I must admit that a lot of it pissed me off, and in many instances I felt that the attempts by the makers of the remake to win support of the fans by inserting the odd bit of homage here and there was not only facetious but insulting. I would have liked this film better if it didn't call itself DAWN OF THE DEAD, but had those references all the same. You know, that's actually a good point, that last bit about calling itself something but remaining the same movie. Hmmm... I agree though. As much as I did actually like the film, I don't get the impression that Zack Snyder really much of a zombie fan, as much as just a movie fan. 300 was almost as bloody as Dawn '04 and it was not horrific at all really, although that was an awesome movie in itself. I think I'd pretty much agree with you once more the cameos and refferences were about 15% respect, 30% hype to win GAR fans, and about 55% "Let's not piss anyone off any more than we have to".

[MissJacksonCA]

I think it was for the fans ... it was an 'in' thing only few people got... a lot of my friends have seen the origional Dawn but none of them recognised any of those things in the remake but for me... so I think its for the die hard fans

[xopher]

You know, it's funny because, as small as it was way over on the right side of the screen, the name Gaylen Ross stuck out to me like headlight soming toward me at night. THAT's how obsessed I am with these movies. I have to say I did appreciate that. But Day Of The Dead REMAKE should be buried and never resurrected.

[MissJacksonCA]

Uhhhh the Gaylen Ross name was in really big letters when what's her face was wearing the lingerie and ogling herself in the mirror... kinda hard to miss... but i guess when you stare at a womans physique its hard to notice that so you saw Gaylens name appear before or after that in the flick

[xopher]

Uhhhh the Gaylen Ross name was in really big letters when what's her face was wearing the lingerie and ogling herself in the mirror... kinda hard to miss... but i guess when you stare at a womans physique its hard to notice that so you saw Gaylens name appear before or after that in the flick That's interesting because I didn't even see that one :-) I was referring to the scene where they are first walking up to the mall. It's over on the right hand side of the screen in small letters.

[MissJacksonCA]

Yeah but the name appeared soooo many times its hard to miss... come to think of it... perhaps it wasn't just an 'in' thing for zombiphiles... because there was a lot of 'hidden' stuff... like Hallowed Grounds...

[RustyHicks]

Yojimbo makes a lot of sense, it was kind of to ease the pain of the die hard fans cause the director knew we would be upset when we saw Dawn04 has nothing to do with the classic. It just uses the name Dawn of the Dead, and I wonder how many of us die hard fans got suckered into believing this to be a remake, only to be robbed and ended up making this a success

[Monrozombi]

Yojimbo makes a lot of sense, it was kind of to ease the pain of the die hard fans cause the director knew we would be upset when we saw Dawn04 has nothing to do with the classic. It just uses the name Dawn of the Dead, and I wonder how many of us die hard fans got suckered into believing this to be a remake, only to be robbed and ended up making this a success It's taken me 3 years but now I feel like I have an analogy for what DOTD04 actually is. DOTD04 is just like a zombie. A shell of what once was (to quote John from Day). Just like a zombie who itself is just a shell and parts but no actual soul to speak of. DOTD04 is missing what the original had ie the social commentary and cast of characters actually worth rooting for

[Yojimbo]

It's taken me 3 years but now I feel like I have an analogy for what DOTD04 actually is. DOTD04 is just like a zombie. A shell of what once was (to quote John from Day). Just like a zombie who itself is just a shell and parts but no actual soul to speak of. DOTD04 is missing what the original had ie the social commentary and cast of characters actually worth rooting for Whoa! <----(I just said that like a stoned surfer or Keanu or something) Monrozombi, that was awesome. Totally awesome!!! I heard a clip of GAR recently talking about how he would like to do more zombie films but he wanted them to be separate stories about different people and not just a continuation of old story lines. (He referenced the Book of The Dead 1 & 2 and how it was a collection of short stories) He stressed that he wanted the zombie films to be stories about people. Hearing that, it occured to me that therein lies the genius of Romero and the downfall of DOTD 04, in that GAR's 78 original was a story which we all like, sure, because we like GAR and GAR's ghouls, but mostly because we liked the characters and the their stories. This is where o4 failed in my mind. I cared about the characters in 78-- they appealed to me, they were interesting. In 04 I sensed that the characters and their stories were really secondary to the special effects and the stupid music video feel.

[MissJacksonCA]

[QUOTE=Yojimbo;110037]Whoa! <----(I just said that like a stoned surfer or Keanu or something) Monrozombi, that was awesome. Totally awesome!!! [QUOTE] Yeah I second that...