"DAWN OF THE DEAD"
(2004) (Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames) (R)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
Mild	Extreme	Heavy	Extreme	Extreme
Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Mild	Mild	Extreme	Heavy	Extreme
Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
Extreme	Mild	Moderate	Moderate	Extreme

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QUICK TAKE:

Horror: Various survivors join forces in a shopping mall when deadly zombies overrun their town.

PLOT:

Ana (SARAH POLLEY) is a hospital worker whose life is shattered when zombies suddenly overrun her Wisconsin town. Having survived an attack that's left her husband as a zombie, she joins forces with policeman Kenneth (VING RHAMES), salesman Michael (JAKE WEBER), and Andre (MEKHI PHIFER) and Luda (INNA KOROBKINA) who are expecting their first child at any minute.

They seek refuge in an apparently abandoned shopping mall but then run into head security guard CJ (MICHAEL KELLY) and his minions Terry (KEVIN ZEGERS) and Bart (MICHAEL BARRY) who aren't pleased to have outsiders intruding upon their fortress.

With the zombies apparently unable to penetrate the mall's locked doors, the small group of survivors paints SOS symbols on the roof where they notice Andy (BRUCE BOHNE), a lone survivor on top of another building. When they realize that they're never going to receive any outside help, the group must decide what to do.

Other survivors then arrive at the mall, including the sarcastic Steve (TY BURRELL), dog lover Nicole (LINDY BOOTH), Tucker (BOYD BANKS), Frank (MATT FREWER) and others. When some of them turn out to be infected by zombie bites, the group realizes their security is jeopardized. From that point on and with the growing mass of zombies only intensifying outside the mall, the group must decide what to do next to survive.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?

If they're into zombie horror flicks or are fans of someone in the cast, they just might.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R

For pervasive strong horror violence and gore, language and sexuality.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:

SARAH POLLEY plays a hospital worker who survives a zombie attack at home only to find herself facing more zombies while trapped in a shopping mall. She kills various zombies and uses strong profanity.

VING RHAMES plays a cop who kills many zombies and uses strong profanity.

JAKE WEBER plays a salesman who tries to come up with plans of rescue and/or safety for the group.

MEKHI PHIFER plays a streetwise guy who uses strong profanity, kills many zombies and worries about his very pregnant wife.

TY BURRELL plays a sarcastic new member of the survivors group.

MICHAEL KELLY plays the head security guard who's only looking out for himself, uses strong profanity and has bad attitude toward the other survivors.

KEVIN ZEGERS and MICHAEL BARRY play his fellow security guards who initially aren't happy to have anyone joining their group of survivors.

LINDY BOOTH plays a new addition to the group who jeopardizes them and her life when she goes to save a dog.

INNA KOROBKINA plays Andre's pregnant wife who's been bitten by one of the zombies.

MATT FREWER plays one of the injured survivors.

BRUCE BOHNE plays another survivor on another roof who's an expert shot at shooting and killing zombies.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

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Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

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OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated horror film that has moments of black comedy in it. Profanity consists of at least 40 "f" words, while other expletives and colorful phrases are used. Sexually related dialogue is present, as are two sexual encounters (with movement, a related comment and one with partially obscured nudity). A topless woman is seen on some video footage.

Violence consists of a plethora of scenes featuring zombies attacking humans and the latter shooting, impaling, driving into or over, and using chainsaws on the former, with extremely bloody, gory and graphic results. Such material and more standard "look out" moments will likely also be unsettling, suspenseful or downright scary to some viewers.

Some related tense family material is also present. Meanwhile, various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while some drink and/or smoke. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content.

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ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE

Ana's husband has a beer.

A woman states that Steve likes some lemon stuff in his booze (not seen).

Survivors sit around a table, drinking and talking.

BLOOD/GORE

A patient is rolled by on a gurney with blood on their neck.

A zombie girl has blood on her somewhat torn up face. She races at Ana's husband and bites him on the neck with extremely bloody results (blood everywhere and squirting out). As a result, Ana has his blood all over her.

During the opening credits, we see various flash images of bloody people and zombies.

A survivor has blood on his shirt.

Ana washes her husband's blood from her arms in a shopping mall fountain.

A very bloody zombie suddenly shows up at a window.

Michael opens a door to find a bloody zombie attacking a very bloody person on the floor. That zombie then comes at him and the two struggle until Michael jams a small pole all of the way through the zombie's head (with bloody results).

We see TV footage of bloody victims and/or zombies.

Kenneth has a bad cut on his arm, while Luda has one on hers as well.

CJ shoots several zombies in the head with blood squirting out.

Michael and Andre shoot many zombies (with bloody results).

A survivor has blood all over her.

A new survivor has a cut hand.

A bloody survivor dies and we see her with her eyes open and mouth agape. Ana then drives a pole through the zombie's head, killing it (with bloody results on it and the floor).

We see a close-up view of a zombie being shot in the head (with blood, a piece of skull and possibly brain matter coming out). We then see that a guy on a rooftop is shooting zombies selected by survivors on another rooftop. It's played for black comedy as we see more zombies being shot in the head with similar bloody/gory results.

We see blood stains on a wall.

A zombie suddenly jumps down onto and attacks a guy (with bloody results).

A survivor and various zombies are bloody.

We see blood squirt out onto bed sheets from a pregnant woman. We later see a great deal of blood on her and the sheets.

Andre holds an infant in sheets that are bloody just like his hands.

An older woman shoots a zombie (with blood splattering out).

Blood comes out from a mortally wounded woman's mouth.

Survivors shoot various zombies that rush them, with bloody results.

Survivors find a great deal of blood on the floor.

Kenneth shoots a new zombie (with resultant blood splatter).

Survivors open fire on zombies coming after them up a stairwell (with bloody results).

Survivors inside a truck shoot various zombies, while one takes a chainsaw and cuts into and through various zombies (with graphically bloody and gory results, including severing of limbs, etc.).

A chainsaw accidentally lands on a survivor's shoulder, graphically cutting down through her body (with very bloody results).

Ana shoots a new zombie and then others as well (with bloody results).

Various people are bloody to varying degrees.

We see glimpses of a bloody zombie on a boat, of maggots and other bloody images during the closing credits.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE

CJ calls Kenneth "Shaq" (since he's black and reminds him of Shaquille O'Neal).

CJ has a bad (and self-preservation based) attitude toward the other survivors (bossing them around and locking them up, etc.).

One guard calls the other "faggot."

After Ana cusses, one of the guards tells CJ that he should show Ana how to use that mouth.

FRIGHTENING SCENES

Scenes listed under "Violence" and "Blood/Gore" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to some viewers, while also holds true for the sight of the bloody, rabid and/or decomposed zombies and their attacks on the survivors.

Kenneth holds a shotgun on Ana until he figures out she's not a zombie.

Kenneth and Ana slowly make their way through a tunnel, with a shot then being fired at Kenneth as he and other survivors briefly have a gun standoff.

The survivors slowly make their way through the seemingly deserted shopping mall.

There's a gun standoff between CJ and his men and the survivors.

The survivors throw a wrapped dead body off the roof (we don't see the impact, but the imagery might be disturbing to some viewers).

A bloody survivor dies and we see her with her eyes open and mouth agape. Ana then covers her body and turns away, but the dead woman now sits upright, her eyes open and she comes at Ana as a raving zombie. Ana then drives a pole through the zombie's head, killing it (with bloody results on it and the floor).

Some of the survivors decide they must kill another survivor who's been bitten and is likely infected. Ana tries to stop them as does the doomed survivor's daughter who hugs him for a long while before finally saying good-bye.

The lights suddenly go out on the group, leaving them in darkness.

We see that Andre has his pregnant wife (who's infected from a bite) tied to a bed while going through labor.

Various survivors slowly make their way through a dark parking garage and think they see something coming at them (it turns out to be a dog).

We see unnatural movement inside a pregnant woman's bare belly.

Andre tries to put a strap across a zombie's mouth (it's tied to a bed) and must avoid being bitten.

We see a zombie baby and then hear the sound of it being shot.

A dog is lowered into the zombie masses (to take food to a person in another building), but they aren't interested in it.

We hear a radio transmission of a man dealing with zombies and from a woman who's trying to hide from one zombie who's after her.

Survivors cautiously make their way through a dark, water-filled tunnel. They then go up to street level where they must deal with many zombies who are after them there and then back in the tunnel.

Survivors race to get into an elevator and have its doors close before zombies reach them.

Ana races to get back to the safety of a truck as zombies come after her.

GUNS/WEAPONS

Handguns/Rifles/Shotguns/Machine guns/Chainsaws: Carried and used to shoot, wound or kill zombies and people. See "Violence" for details.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR

Phrases: "You must be out of your f*cking mind," "That is one cool m*therf*cker," "Shut the f*ck up," "F*cking A," "F*cked up," "Shut your f*cking mouth," "F*cking traitor," "What the f*ck /was that?" "F*ck y'all," "You f*ckers," "F*ck you," "Don't f*ck this up," "Tough sh*t," "Sh*t rolls downhill," "Bullsh*t," "Dip sh*t," "Holy sh*t," "Oh sh*t," "Didn't see sh*t," "What a total d*ck," "Dumb ass," "Take a piss," "Half-assing," "Twitcher" (a wounded zombie that twitches), "Sucks," "Chick," "That sucks too," "Faggot," "Wipe your ass," "Jackass," "When you two fellas are done blowing each other," "Don't be an idiot," "Shut up," "You jackasses," "A damn good idea," "Busting your ass," "Hell of a shot," "Loser," "Bastards," "Get the hell out now," "What the hell were you doing?" and "Bitch."

We see graffiti in a tunnel.

Kenneth has tattoos on his arms.

JUMP SCENES

A person is suddenly at Ana's car window.

A very bloody zombie suddenly shows up at a window.

A zombie suddenly jumps down onto and attacks a guy (with bloody results).

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE)

An extreme amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays throughout the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE)

Two songs had lyrics using the "f" and "s" words several times.

There were other lyrics that we couldn't hear and/or understand, thus offering the possibility of them potentially containing additional objectionable lyrics.

PROFANITY

At least 40 "f" words (3 used with "mother," 1 used sexually as is the term "tapped that sh*t"), 36 "s" words, 1 slang term each using male and female genitals ("d*ck" and "p*ssy"), 12 asses (4 used with "hole"), 6 damns, 5 hells, 4 uses of "Oh my God," 3 of "G-damn," 2 each of "Jesus" and "Oh God" and 1 use each of "Christ," "God," "Jesus Christ" and "Oh Christ."

SEX/NUDITY

We see Ana and her husband Luis in a close embrace and passionately kissing in the shower (in a head and shoulders shot). We then see a shot from a distance and through the partially transparent shower curtain that shows a full body shot of them standing in that embrace. You can tell they're nude, but can't see any details.

Terry says he would have "tapped that sh*t" (meaning have sex with) some young woman who worked in the mall.

After Ana cusses, one of the guards tells CJ that he should show Ana how to use that mouth.

One of the guards watches a surveillance monitor that shows a woman changing her shirt (we see her back from a grainy distance).

A guy sarcastically tells a man and woman (who are discussing a nonsexual matter), "When you two are done blowing each other..."

Ana shows some cleavage.

We see a woman in lingerie and then a shot of her having sex with Steve who's behind her and thrusting, with her saying "F*ck me harder" (no nudity).

We see videotape footage of Steve with a woman in a bikini and we then see her or another woman topless.

SMOKING

We see a few survivors briefly smoking (including Steve), while Kenneth has an unlit cigar in his mouth.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES

Those who survive the initial and subsequent zombie attacks grieve (to varying degrees) over lost family members (although there's not much of that).

Ana sees a local neighbor girl kill her husband and he then turns into a zombie who comes after her.

Some of the survivors decide they must kill another survivor who's been bitten and is likely infected. Ana tries to stop them as does the doomed survivor's daughter who hugs him for a long while before finally saying good-bye.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT

Zombies.

Survival skills and instincts.

The film's brief satirical moments (survivors being consumed in a place of consumerism - the mall, etc.).

Working together as a group rather than individuals to better the odds of success.

VIOLENCE

Ana and her husband awaken to find a neighbor girl inside their house and at their bedroom door (as creepy music plays). The girl is in the shadows and when the husband goes to investigate, we see that the girl is a zombie (with blood on her somewhat torn up face). She races at the husband and bites him on the neck with extremely bloody results (blood everywhere and squirting out). As he bleeds to death, we hear the girl on the other side of the now closed door and she's banging on it. The husband then comes back to life as a zombie and immediately comes after Ana who races into the bathroom and slams the door (she has his blood all over her). She then slowly goes to the door to listen for him and he suddenly breaks through the middle of it. She races to climb out the window and he grabs her foot, but she kicks herself free and lands quite hard on the ground outside. She then races to get into her car, but a neighbor holds a gun on her, warning her to keep away. A speeding ambulance, however, smashes into him on the road. She gets into her car and the husband jumps on it and punches the windshield. She drives off and he falls to the driveway but then chases her, only diverting away to attack someone else as she drives off.

We see other chaos and fires in Ana's neighborhood.

From an aerial view, we see a vehicle go through an intersection and smash into another vehicle before slamming into a gas station, resulting in a massive explosion.

We see a partially obscured image through a window of zombies attacking a woman.

During the opening credits, we see various flash images of bloody people and zombies, as well as shootings and explosions, including men shooting others with machine guns.

A person or zombie grabs at Ana while she's driving and then falls from her car that goes through a guardrail and then slams into a tree, knocking her out.

Kenneth and Ana slowly make their way through a tunnel, with a shot then being fired at Kenneth as he and other survivors briefly have a gun standoff.

The survivors throw a toilet through a store window (that shatters) to enter the mall.

Michael slowly makes his way toward a closed door behind which he hears noises and sees shadows at the bottom. He opens it to find a bloody zombie attacking a very bloody person on the floor. That zombie then comes at him and the two struggle until Michael jams a small pole all of the way through the zombie's head (with bloody results).

A zombie grabs at Luda, prompting Kenneth to hit it with his shotgun. The two then struggle, with Kenneth repeatedly slamming its head onto the side of a fountain until Ana shoots it.

We see TV footage of violent encounters (hitting, etc.) as well as bloody victims and/or zombies.

CJ shoots several zombies in the head with blood squirting out.

We hear the sound of another zombie being shot.

A delivery truck races at the mall, driving over a sign and the driver shoots a zombie. It then rapidly backs toward the mall and drives over and smashes many zombies in a graphic fashion.

Michael punches one guard and another struggles with and then controls CJ.

Michael and Andre shoot many zombies (with bloody results) as masses of the latter rush at them.

A raving zombie comes at Ana who drives a pole through the zombie's head, killing it (with bloody results on it and the floor).

We hear the sound of a zombie being shot.

We see a close-up view of a zombie being shot in the head (with blood, a piece of skull and possibly brain matter coming out). We then see that a guy on a rooftop is shooting zombies selected by survivors on another rooftop. It's played for black comedy as we see more zombies being shot in the head with similar bloody/gory results.

A zombie suddenly jumps down onto and attacks a guy (with bloody results).

Zombies chase after a group of survivors through a parking garage. The latter get behind a fence and try to close it as the zombies attack. One survivor hits a zombie in the face with an ax handle, while many others are shot. A survivor then pours gasoline near the zombies and it's lit, catching some of the zombies on fire.

An older woman shoots a zombie (with blood splattering out), prompting another survivor to shoot her. The two exchange more gunfire and both die.

We see a zombie baby and then hear the sound of it being shot.

A woman drives a truck over various zombies.

Survivors shoot various zombies that rush them, with bloody results.

Kenneth shoots a new zombie (with resultant blood splatter).

More zombies are shot in a tunnel, while a survivor shoots and kills another recently infected survivor in a preemptive mercy killing.

Survivors open fire on zombies coming after them up a stairwell (with bloody results).

A truck smashes through a parking garage gate. It then drives over many zombies before becoming mired in a mass of them.

Survivors inside the truck shoot various zombies, while one takes a chainsaw and cuts into and through various zombies (with graphically bloody and gory results, including severing of limbs, etc.).

A propane tank is shot, resulting in a massive explosion that takes out many zombies.

A chainsaw accidentally lands on a survivor's shoulder, graphically cutting down through her body (with very bloody results).

A truck crashes and turns over on its side.

Zombies jump on a man.

Ana shoots a new zombie and then others as well (with bloody results).

A zombie bites a man.

A truck smashes into cars, through a fence and then into various boats.

A survivor is killed, while a big explosion takes out more zombies. Others are shot.

More zombies are shot and survivors attacked during flash images seen in the closing credits.

Reviewed March 16, 2004 / Posted March 19, 2004

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