Nah. He does not know what to emphasize stuff and when to be subtle. That's why the over-the-top silly movies like 300 worked because there was no need for subtlety. Give him a human story and he will butcher it like he's trying to perform delicate surgery with a chainsaw.
@@TheLastSamurai813 true hah. Ken Foree is probably my favorite character from a zombie movie. The original just had a more natural realistic feel to it.
Yes, kind of, the DVD has a Bonus Feature of an in-universe news channel covering the first few days. I wish it was all the new channels, but that would be like a movie in itself.
I still remember when I first saw this movie, I was like around 4 or maybe 5 years old at the time and somebody borrowed this film for a get-together movie night, I remember being too young and not understand why bloody people on TV are attacking and eating people, and then my dad say those bloddy people are "sick", and it striked me, the idea of some infectious disease making people into blood thirsty cannibals just deeply fascinated me when I was literally way too young for this kind of stuff, I became a big zombie fan ever since, and this film still is one of if not my favorite zombie film of all time.
The problem with the island theory was shown in Land of the Dead when the zombies just walked through the lake/sea. They're dead. The don't breathe. If they don't breathe they don't have much air so they sink. They can then just walk across the sea bed.
Corpses _float._ This is a universally understood fact, the reason for the "dead walking on the ocean floor" trope is that both George Romero and Max Brooks saw _Curse of the Black Pearl_ (which, fair, it's a great movie) and didn't understand this is just artistic license for the sake of a dramatic shot.
For someone who reviews all of these different styles of zombie movies, I’d love to see a video from you talking about what you’d do in a zombie apocalypse scenario. For example places you would hide out vs places you’d avoid, types of weapons you’d use, if you’d be in a large group or a small group or even solo, etc
PS: The mall carpark might have been empty if the outbreak really kicked into gear in the early hours of the morning, like 3 to 4am and people mostly didn't realise until they started leaving their houses in the morning unless they were broken into.
5:41 - you’re correct this is a great moment by Snyder. But that quote is from the original Dawn of the Dead as is the preacher on TV - he’s one of the remaining survivors from the original
Its just not based on other writing. Its purely based on big IPs. Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen, Batman V Superman. When its his writing, like Army of the Dead, that movie with the crazy chick, rebel moon, oh boy, its bad.
"The movie ends on this really depressing note..." oh cuz the original where the 2 survivors get off in the helicopter with less than half a tank of fuel & no guarantee for survival, just the words "we'll see" is super fucking sunshine & rainbows
This movie kicks so much butt. It’s so exciting and fast paced. When I was a kid, this was the perfect zombie movie to own on dvd. The special features section was so much fun with Andy’s video diary and the news station broadcast
I think the ending was Zach telling everyone “the island idea won’t work guys!” . Like zombies is kind of the end all be all. TWD makes it great showing that NOWHERE is safe anymore
Ahh 2004 DOTD. I grew up obsessed with this movie. I know every line, every scene and had the special features like Andy's Tape and the fake News airing of the apocalypse. For what it is, this movie rocks. One of my favorites. Nothing is worse than running zombies.
please do an Army of the Dead breakdown! I think it's one of those films that if you turn your brain off its a fun watch; would love to see an analysis going over some of the discrepencies.
@Richardwho-vv5bh man I remember when I was 16 I hated day of the dead. I didnt appreciatehow dark and hopeless itnwas. I love it now tho def my 2nd fave behind dawn!
I’ve been a huge fan of the genre since I saw the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead in 1990 and Snyder’s Dawn remake is the second best remake of all of them and for those who don’t know, there’s several, a couple in “3D”, but Sid Haig saved them. I saw this one several times in the theater back in 2004
I found your channel yesterday. I appreciated your retrospectives on The Walking Dead. And I'll be watching for the rest of them. The bloat of these movies, I believe is at least partially due to the ease and low cost of making a them. I can't say why so many people like zombie/rabid people flicks. For me it harkens back to my youth in the 80's. The earliest memory I have of horror movies is Night of the Living Dead. So naturally I have a great deal of nostalgia every time I watch one of these movies. I'll also say this much too. I have recurring dream segments in which I find myself amongst a group of people trying to keep some dangerous horde outside (obviously these go back to Night of the Living Dead again). Though the threat isn't always zombies, sometimes they are dogs, sometimes they are bear, etc. The point is we are working to keep those things out. Inevitability it's a doomed endeavor because there is always some hapless idiot who doesn't realize the gravity of the situation we are in who lets the threat in and we are overwhelmed in the deluge. Then I wake. I don't know why I decided to talk about that here but I often wonder if anyone else has dreams like that. In anycase you got yourself a new subscriber.
A brief addendum to my comment- the special features on the dvd for Snyder's Dawn of the Dead (the mock news cast and Andy's vlog) were both entertaining and I watch them at least as often as I watched the movie itself.
I love this film. The original is obviously iconic but this is one of my favorite zombie movies ever. Shaun of the dead beinf my favorite. But thats slightly different cuz its very much a comedy horror but this film is just great.
A really good zombie flick that doesn't get brought up enough. As I recall, Snyder himself explained in a panel that as a first time director he was still learning just how much creative control he had over his film. This led to him compromising a lot with studio execs and toning back a few things that he originally wanted in the movie. I'm sure this had a lot to do with the film having it's own style compared to his future work. But I think he knocked this one out of the park and the movie was exactly what it needed to be.
Man this & 28 weeks later had the best opening zombie sequence in zombie movies! The fast running zombies freaked me out the zombie baby was terrifying especially in theaters for the 1st time! Definitely one of my fav zombie movies!
I consider this film the gold standard for the zombie genre. I remember doing yard work for almost a week straight, including on opening day, to convince my dad to let me go and see it. I'm now 34 and have seen this movie well over 100x's. Still have the dvd with the special features, too!
the island ending was written like this as a reversal of the Romero's original's "hopeful" ending where they land and find peace on an island. James Gunn is famously edgy and in that period he was especially so. That's the whole explanation really.
I remeber being 14 years old in middle school . A buddy of mine came telling everyone how great a movie this was . So me and a group of friends with no money sneaked in to see this movie in the theatre that night , and since tjat day i havnt yet to see a better zombie movie ever period.
I’d love for you to make a video on Army of the Dead. I definitely enjoyed it. It’s not high art or anything, but I think it’s a fun watch. Also, it has the actor for John Dorie from FTWD in it (my favorite character in that show), so that helps
Dude says he's a "big fan of the Zombie genre" but it took him until 2 months ago to acknowledge one of the most influential and best "modern" zombie movies ever made. Like literally everyone, even my grandma, knows about how good this movie is.
I highly encourage any fan of this film to check out a DVD with the special features. It has three awesome additions: 1.) Feature Commentary: Pretty self-explanatory, you can watch the film with commentary provided by Snyder himself alongside Eric Newman (the producer). This is incredibly entertaining and I can honestly say it's the only film I've ever bothered to watch the whole way through with commentary other than LOTR's Extended Edition. Snyder and Newman have this sort of self-deprecating introspective humor to them about the film and what it represented as a project. They actually remark on a lot of the same things Thrifty does, insofar as how improbable the headshots were or how absurd the "Gangster vs. Granny" gunfight was. They also comment on some "paths not taken" as far as ideas they had but scrapped, etc. 2.) Special Report: This is great. You know how the opening credits of the remake has that cool Johnny Cash montage with the broadcasts and whatnot? Imagine an entire short fan film dedicated to that premise. Special Report is essentially an in-universe lore addition to the film following a 24-hour news broadcast that begins shortly after the first outbreak(s). The main character is a news anchor who steadily becomes more and more haggard as the hours tick by and the situation outside becomes more bleak. In between the reports he personally delivers to the audience, clips are broadcast from affiliates across the globe showing the chaos of unfolding outbreaks, the Secretary of Defense announcing the enactment of martial law at a press conference, or one neat video where a group of tactical instructors show civilians how to defend themselves from the zombies. 3.) Andy's Last Days: They got Andy's actor from the film to reprise his role for this. The premise is simple: Andy had a video camera in the gun store with him and basically did a one-man vlog of his experience during the outbreak from his own perspective.
2 things Zak Snyder did for the zombie genre: He made it scarier with the running zombies and added realism. He also made it funner, with all the games they play and how they keep themselves entertained in an abandoned mall in an apocalypse.
This film to me is one of my top favourite zombie movies. Such a good film. It’s a shame we don’t get more like this. The early 00s was good for it. 👍 One of the best remakes ever. It didn’t copy the original, it did it’s own thing while still respecting Romero. Such a brilliant zombie movie.
You know, I watched this film recently and had the thought that, were it set in today’s day and age, they could’ve just flew some food and water plus a walkie over to Andy with a drone.
I remember first time watching this on dvd and i enjoyed it it was at a time where i didnt care who wrote it on the dvd they show the steps of the different stages of zombification process
It does make sense about the island. There would have been other people that had the same "escape to an island idea," like you said. In my headcannon some people were infected, and it spread.
i think one of the best things with this film, especially having watched the original, is just hgow many wo0nderful homages it puts in, like the preacher being played by a protagonist of the original, and tom savini, the makeup guy for the originals being the "shoot them in the head" guy
Thrifty doing a video on my favorite zombie movie ever? Poggers. I'm serious, I cannot begin to explain to you how much backrent this movie owes me for taking space in my brain. I don't know how or why it does, but it does - ever since I first watched it 20 years ago now. It's actually a running joke among my friends whenever I host a groupwatch to ask, "are we watching Dawn of the Dead again?" and ya know, sometimes, the answer is yes :3 Sorry for this sloppy comment, it's more just a jumble of ideas as I watched the video: - I love how quickly the apocalypse just... HAPPENS in this film. One day, every thing is fine (with signs that things are starting/happening in other places) and then the next day, it's all come crashing down. That is so ridiculously fast and unrealistic, but it's great. - Ty Burrell may be Phil Dunphy to everyone else, but he'll always be Steve Marcus to me
I really liked this remake, possibly better then the original. Although these type of movies are made for entertainment, like it was mentioned, not to look to deep into things, but here's something I have never seen a zombie movie address. The biggest threat to survivors of a zombie apocalypse wouldn't be the zombies or the other survivors...the biggest threat would be mosquitoes. The mosquitoes would be feeding off the dead, what would happened if they bite a survivor...wouldn't that have the same effects as being scratched or bitten by a zombie..???
Mosquitos don't have any reason to bite a dead person; for one, their blood isn't flowing, so there are no chemicals/hormones circulating to attract them, and two, they track us by the carbon dioxide we exhale, and zombies don't breathe. The big issue is vermin gnawing on the corpses and then contaminating food sources.
The Televangelist guy in this movie was also one of the main cast in the 1978 Dawn of the Dead movie. He's not just "passing" a message to the audience.
I love Romero's Dawn of the Dead but the Dawn of the Dead remake is my favorite zombie movie of all time. It scared the shit out of me when I was a kid.
On the topic of what a zombie is: There is a great zombie movies anthology called "Book of the Dead" J. Russell (2005) which is a bit dated but still shows how the zombie developed as a figure in cinema. For example Night of the Living Dead is mentioned as the first movie with flesh eating zombies. Before Night there was no cannibalism im zombie movies. In the 1950s 'zombies' where caused by radiation while in the 1990s zombies are often either magical or a result of a viral infection. Conclusion: The zombie is a trope that changed over time and can have different attributes (slow/fast, cannibal/'just' murderous, caused by virus/ magic/radiation/ funggus aso). It nevertheless can be argued that it is still a zombie nonetheless.
What’s funny is the only reason they had an idea to leave their comfy, fortifiable, stocked mall is because Kenneth made a speech about not having to die in a mall. WHY THE HECK NOT?? They could have waited a while and see what could have happened. Entertaining film though
From what i understand, they didn't try to rescue andy using the truck or the sewers at first and instead used the dog because it was simply less risky for them. Risk the dog instead of themselves, makes sense to me (tough poor doggy i would never have the courage to do that to one of my pets even knowing the zombies would not attack them). And in the end it is kinda proven that they were right, going by themselves end up with screwwing them over. Of course, if they had done that at first instead of doing it after sending the dog, rushing and such, it may have worked fine but we dont know that, in the end it did make sense to me in the context of the movie why they tried sending the dog first. If anything, the way the zombies get in the store after the dog goes in is the real stretch, but even then, it's not that big of a deal, to me at least.
There is a short film that tells Andy(Gun Shop guy) perspective, and another short film by the perspective of a reporter. You might want to check those out.
The only valid Tier list I keep seeing is 1: Shaun of the Dead 2: Dawn of the Dead (2004) 3: Dawn of the Dead (1978) 4: World War Z 5: 28 Days/Weeks Later (not a zombie movie but people count it)
Snyder is a pretty underrated director actually. It always annoys me that the constant focus of everyone's criticism of him is always his DCEU films, it's unfair. The man made the live action Watchmen film, which is goated. Also, your taste in zombie films are very basic. I recommend a few Lucio Fulci zombie films for a more broader palette.
The ending was perfect, by that i meam the end credit scence. They're supposed to be paranormal zombies, that's why there's a lot of references to religion in the film. Its supposed to be a real end of the world scenario. They can't be "just infected" like some people think, theres a still moving head in the found footage.
The movie is good but you are right, if falls apart in the last act after been so consistent with the writing they just throw everything out of the window
Sailing into the sunset was the original ending. You can thank/blame test audiences for the "found footage" in the credits and that island ending where maybe everyone dies that was shot later after test audiences did their thing.
I once read a review stating "The opening scene of Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead promises a much better movie (and career) than the one that followed." 😬 ouch
They would’ve survived for a long time had they just made spears and stabbed each zombie in the head on like the second floor where the zombies can’t reach but still gives you enough space to stab each one. Not only would it be effective, but they would’ve been able to get the guy guy out and get all his weapons and just survive in the mall.
Didn't Netflix take over the newer movie and ruin it? That's what my buddy said. He said they were making the sequel to dawn of the dead and then Netflix stepped in and took over the script and changed it completely, sending the protagonists of the sequel home with the finger. Is that true?
28 days isnt a zombie movie,....fight me!!!!!! lol love your video dude. I'm a huge zombie fans and find zombie books way better then almost all zombie films
28 Days later is a zombie movie. It was literally created with the intent of having zombies in it when you research it’s development. The “infected” are merely a variation of the zombie idea (The Last of Us, Zombieland, Left 4 Dead, World War Z, etc.) You can deny it all you want. You can fight it all you want, but infected are considered to be zombies these days.
This backhanded praise vid is perplexing. In my feed ? Compelled to point out the walking dead 2010 was similar to this 2004 flim. Not the other way around. The walking dead was days of our lives.
I hate the hate for zack snider i love his style just because hes making snider cuts for everything doesnt mean he is bad director he has still bad great film justice league is one of the best supehero films same with the trilogy of superman dceu pne of the best trilogies even tho i havent seen alot he also dorected 300 watchmen and even if rebel moon is bad the snider cut will probably be goated
Looking forward to your thoughts on Army of the Dead, It was extremely disappointing compared to the Dawn Remake ,which I consider to be one of the best Zombie movies ever made.
I agree with you basically on everything, especially the post-credits scene, which to me was a kind of slap in the face to anyone who wanted to make a sequel with these characters (NOPE!). I really found it mean-spirited and kind of hated it, which was disappointing because I'd enjoyed the movie up till then.
Zack and Gunn have a really good relationship because of this movie it's probably why zack was glad that Gunn was the one who got to be in charge of the dceu now
Omg I remember this. Saw it when I was still a child and the night I watched it, cuz the family had put it on (I had no choice in the matter), I couldn’t sleep from terror. And it was at a time when it was like four people sleeping on the same mattress so it’s not like I was alone either. I never knew the name of the movie and only that it existed and haunted my dreams and certain scenes I remember vividly just because of how horrified it left me as young kid.
