Dawn of the Dead (2004) watch online HD

When Ving Rhames heard of a remake of Dawn of the Dead (1978) was in production, he tracked down producers to be in the film.

For the scene where Ana stitches Kenneth's wounds, the director hired a real nurse for the close-ups. She misunderstood the director's directions to go deeper and inadvertently punctured Ving Rhames' skin and stitched the prosthesis to his arm. He didn't say anything until after the scene was done filming and the director thought the blood was merely "a really good effect".

Although he had strong reservations about some elements, George A. Romero professed to be surprisingly impressed with the film.

The two zombies with missing limbs (the jogger missing an arm and the legless zombie in the parking garage) were both played by actual amputees. The same thing was done for one of the first zombies seen in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978).

While they are stocking up on ammunition in the gun store, the music from the gun store in the original film can be heard playing very lightly in the background.

Director Zack Snyder personally chose most of the music used in the film. His choices included "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash, and Richard Cheese's cover of Disturbed's "Down With the Sickness". Snyder was the only person who thought these songs should be in the film, as most of the producers were against it.

Some of the trucks outside the mall are from the same company, B.P. Trucking, that loaned them to the production of the original 1978 film. This is incorrect, as B&P Trucking went bankrupt soon after the 1978 films release. Also, B&P stood for Baltimore & Pittsburgh, a company fairly local to the original films Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The logo that appears on the trucks in Dawn of the Dead (2004) actually says B.P., as researchers for the film probably couldn't make out the small "&" in the B&P logo when they were recreating the logo as an easter egg for the 2004 film. Keep in mind, visually superior renderings of the 1978 film such as blu-ray and 4K UHD were not yet created, so the B&P logo would have been fairly obscure.

A lot of the actors playing zombies were carrying remotes in their hand to discharge a blood cannon placed on their back. This would activate an explosion of blood behind them, to simulate the effect of a gunshot to the head.

Shot in chronological order.

Different colors of blood were used for zombies in different stages of decomposition: red for the recently dead, a browner version for the ones that have been dead for a few weeks; and a blacker, oilier version for the ones that have been dead for a considerable period of time.

In an aerial scene in the first 10 minutes when Ana is driving down a highway, a truck can be seen crashing into a gas station/diner. This is a reference to Night of the Living Dead (1968), as Ben mentions he was listening to a radio in a truck in a diner parking lot when a truck crashed into the gas pumps.

The commercial on the TV when it switches to the "special report" near the beginning of the film is a commercial for a Subaru WRX that Zack Snyder directed.

Actors Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Tom Savini all appeared in the original 1978 version of this film, but playing different characters. Ken Foree delivers the tagline he delivered as "Peter" from the 1978 version of Dawn of the Dead; "When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth."

One of the most gruesome "zombies" (the bloated woman killed with a fireplace poker) was actually played by played by Ermes Blarasin who Newman first met when Blarasin was serving as Chris Farley's stunt double on Tommy Boy.

Some of the video clips in the opening credits were actual stock news footage, such as the scene of a truck driving into a crowd of people.

One of the clothing stores in the mall is named "Gaylen Ross". Gaylen Ross played the part of Fran in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978).

Some of the camera crew would wear plastic sheeting during the filming of some of the gorier scenes, due to the amount of fake blood flying around.

Universal significantly slashed the film's budget after the failure of House of the Dead (2003), fearing there was no public appetite for zombie movies.

With an opening weekend take of $26.7 million, "Dawn of the Dead" recouped its $28 million budget in its first 3 days of release.

The WGON traffic copter makes an appearance. The WGON traffic copter was the main transportation for the survivor in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978).

Zack Snyder said that the reason his zombies run at full speed is because he wanted to avoid the inherent comic impression given by slow, shuffling undead.

By the end of production, 3000 zombie make-up effects had been created.

Most of the zombie makeup was modeled after real and gruesome forensic photos.

Title designer Kyle Cooper used actual human blood when designing the film's opening and closing credit sequences.

According to director Zack Snyder, Starbucks Coffee refused to be featured in the film.

This is the first movie to broadcast the first ten minutes uncut on network TV, five days before its nationwide release. The showing was broadcast on the USA network, and on Channel 4 in the UK with a special introduction by film critic (and major horror fan) Mark Kermode.

Zack Snyder's directorial debut.

Make-up designer David LeRoy Anderson scoured forensic books and crime scene photos for ideas on how best to convey death and decay.

Nathan Fillion auditioned for the role of Michael.

According to the director's commentary, when you see the shot of the truck exploding after crashing into the gas station, the helicopter in the sky is a shot from the original that was added in post-production.

The production had a blood cart on set all day due to the excessive amounts of fake blood being used.

As many as 50 make-up artists would be working on transforming actors into zombies for the days that required crowd scenes.

The name of Ving Rhames' character, Kenneth, is an obvious nod to actor Ken Foree, who played a very similar role in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978).

The "video" shots shown in the final credits were not shot in Toronto. This ending was added after filming was complete and was shot at Catalina Island, California.

Ving Rhames was always first choice for the part of Kenneth.

A veteran of largely independent films, Sarah Polley was surprised at how physical her role turned out to be. She said she had never run so much in any of her previous movies.

The DVD box text implies that the cause of the zombie plague is a virus. But in an interview on FeoAmante.com screenwriter James Gunn denies the virus theory, stating that a zombie bite is like a vampire bite. Thus the plague is supernatural, not scientific. However some vampire movies suggest that vampirism is a disease caused by a virus. For example, the Blade Trilogy.

Tom Savini, who played the leader of the motorcycle gang in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978) has a cameo here as the County Sheriff being interview shortly after the security guards give Ana and her group refuge upstairs in the mall.

In the opening scene, where Ana is driving with an overhead view, and the two cars collide to hit the gas pump, a helicopter is seen flying through the air. This is a replica of the helicopter used in the original Dawn of the Dead (1978).

An extra on the DVD release for this film, "We interrupt this program", a fake newscast depicting the start and spread of the zombie infection, contains some characters whose dialog consists of lines from the original Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Night of the Living Dead (1968).

The scene between Sarah Polley (Ana), Mekhi Phifer (Andre), Jayne Eastwood (Norma), and Kim Poirier (Monica) at the Hallowed Grounds Café was re-written in order to include actress Kim Poirier to give her more screen time since director Zack Snyder and producer Eric Newman enjoyed her performance so much. However, her character's name is never once mentioned throughout the entire film. Also most unfortunate, a lot of her dialog scenes were trimmed or eliminated from the film, such as the dinner scene.

The movie trailer shows Andre checking the mall entrance when several zombies attack the outer doors. This scene was replaced in the film with a subdued version showing only one frail-looking zombie pouncing on the glass door. However, the clip used in the theatrical trailer is available for viewing on the DVD and has director commentary explaining why he changed the scene.

The group in the mall had named the two parking shuttles; the first one, holding Nicole, CJ, Michael, and Ana was named The Pinta, the one carrying Terry, Kenneth, Steve, Glen and Monica was named The Santa Maria.

Writer James Gunn claims he received a massive amount of fan backlash (even death threats) when assigned to the film. Most of the hate messages claimed "the hack who wrote the Scooby-Doo movies shouldn't be in charge of Dawn of the Dead".

When developing the script, the producers had Diane Lane in mind to play Ana.

The name Wooley's Diner comes from the name of the SWAT team leader in the original film.

The ending of the movie continues throughout the credits by a series of brief video clips.

The mall scenes of the film as well as the rooftop scenes were shot in the Thornhill Square Shopping Centre in Thornhill, Ontario and the rest of the scenes were shot in the Aileen-Willowbrook Neighborhood of Thornhill, and the Township of Caledon East, Ontario. The set for Ana and Louis's bedroom was constructed in a back room of the mall. The mall was defunct, which is the reason the production used it; the movie crew completely renovated the structure, and stocked it with fictitious stores after Starbucks Coffee and numerous other corporations refused to let their names be used (two exceptions to this are Roots and Panasonic). Most of the mall was demolished shortly after the film was shot. The highway in the overhead composite shot of Ana driving past the exploding gas station is HWY 50, one kilometer south of Bolton, Ontario. The Crossroads Mall is a small strip-mall at the intersection of HWY 9 and HWY 27 just north of Caledon East. The second converted mall shuttle (with the fire damage) was shipped out of Bolton in the summer of 2006.

The word "zombie" is never used in the film. However, the unrated, Special Edition DVD contains the word in the back-cover text describing the film's plotline.

The first scene in the basement finishes when Michael burns the zombies with fuel from the gas station and CJ's lighter. This is a reference to a similar scene in George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968).

This was due to be released in the UK in the same week as the similar Shaun of the Dead (2004). UIP elected to push back the latter's release date for 2 weeks.

The music playing in the mall when the survivors first arrive is a variation of Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry Be Happy".

Visible in Luda's room is a can of something called "Smeat" - a takeoff on Spam. Smeat had previously appeared in Waterworld (1995). The Smeat can here is circular, however - in Waterworld, the cans were rectangular, like Spam cans.

Sarah Polley was the first choice to play Ana.

The cause of the dead returning to life is not completely explained in the film. On the back of the DVD box, it is said to be a virus.

An exchange between Kim Poirier (Monica) and Lindy Booth (Nicole) about Nicole playing with the dog more than she is helping was eliminated from the film in order to avoid making Kim Poirier's character sound "too bitchy."

Though it was never specified in the movie, the character of Glen (R.D. Reid) supposedly died of a broken neck.

Towards the end of the movie, when the survivors get into an elevator to escape the zombies, they all go quiet and Muzak can be heard. C.J. smiles and says, "I like this song." The song is a version of Air Supply's "All Out Of Love."

40 minutes shorter than George A. Romero's original director's cut for Dawn of the Dead (1978).

David Cronenberg's sister, Denise Cronenberg, was the costume designer on this film.

According to the director, Zack Snyder, on the DVD commentary he states that Scott Frank and Michael Tolkin both did uncredited rewrites on the script.

This is, as of 2018, the only film Zack Snyder has directed at a studio other than Warner Bros.

Lindy Booth (Nicole) and Kevin Zegers (Terry) previously played love interests the year before in the movie Wrong Turn (2003).

A UK MTV Host, Alex Zane, is featured during the zombies' rampage through the mall. After interviewing Zack Snyder he was invited to be in the film, thus as we see the zombies running past the camera once they've entered the mall, he is clad in a bright white checkered shirt.

Former MTV/MTV2 VJ Iann Robinson has an uncredited cameo as a zombie. When first entering the mall, the group is charged by an Asian man-turned-zombie. The large zombie behind the Asian man is played by Robinson.

Members of Rue-Morgue Magazine, a Canadian-based publication had cameos as zombies in the film.

The movie premiere was hosted at the Beverly Centre Mall in Los Angeles, with cast and crew in attendance.

Ving Rhames came to them about starring in the film saying "I want to be in this movie because the black guy lives."

One of the invoices in "Andy's Gun Works" is made out to Nicholas Gazda who is the first assistant art director of this movie.

2 mins.) Synder pointed out in the neighborhood in the overhead shot, there's an entire row of homes with no road access, driveways just end at a fence of some kind, the helicopter didn't get the widest shot they wanted so they had to work something up in post-production.

Zombified Vivian (Lochner) does a little jump up from the ground after being pushed by Ana, and it was accomplished with some subtle wire work.

One of the stores' name in the mall is Metropolis. Zack Snyder went on to direct Man of Steel which takes place in the fictitious city of Metropolis.

Lindy Booth (Nicole) was portrayed as younger than Sarah Polley (Ana) even though they are of the same age

Sarah Polley and Jayne Eastwood both starred in Ramona (1988).

In a scene where the cast is in an elevator you can hear Air Supply's All Out of Love. James Gunn, who wrote the screenplay for Dawn of the Dead also directed Slither in 2006, and used Air Supply's Every Woman in the World as a major theme throughout the film.

The opening originally featured a transition from the Universal logo into the sun, but while Snyder loved it Newman reminded him that they needed to fit the Strike logo somewhere after Universal's.

The first scene in the movie is the first they shot. This was Snyder's first feature, and he assumed you just start on page one, "and they were like, no no, normally you shoot the last death scene first."

The off-screen character name "Dr. Dhandwar" is a nod to director Tarsem (The Fall) whose full name is Tarsem Singh Dhandwar.

The Old Milwaukee beer bottle actually contains fake beer. Newman says the only corporate sponsor interested in actual product placement was Panasonic. "People were like 'do we want to be in this movie where blood gets sprayed all over our thing? I don't think so,'" recalls Snyder.

Hannah Lochner plays the little blond girl who greets Ana (Polley) before attacking her the next morning, and Newman suggests she's destined to be a big star in Japan because "much of the Japanese marketing is around her which is kind of cool. They just love the idea of that little blond girl who will rip your throat out."

The swerving cop car that almost hits Ana's car actually almost hit the car. The fish-tailing back end wasn't planned.

The script is credited to James Gunn (Slither), but Newman adds that Scott Frank (Get Shorty) and Michael Tolkin (The Player) did some work on it as well.

Snyder did three takes of Ana's run to the car after being attacked by her husband, and Polley told him she ran more in just those three takes than in any of her full movies previous. He responded that she should get used to it.

The stores in the mall all have fake names, and Snyder's favorites are the book store called Bookmark and the coffee shop, Hallowed Grounds. They also named a department store Gaylen Ross after the actress from George Romero's original film.

The shot where they throw a wrapped body off the mall's roof was filmed across the street from a church funeral service.

They shot the blackout scene during an actual blackout. It was a coincidence, and they had generators.

Snyder isn't sure what to think about the shot of Nicole (Lindy Booth) checking out Terry's (Kevin Zegers) ass as he walks away from her. "It kind of makes me uncomfortable. She's looking at it, and smirking. What's that mean?"

They painted Bruce Bohne ribs, to make him look scrawnier and hungrier.

Newman asks where the mother was when they were pointing the handgun at the baby, and Snyder's response is a joke but feels truthful all the same. "She was there saying 'I love show business, and I want my baby to be a part of this.'"

At 1hr21mins.) Snyder points out a "funny sound", that entertains and eludes him. "I don't know what it is. it's either a seal, it sounds like a dolphin, I don't know what to this day I don't know what that is." He then proceeds to try and recreate it.

Some viewers question Nicole's decision to face zombies in an attempt to rescue the dog Chip, but at least one pop superstar agrees with her. "When I was talking to Christina Aguilera at the premiere she said 'I would have gone after that dog too! I was really nervous about the dog, and when I saw that Nicole was going after the dog I thought that's real!'"

The bit involving the dog that the survivors lower down to take food to Andy originally included the pooch being attacked by zombie dogs. It would have involved more dog training as well as CG mutts, and that just wasn't in the budgetary cards.

At 1hr 24mins.) Someone after a test screening questioned Snyder as to why/how the zombies pause at the bottom of the stairs, and it put him on the spot when they asked if the zombies could even do that. He replied, "in real life, no, but in film where you dramatize."

CJ's elevator line, "I like this song," was improvised. There wasn't even any music playing while they filmed it.

They're fond of the ending where Michael (Jake Weber) is left on the dock with one bite on his arm and one bullet in the chamber. "This is how you end a movie if you got a script you're writing, and you're wondering how you're gonna end it, and you don't want to sell out."

The end credits footage on the dock was shot in a "lake" area on the Universal Studio Tour.

Ana's car is a, 1993 Toyota Corolla DX [E100].

When Kenneth (Ving Rhames), CJ (Michael Kelly), Terry (Kevin Zegers), and Michael (Jake Weber) enter Andy's gun store to rescue Nicole (Lindy Booth), they find an unloaded Heckler & Koch USP laying on the bloody floor. This is presumed to be the gun Andy was using to fend off zombies while letting the dog Chips, outfitted with food, through a doggy door before being bitten and infected by a zombie

The two buses that they reinforce were, 2002 Ford E-350 Super Duty XLT's.

Burts revolver, is a Smith and Wesson model 13.

Norma (Jayne Eastwood) uses a Smith & Wesson Model 66 snub nose revolver. The weapon is also used by Ana.

During the fight to the gun store, CJ's hand is seen using a Smith & Wesson Model 66 "Non Gun" against a zombie at close range, temporarily replacing the Smith & Wesson Model 66 acquired from Norma. Later, while the survivors make their escape out of Milwaukee, Ana (Sarah Polley) uses the "Non Gun", also temporarily replacing the Smith & Wesson Model 66, to put a bullet into the head of a zombified Steve (Ty Burrell). This "Non Gun" was used because Polley was close to Burrell when shooting this scene, and at such close range, blanks can be considered unsafe, so a "non gun" was used. Monica (Kim Poirier) uses a 6 inch "Non Gun" revolver in the bus scene.

At the gun store, Kenneth packs a customized Remington 870 shotgun fitted with a magazine extension tube and Mossberg-style ghost ring sights (this is possible since some parts are easily swapped between Remington 870 and Mossberg 500 series shotguns).

During the dash to the truck, Kenneth's Police 870 turns into an Express Tactical model (as evidenced by the factory-extended 7-shot tube) with the same Surefire flashlight combination forend. This weapon is seen when the weapon is taken from Kenneth by encroaching zombies and more clearly in the extended version in a removed sequence of Kenneth shooting a zombie in the head at close-range.

CJ (Michael Kelly) is seen with a Smith & Wesson Model 27 .357 Magnum during his initial standoff with the other survivors. The revolver also is seen in the hands of Terry.

Tuckers shotgun is a, 12 gauge Mossberg 500 Cruiser with a pistol grip

Andy, the owner of the gun store across the street, is armed with a Winchester Model 70 fitted in a camouflage-painted stock with a folding bipod.

Kenneth uses a police issue Remington 870 shotgun, fitted with a Surefire flashlight attachment on the foregrip as his signature weapon.

When the survivors load up at the Andy's (Bruce Bohne) gun store, CJ (Michael Kelly) arms himself with a Franchi PA8 with a factory folding stock and high-capacity magazine tube, and uses it while they make their escape out of Milwaukee. From the report of the gun and the look of the wounds it inflicts, it seems he is using rifled slugs.

Ving Rhames character Kenneth has the surname Hall.

They're unsure who the guy playing the doctor with her is, but Snyder likes him. "He's really great though," says Snyder. "He sells this kind of doctor vibe that I love."

Sarah Polley and Louis Ferreira gave Snyder grief, over their shower scene saying that no one really kisses in the shower.

Zack Snyder: a member of a commando unit (with shades holding an assault weapon) in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, DC. This scene can be seen during the opening credits montage of video/news clips of zombie attacks.

For the graphic scene in which Monica is accidentally chainsawed to death, a full body cast was made of actress Kim Poirier which included a reloadable cartridge down the area that was to be chainsawed. This was then packed solid with bloodbags. This meant that the cartridge could be taken out and reloaded for each take.

The zombie baby scene was originally going to portray the baby killing the mother. It was altered due to its graphic nature.

When Andy meets his demise, it seems that his head explosion was a CGI constructed effect, however it was done using a prosthetic head, modeled on the actor, this can be seen on the director's cut DVD extras.

According to "the lost tape", which contains gun shop owner Andy's personal video diary (accessible as a bonus feature on the director's cut DVD), the main characters arrive at the mall early in the movie on May the 9th. Therefore, the movie opens a day earlier on May the 8th (Andy mentions that attacks on citizens by the undead had already started on the 7th). Andy makes his last entry just before he turns into one of the undead on June the 6th, and the movie ends on that same day (not including the footage during the end credits). This places the events of Dawn of the Dead in a space of just 29 days - and all the action between the credits begins and ends at dawn.