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Dawn of the Dead | 2004 | R | - 6.10.8

Horror flick about a strange plague that results in millions of corpses walking around as blood-thirsty zombies who make even more zombies by attacking the uninfected. A small group of survivors tries to find shelter in a shopping mall, not realizing that just like everybody else, zombies like hanging out at the mall. With Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Michael Barry and Lindy Booth. Directed by Zack Snyder. [1:40]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A man and a woman have sex: he thrusts from behind as she leans over a sink, and her bare breasts are visible and her bare buttocks. A man and a woman who are married kiss and caress each other in a shower (we see them through a sheer shower curtain and their bare buttocks and her bare breast are evident). A woman climbs on top of, and kisses her husband in bed. A young man and a young woman flirt and lie on a sleeping bag together. A young woman's top is low-cut and exposes cleavage. We see a man in his boxer shorts and T-shirt.

VIOLENCE/GORE 10 - Zombies are people who have been killed by other zombies and after a few minutes of being dead are re-animated and feed on other non-zombies. The zombies appear mutilated in various ways, with dried blood, open wounds, missing limbs, blue-tinged skin, darkened veins, opaque eyes, missing or contorted features, and many have blood in their mouths and they screech and howl. Zombies do die, really die, when shot or stabbed in the head. A man is bitten on the neck by a zombie, flesh is pulled away and blood spurts and sprays, he thrashes and yells, blood continues to gush, and he dies. A woman stitches up a wound on a man's arm; his arm is very bloody and we see the needle poking into and out of his flesh. A zombie re-animates, lunges at a woman, throws furniture around the room, the woman leaps into the bathroom slamming the door behind her, she tries to open the window, the zombie breaks the door and grabs her leg as she climbs out the window. A woman with a bloody nose and eye and a bloody arm wound dies (her mouth gapes open as she takes her last breath, she re-animates and charges after a woman who pokes her through the eye with a fireplace poker; we see the zombie dead on the ground with a pool of blood collecting under her head). A man approaches a door having heard noises, he opens it and finds a zombie eating the intestines of a corpse (both are covered with blood and we see the corpse's intestines); the zombie lunges at the man, they struggle and fight on the floor, and the man stabs the zombie through the chin and up through the head with a stick. A man with a saw accidentally cuts a woman from the shoulder down the chest (we see the blade cutting into the flesh, see blood spray and hear her scream). A pregnant woman dies, her tummy moves, she re-animates, snaps and snarls at a man who puts a belt across her mouth, blood sprays from between her legs, and presumably a baby is born. A man in a bus tries to keep zombies away by shooting them, they keep coming, two bite him (we see bloody flesh and blood spurting), and he shoots the bus gas tank causing a large explosion. A zombie (missing his legs below the knees) jumps on a man's back and bites his neck, many other zombies gather, push the man to the ground and they all feed on him. A man is attacked by a zombie, they fight, a woman shoots the zombie in the arm and it twitches and thrashes until someone else shoots it in the head (we see the back of the zombie head and other matter spray out). A zombie is shot and killed, a man shoots the woman who shot the zombie, the woman shoots the man, and the woman spits blood and gasps. A woman shoots a zombie in the head, and he is knocked back against a bus. People surrounded by a fence shoot at many zombies, and they spray them with gasoline and set them on fire (we see them engulfed in flames, still moving). A baby zombie screeches and snarls and we hear a gunshot (apparently the baby was shot). A man with a bite wound stands on a dock, the camera pans away and we hear a gunshot (he presumably killed himself). People talk about shooting a man who has a bite on his hand, he begins to turn gray, he dies, and we hear a screech and a gunshot. A zombie's head is shot off (we see the head separate at the mouth and hear a splatter). A man is attacked by zombies, he falls down a manhole and we hear his legs break, zombies follow, many are shot, they begin attacking the man and he begs to be shot -- another man shoots him. A little girl stands in a doorway with blood on her nightgown, and as she steps into the light we see that her mouth is missing, exposing her teeth, bloody gums and bloody flesh on her face. Two buses charge through crowds of zombies who climb on the buses, they are cut in half and limbs are severed by saws from inside the bus (blood splatters and sprays); they are also shot, and a propane tank is ignited causing a large explosion that knocks them to the ground briefly. A dog is lowered into a throng of zombies, runs across a road and through a door (it is unharmed). A woman escapes an attack and runs to her car, she is held at gunpoint by a man, a zombie jumps onto the windshield of the car as she pulls away and punches the windshield breaking it, she speeds away and the zombie falls onto the road. A woman is attacked by two zombies: we see her on a bus as she kicks her feet and screams and the zombies hold her down. We hear on a two-way radio that a man has been bitten and is infected, and we hear a young woman scream as the man (now a zombie) approaches her. There are many scenes of zombies charging toward people and the people shoot them with guns (we see a lot of blood splattering and brain matter shooting out of the backs of their heads). Zombies jump onto a speeding truck, the driver shoots them with a gun and we see them splatter and fall onto the ground. A zombie twitches on the ground and a man talks about having to "shoot them in the head to kill them." A zombie slams against a glass door and smears blood on the glass (we see his bloody and disfigured face). We see the remains of a zombie in a cooler, and it snarls and gurgles. Zombies are put in a pile and burned (on a TV news report). We see many scenes of riots, buildings in flames, police endeavoring to contain the zombies and panicking people. An ambulance runs over a zombie, and a truck runs down many zombies (we see blood stains on the truck after every hit). Two men hold guns on people, one of the people punches one of the gunmen, and the guns are taken away from them. People are startled when they see something in the shadows of a dark parking garage and hear a whimper. Two men hold guns on people coming off an elevator. A man holds a gun on a woman, and a man shoots at a man. We see an X-ray of a human skull. We see maggots slithering on stale food. We hear radio reports of civil unrest. We hear that a man was admitted to the hospital after having been bitten.

LANGUAGE 8 - 39 F-words and its derivatives, 3 sexual references, 31 scatological terms, 16 anatomical terms, 17 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for homosexuals, 1 religious profanity, 13 religious exclamations.

SUBSTANCE USE - People are shown smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Zombies, plagues, civil unrest, second chances, being judged, making up for past indiscretions, grief, suicide.

MESSAGE - Some evil is hard to escape.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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