History Tearjerker / DawnOfTheDead2004

* The end of the DVD feature "We Interrupt This Program," with the reporter completely shell-shocked after spending all day covering the zombie outbreak, and tearfully telling his wife he's coming home. Even worse, he's played by Richard Biggs in his final role before his untimely death.

* Michael admitting he was best at being a father.

* Michael admitting he was best at being a father. Becomes crossed with AdultFear when you realize his kid(s) aren't with him.

* A meta example. Creator/JamesGunn, the screenwriter received death threats when he was announced that he would write the movie because he was known for writing the ''Film/ScoobyDoo'' [[Film/ScoobyDooMonstersUnleashed movies]] at the time.

* The scenes intercut with the credits implies an AllForNothing situation, for context: [[spoiler: The remaining survivors, Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, Chips, and Terry, land on an island, during which Chips runs off barking, then a horde of zombies starts running out the forest near the dock, last we see is Kenneth trying to HoldTheLine against them, Terry drops the camera, and then the next intercut scenes we see are just of the horde, while human screams are heard, implying they did not survive.]]

*** A literal ShootTheShaggyDogStory for Ludas' child, it was infected and born undead for all of a few minutes, both its mother and father were killed before the others killed it. If you listen closely before the undead child is killed, you can vaguely hear it speaking one word through the incoherent guttural screeching.

-->"[[FamousLastWords You want every single second...]]"

* The young girl zombie, Vivian, who ends up killing Louis. It’s even more tragic considering that Ana last saw her skating down the road merely hours before. It’s quite a shocker to say the least.
** There’s also her behaviour, because unlike many of the other infected, [[ItCanThink she seems to recognise them]], simply standing in the doorway, regarding the sight of Ana and Louis for a good ten to fifteen seconds before assaulting them and even responding to Louis calling her name. It really shows that there’s still fragments of what used to be a person in there, or worse, ''[[FateWorseThanDeath is]]'' [[TragicMonster still in there at least to an extent.]]

-->"I'm sorry, my brother..."
** Andy's entire ordeal, spending every day having to make sure the zombies don't get in his apartment, and trying to thin out the ranks with his massive supply of bullets only to find that the dead don't stop coming. And at the end, just as he's about to be rescued...

** Andy scrawling a final message on his billboard before going after Nicole definitely counts. He’s just turned after bleeding out from his bite wound, and the first thing he does is [[ItCanThink try to communicate with Kenneth and the others by trying to scrawl words onto the billboard in his own blood]], but all he ends up writing is a combination of blood smears and gibberish. It’s definitely clear taking all of that into account that [[AndIMustScream Andy’s still in there somewhere and is trying to reach out, but his mind has been too fried by the virus to do it.]] [[MercyKill Perhaps Kenneth blowing his brains out did Andy more of a favour than even he knew.]]

** Similarly, the news report shows [[Creator/TomSavini a sheriff]] overseeing the extermination of some zombies. The sheriff opens up and expresses how awful he feels to have to put down people he actually knew, including a real estate agent who sold him his house and a one night stand.

*** A literal ShootTheShaggyDogStory for Ludas' child, it was infected and born undead for all of a few minutes, both its mother and father were killed before the others killed it. If you listen closely before the undead child is killed, you can vaguely hear it speaking one word through the incoherent gutteral screeching.

* Glen accidentally [[spoiler: Killing himself and Monica]] just due to a bump in the road making a chainsaw go wild. The fact that this also results [[spoiler: the crash of the bus and all of the deaths that follow]] just make this moment sadder.

* The scenes intercut with the credits implies an AllForNothing situation, for context: [[spoiler: The remaining survivors, Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, Chips and Terry, land on an island, during which Chips runs off barking, then a horde of zombies starts running out the forest near the dock, last we see is Kenneth trying to HoldTheLine against them, Terry drops the camera, and then the next intercut scenes we see are just of the horde, while human screams are heard, implying they did not survive.]]

*** A literal ShootTheShaggyDogStory for Michael and Ludas' child, it was infected and born undead for all of a few minutes, both its mother and father were killed before the others killed it. If you listen closely before the undead child is killed, you can vaguely hear it speaking one word through the incoherent gutteral screeching.

** If you listen closely before the undead child is killed, you can vaguely hear it speaking one word through the incoherent gutteral screeching.

* Michael's death. Ana's reaction and the music make it worse.

* The young girl zombie who ends up killing Louis. It’s even more tragic considering that Ana last saw her skating down the road merely hours before. It’s quite a shocker to say the least.

** There’s also her behaviour, because unlike many of the other infected, [[ItCanThink she seems to recognise them]], simply standing in the doorway, regarding the sight of Ana and Louis for a good ten to fifteen seconds before assaulting them and even responding to Louis calling her name. It really shows that there’s still fragments of what used to be a person in there, or worse, ''[[FateWorseThanDeath is]]''[[TragicMonster still in there at least to an extent.]]

* Michael's death.

** Even worse, the "family" includes Luda and her ''unborn child'', who were '''both''' ''infected and now undead''.

-->"[[FamousLastWords You want every single second...]]

* Michael admitting he was best at being a father. Becomes crossed with AdultFear when you realize his child(ren) aren't with him.

* The end of the DVD feature "We Interrupt This Program," with the reporter completely shell-shocked after spending all day covering the zombie outbreak, and tearfully telling his wife he's coming home. Even worse, he's played by Richard Biggs in his final role before his untimely death.

-->"I'm sorry, my brother..."

* Nicole having a final moment with her dad before he dies and reanimates as a zombie and is shot by Kenneth.