History Film / DawnOfTheDead2004

* AnArmAndALeg: While first breaking into the mall, the survivors spot a seemingly normal Asian man walking around the corner. He then turns around, revealing that he's actually a zombie with his left arm missing.

* SequelHook: Featured, though a sequel now seems unlikely. The remake of ''Film/DayOfTheDead2008'' is '''not''' a sequel despite the return of Creator/VingRhames in a different role, which seems to be the case for most of the Romero movies.

* SecretStabWound: Andre hid the fact that [[spoiler:his wife was zombie bitten.]]

** Anything related with the chainsaw. It's a zombie movie, so it's going to be super-effective, right? [[spoiler: Wrong. Not only it barely works for its intended role (the zombies just ignore being cut, while it takes some extra effort to do so), but it gets majority of people in one of the buses killed either directly or by causing a fatal crash]].
** Since Steve is the only person that owns a yacht and presumably [[spoiler: knows how to sail, once he's dead, the remaining people end up using only motor propulsion, with no clue how to operate a sailing vessel, which is a bit more complex than "put the engine on and steer in the desired direction". So not only they are clueless about using their biggest advantage of sails, they also quickly run out of gas and are semi-stranded]].

* RuleOfScary: Invoked. The reason what's the cause of the zombie outbreak is never given.

* RegretEatingMe: Knowing fully he's screwed already, [[spoiler: C.J. decides to become a live bait and then detonates the propane tanks inside the bus]].

* RandomEventsPlot: Pretty much all events and set-pieces within the story happen at random and characters are reduced only to reacting to them. Plans rarely reach fruition and is so - they have to be hastly adjusted.

* NoAntagonist: There is no actual antagonist in this version of ''Dawn''. The bikers from [[Film/DawnOfTheDead1978 the original]] are AdaptedOut, any conflict between the people in the mall is resolved in the first act, while the zombies are more of a force of nature (and safely outside the mall itself from the get-go) than anything that can be treated as antagonists. The closest to an antagonist is Steve, who's selfishness and cowardice imperils the other survivors several times, and [[spoiler: Andre, who goes insane after Luda dies and reanimates.]]

** Steve's only real usefulness to the crew is that he owns a boat. Aside from that, absolutely nothing, really. [[spoiler: Worse, him leaving the doors unguarded is what leads to a hasty, premature escape from the mall leads ultimately to few people dying, Steve included]].

** A DeletedScene in the film proper has a fully nude blonde woman walking past Anna's car in the highway, but it's unclear if she's a zombie, a ZombieInfectee, or just under shock.

** Even the untrained civilians are able to headshot running targets with amazing accuracy, often while running themselves, wounded, in the dark.

A living human attempts to carjack her vehicle, causing her to panic, drive off the road, crash into a tree, and knock herself unconscious. When she awakens, she meets up with a police officer by the name of Kenneth, and then a small group of survivors more-or-less led by jack-of-all-trades Michael (Creator/JakeWeber). They all break into a nearby shopping mall, where they are confronted by a trio of mall security guards, led by the surly C.J. Via binoculars and dry-erase boards, they also "meet" gun-store owner Andy (, who is stranded alone in his shop across the mall's zombie-infested parking lot. The guards are eventually disarmed, and some more survivors are let into the mall. For a while, the group wallows in the mall's materialism, but the situation finally deteriorates to the point where the group decides to reinforce a pair of parking shuttles, drive to the local marina and escape out to an island on Lake Michigan.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Anything related with the chainsaw. It's a zombie movie, so it's going to be super-effective, right? [[spoiler: Wrong. Not only it barely works for its intended role (the zombies just ignore being cut, while it takes some extra effort to do so), but it gets majority of people in one of the buses killed either directly or by causing a fatal crash]].
** Since Steve is the only person that owns a yacht and presumably [[spoiler: knows how to sail, once he's dead, the remaining people end up using only motor propulsion, with no clue how to operate a sailing vessel, which is a bit more complex than "put the engine on and steer in the desired direction". So not only they are clueless about using their biggest advantage of sails, they also quickly run out of gas and are semi-stranded]].

* WithinArmsReach: Michael kills a zombie by plunging a baseball bat that he's dropped through its skull.

* ZombieInfectee: Zigzagged. Michael does not bother to hide his wounds, and the two bite-victims that arrive in the truck can't. Played straight with [[spoiler:Luda]].

* ZombieGait: Averted with zombies who sprint when chasing their prey. Later played straight because the more decayed ones eventually slow down due to their decomposition.
* ZombieInfectee: Zigzagged. Michael does not bother to hide their wounds, and the two bite-victims that arrive in the truck can't. Played straight with [[spoiler:Luda]].

* AxCrazy: [[spoiler: Andre completely loses his marbles after Luda dies and turns while in the middle of going into labour]].

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Steve]] for being a cowardly, callous and constant snarker to the end. If his character traits weren't enough, his actions directly and indirecly lead to death of most of the group, him included.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Ana keeps picking hints and various clues on zombie behaviour or even how TheVirus spreads. Her observations are always proven correct later on.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The remaining survivors escape on Steve's yacht. However, all the other characters are dead and Michael is forced to kill himself after he's infected. This becomes a DownerEnding with TheStinger revealing that Steve's island is also overun by zombies.]]

** "We Interrupt This Program" [[spoiler:ends with the anchorman tearfully telling his family on air he was coming home before the news cut to EAS broadcasting. Taking to consideration how the streets have become over-ridden with reanimates, it is left ambiguous if he will make it home at all, much less if his family would still have been at home or even alive to have seen the broadcast]].

* CasanovaWannabe: Bart the security guard is a light example. In a deleted scene, Terry also tries to hit on Ana, but comes out as clumsy dork instead.

* CombatMedic: Ana, a nurse, is able to kick ass and survive until the end (and possibly beyond it, given the ambiguity of the ending).

* CrazySurvivalist: Subverted. Andy is the closest thing to the trope, but he maintains his sanity and appears to be a joval fellow from what's shown. The DVD extra, containing his own video log, further cements him as a subversion.

* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: C.J. says about midway through the film, "I'll kill each and every one of you to stay alive." Guess who ends up committing a HeroicSacrifice?]]

* EverybodysDeadDave:[[spoiler: When the survivors in the truck bring the news that Fort Pastor has been destroyed.]]

* TheGenericGuy: Terry the security guard. He's given a bit more characterisation in deleted scenes, but still remains on the orbit of this trope.

* JustEatGilligan: Within ten seconds of meeting him, the audience knows that Steve is going to end up screwing ''everyone'' over and wonder why none of the characters save themselves some hassle by just shooting him or kicking him off the damn roof?
** Although it's clear by her tone that Ana ''definitely'' is tempted.

* NeverMessWithGranny: Downplayed with Norma, but she did answer a call to rescue a church full of survivors and drive them to the mall. She also dispatches [[spoiler: Andre and Luda, and despite getting shot first, lives just a little longer than Andre]].

* NoObjectPermanence: The zombies in this film have an interesting trait. Anna's husband, once infected, begins attacking her, but when she closes the door (so fast she didn't even have time to lock it at first) her husband stops attacking as he seemingly forgets she exists for a brief moment. It's only when she makes enough noise that he begins attacking again.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: The zombies in this version not only overwhelm victims through sheer numbers, they are capable of running and jumping with no sign of exhaustion, and once they target a living person, they will attack and keep up the pursuit until they or their target are dead, or another target of opportunity appears, making them ''much'' more dangerous than the shambling zombies of the original. The slight standoff they have with Kenneth on the stairs near the end, with them slowly approaching and seeming to try and find a way round him, also implies they at least have some thinking ability and maybe slight self-preservation instincts, being closer to animalistic than the mindless wandering flesh eaters of the originals. Moreover, their berserker rage, unrelenting drive to infect, and complete disinterest in any other potential food sources like animals seem to imply an almost programmed directive to seek and destroy humans exclusively. [[TheScourgeOfGod Hmm...]]
* PowerOfTrust: C.J. is more compelled to cooperate with the other survivors after reading some magazine articles while locked up.
-->Trust. The primary ingredient in any relationship.

* SchlubbyScummySecurityGuard: C.J. starts off the movie as a tyrannical bully of mall security, [[spoiler:though he later undergoes a HeelFaceTurn and commits a HeroicSacrifice to save the others.]] His co-workers, Bart and Terry, are portrayed as immature dumbasses.

* SexSignalsDeath: [[spoiler:Luis, Monica and Steve]] all have sex on-screen and all die horrible deaths. Averted with [[spoiler: Ana, who is one of the survivors, despite having sex with Luis]] in the opening - which is also the reason why they've missed an emergency broadcast.

* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: Ana and her husband both sleep right through the outbreak due to taking a ShowerOfLove the previous evening and missing an emergency broadcast.

* ZombieInfectee: Semi-averted. Michael does not bother to hide their wounds, and the two bite-victims that arrive in the truck can't. Played straight with [[spoiler:Luda]].

Ana, a Milwaukee nurse, finishes a long shift at her hospital where -- along with other bits of {{Foreshadowing}} -- she discusses [[ZombieInfectee a patient who was bitten in a bar fight]]. After work, she chats briefly with a cute neighbor child, then returns to her suburban home and her waiting husband. The next morning, she wakes up to find her zombified young neighbor in her house; the girl kills her husband, who then rises as a zombie and comes after Ana. Ana escapes in her car, only to learn that, overnight, the town has fallen into [[ZombieApocalypse chaos]].

A living human attempts to carjack her vehicle, causing her to panic, drive off the road, crash into a tree, and knock herself unconscious. When she awakens, she meets up with a police officer by the name of Kenneth, and then a small group of survivors more-or-less led by jack-of-all-trades Michael. They all break into a nearby shopping mall, where they are confronted by a trio of mall security guards, led by the surly C.J. Via binoculars and dry-erase boards, they also "meet" gun-store owner Andy, who is stranded alone in his shop across the mall's zombie-infested parking lot. The guards are eventually disarmed, and some more survivors are let into the mall. For a while, the group wallows in the mall's materialism, but the situation finally deteriorates to the point where the group decides to reinforce a pair of parking shuttles, drive to the local marina and escape out to an island on Lake Michigan.

* BewareTheLiving: Ana's neighbor holds her at gunpoint, another survivor tries to carjack her, and the nude woman wandering on the freeway is implied to be a rape victim. Otherwise averted, mainly because there ''are'' no other survivors except the main characters and Andy, at least none that appear on screen.

* NoAntagonist: There is no actual antagonist in this version of ''Dawn''. The bikers from [[Film/DawnOfTheDead1978 the original]] are AdoptedOut, any conflict between the people in the mall is resolved in the first act, while the zombies are more of a force of nature (and safely outside the mall itself from the get-go) than anything that can be treated as antagonists.