History YMMV / DawnOfTheDead2004

* VindicatedByHistory: While the movie made a good profit and fared decently with most critics, it holds up even better in retrospect for being, much like ''Film/TheThing1982'' and ''Film/Suspiria2018'', a fine example of how to properly remake a horror film (i.e. using the original movie's framework to tell a new story).

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Nicole's IdiotPlot moment could have been turned into a SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome instead if she'd gone over in an attempt, successful or not, to save Andy as the zombies started breaking into his store, instead of just going to get Chips.

** The Irony of [[Characters/SupernaturalTheFourHorsemen Pestilence]] Catching a super infectious plague.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Nicole's idiot plot moment could have been turned into a SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome instead if she'd gone over in an attempt, successful or not, to save Andy as the zombies started breaking into his store, instead of just going to get Chips.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Nicole's idiot plot moment could have been turned into a MomentOfAwesome instead if she'd gone over in an attempt, successful or not, to save Andy as the zombies started breaking into his store, instead of just going to get Chips.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Nicole's idiot plot moment could have been turned into a CrowningMomentOfAwesome instead if she'd gone over in an attempt, successful or not, to save Andy as the zombies started breaking into his store, instead of just going to get Chips.

** It seems Elsa from Splice survived against zombies before surviving against Dren.

** A large chunk of plot happens, because the characters keep passing the IdiotBall around, despite knowing how dire and serious their situation is. This covers both for Nicole and Steve, but also Kenneth and rest of the group[[note]]They never informed Andy about how dangerous bites are, despite nothing ever stopped them for passing the vital information to him[[/note]].

** [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7BcYptxLIYs The Hangman’s Song]], which plays during the building montage, is morbidly epic.

* RetroactiveRecognition: When did [[Series/ModernFamily Phil Dunphy]] become such a jerk?
** Both [[Creator/ZackSnyder the director]] and [[Creator/JamesGunn the writer]] would go on to [[Film/{{Watchmen}} direct]] [[Film/ManOfSteel some]] [[Film/{{Super}} Super]] [[Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice Hero]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy films]]... each to divergent degrees of audience appreciation.
* SpecialEffectsFailure:

* BrokenBase: Among zombie-movie fans, whether this or the original ''Dawn'' is "better". There is also a subset of this which feel that as a movie itself it is fine, but being billed as a new ''Dawn of the Dead'' caused more headaches than neccesary. As a point, some believe the exact same movie with a different name (thus turning a few examples of MythologyGag into ShoutOut) would have been just as enjoyable and nipped a whole rush of arguments in one go.
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome: The use of Johnny Cash's "The Man Comes Around" over the title credits and Jim Carroll's "People Who Died" over the end credits.

* MisBlamed: Reviewers often suggest that Nicole is responsible for all the deaths in the latter half of the film. However, the only death that can be logically pinned on her is Tucker, who died saving her. Though her actions do force the group to abandon the mall ahead of schedule, they make it through the horde anyway. All of them would have reached the island safely if it hadn't been for the zombie clinging to the side of the bus. This could still just as easily happened if they had left on schedule, so it's unfair to blame it on Nicole.

* BrokenBase: Among zombie-movie fans, whether this or the original ''Dawn'' is "better". There is also a subset of this which feel that as a movie itself it is fine, but being billed as a new ''Dawn of the Dead'' caused more headaches than neccesary. As a point, some believe the exact same movie with a different name, (thus turning a few examples of MythologyGag into ShoutOut) would have been just as enjoyable and nipped a whole rush of arguments in one go.

* BrokenBase: Among zombie-movie fans, whether this or the original ''Dawn'' is "better". There is also a subset of this which feel that as a movie itself it is fine, but being billed as a new Dawn of the Dead caused more headaches than neccesary. As a point some believe the exact same movie as with a different name, (thus turning a few examples of MythologyGag into ShoutOut) would have been just as enjoyable and nipped a whole rush of arguments in one go.

* BrokenBase: Among zombie-movie fans, whether this or the original ''Dawn'' is "better".

** Both [[Creator/ZackSnyder the director]] and [[Creator/JamesGunn the writer]] would go on to [[Film/{{Watchmen}} direct]] [[Film/ManOfSteel some]] [[Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice superhero]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy films]]... each to divergent degrees of audience appreciation.

** [[Creator/ZackSnyder Both]] [[Creator/JamesGunn directors]] would go on to [[Film/{{Watchmen}} direct]] [[Film/ManOfSteel some]] [[Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice superhero]] [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy films]].

** In the DVD commentary, director Snyder cheerfully points out a specific example- when they cobbled together the overhead shot of Ana's neighborhood via CGI, they failed to give some of the houses any street access.