Zack Snyder’s kinetic, violent, and jaw-dropping remake of George Romero’s classic film, Dawn of the Dead, is considered to be one of his masterpieces. While the movie is a remake, it pays homage to the original film (released in 1978) by working in its own way.
Snyder has a separate fan base for his works, but this movie is an exception, and it is hard to beat any of his films. It was a commercial hit, fetching over $100 million on a tight budget of $26 million.
Critics claimed that Snyder’s version is way better than Romero’s. But even though it got a great reception, the director of the 1978 version wasn’t impressed by Snyder’s creative style used in the film.
George A. Romero Strongly Disapproved Zack Snyder’s Classic Remake of Dawn of the Dead
The filmmaker, George A. Romero, described the remake as a “good action film.” But said that he only liked the opening 20 minutes. In an interview with The Telegraph, Romero explained:
“I sort of thought it lost its reason for being. I know a lot of people really like it very much – Stephen King, for example.”
As per Romero, the symbolism of zombies had a specific meaning within the context of American capitalism. He explained:
“I didn’t like it very much. Basically, because I was using the idea for satire. My film needed to be done right when it was done, because that sort of shopping mall was completely new. It was the first one in Pennsylvania that we had ever seen. The heart of the story is based in that. And I didn’t think the remake had it.”
The main reason why Romero didn’t find Snyder’s remake is that it failed to capture the essence and meaningful subtext present in the original. But there’s another film that didn’t meet fans’ expectations because of the same reason.
Fans Criticized Zack Snyder’s Watchmen For the Same Reason as George A. Romero
Zack Snyder‘s Watchmen adaptation faced criticism from comic book fans. It’s because despite visually having impressive elements, there were some alterations to the original story that dashed their hopes. Even though it remains the best work of Snyder’s career so far, the changes led to divided opinions as the film couldn’t run down with the essence of the comic.
Fans were left high and dry with Snyder’s 2009 flick because it missed points in the story’s satirical and subversive elements. Despite some faithfulness to the graphic novel, his adaptation completely downplayed crucial aspects just like Dawn of the Dead.
