Zack Snyder’s best movie is streaming on Netflix now

❘ Published: 2023-05-05T21:53:03

The cast of Dawn of the Dead stand bloodied in an elevator

Universal Pictures

Zack Snyder’s film Dawn of the Dead is now officially available to stream on Netflix. Here’s everything you need to know about this classic zombie movie.

Almost 20 years after its initial release, Netflix has finally made Zack Snyder’s best film to date available to stream.

A remake of George A. Romero’s 1978 film of the same name, Dawn of the Dead was the first feature length film Snyder ever produced for the mainstream. The script was written by James Gunn after he made the iconic live-action adaptation of Scooby-Doo just two years prior. Together, they made one of the best horror movies of all time.

With Dawn of the Dead now available to stream, let’s take a look back at one of the greatest zombie movies ever to grace the genre.

Zack Snyder gives a masterclass in the zombie horror genre

The film follows Ana Clark as she gets off a long night shift as a nurse. After having a date night with her husband, the two fall asleep only to be awoken in the morning by their zombified neighbor who murders her husband.

Scared and confused, Ana escapes her suburban neighborhood that’s overrunning with zombies and runs into another group of survivors. Together they break into a nearby mall where they must band together to stay alive against the impending zombie horde.

The cast of Dawn of the Dead stands in an empty mall

Dawn of the Dead had a lot going against it when it came to drumming up excitement amongst horror fans as most thought the movie would bomb as Snyder was an unknown director and Gunn was only known for making Scooby-Doo.

However, in a fit of marketing genius, Universal worked with one of its branch companies, USA Network, to screen the first ten minutes of the film four days before the movies release. When the movie was released on March 14, 2004, it made over $102.3 million, which more than made up for the movie’s budget which was around $26 million. Dawn of the Dead truly cemented itself as a horror movie classic.

Is there a sequel to Dawn of the Dead?

Currently, there is no direct sequel to Dawn of the Dead. However, he did make a spiritual successor to his zombie masterpiece when he co-wrote and directed the film Army of the Dead for Netflix.

Army of the Dead follows a group of mercenaries who must work together to break out of a quarantine zone and infiltrate a zombie-run Las Vegas where they’ll try to pull of the ultimate heist while fighting for their lives.

The cast of Army of the Dead hold military weapons

In an interview with Screen Rant, Snyder explained that Army of the Dead was never meant to be a direct sequel to Dawn of the Dead stating, “I developed it right after Dawn, but not as a sequel. I wanted to do this other evolution in it of the zombies, so I needed another trope.”

Regardless of his intention, Synder managed to make Army of the Dead feel like a sequel as both films center around a group of survivors in a zombie apocalypse just in different circumstances. If you’re looking to have a zombie movie marathon, we would suggest playing these Snyder masterpieces back to back.

Dawn of the Dead is now available to stream on Netflix. You can check out our TV and movie coverage in the hub below: