Dawn of the Dead (2004) analysis- Michael attacking zombies

In this scene a group of extra survivors enter the mall and the original group of survivors act to defend them from zombies so they can make it into the mall. The audience see Michael stand his ground against the zombies and he fulfils the male hero character convention in doing so. Referring to the historical context, he also fulfils the representation of the 1990’s/2000’s “new man” which is a mixture of showing emotion and caring (shown through his tender relationship with Ana) contrasted with moments like this where he mercilessly kills zombies. Michael is also outside the cultural dominant ideology as he’s divorced with 4 children, which is similar to Sam from Psycho who was also divorced and represents a subcultural group seen less often in mainstream, non-horror films.

Using Andrew Sarris’ Auteur Theory we can see how Dawn of the Dead matches Zack Snyder's auteur style as he heavily uses slow motion to lengthen the impact of bullets and matches them with parallel dramatic stings to connote warning and build tension in the character's actions. Another Zack Snyder film where he uses slow motion effectively is throughout Watchmen in scenes like when ‘The Comedian’ is pushed through a window.

Using Thomas Schatz’s genre theory we can see how this scene links into the action and horror genre as it uses conventions such as fast moving monsters in the form of zombies, body horror, a male hero and is edited to a fast paced montage. These are reoccurring throughout Dawn of the Dead and perfectly match the conventions of the action horror genre, also seen in the zombie attack scenes from 28 Days Later directed by Danny Boyle.