Check Out the Trailer

The original DAWN OF THE DEAD is one of my favorite horror films. I was quite dismayed when I heard Hollywood was going to remake it. In the end, the new film is more of a re-envisioning of the original, because very little of the original plot remains.

Ana (Sarah Polley, THE SWEET HEREAFTER) is a nurse, who wakes up one day to a crisis where the world is turning into zombies. And like the zombies in 28 DAYS LATER, these walking dead can book. Ana ends up barricaded in the mall with police officer Kenneth (Ving Rhames, PULP FICTION), level-headed Best Buy employee Michael (Jake Weber, MEET JOE BLACK), thug Andre (Mekhi Phifer, 8 MILE), Andre’s pregnant Russian wife Luda (Inna Korobkina, THE LADIES MAN) and jerky security guard CJ (Michael Kelly, UNBREAKABLE).

Now the film has a host of other characters, but I didn’t really care for them at all. And that’s the problem with this film. The film takes a large cast like THE STAND, but doesn’t really have the time to develop very many of the characters beyond types. The film has some great morality moments, especially when Luda gives birth, but the overall film lacks the satirical punch that the first film had.

The new version is slicker and the acting is better, but that doesn’t make it a better film. The sped-up zombies do not build tension like the original. They speed up the action and make the characters have to think faster, but they drain the film of an impending sense of dread. It reminded me of what Hitchcock said – a bomb exploding is not thrilling, but knowing that a bomb will explode is.

Though I’m critical of the film; it’s mainly due to the fact that there was an original to compare it to. The fact that I don’t despise it is quite impressive. It’s the character moments that it does have a chance to develop that make the film good. I especially like Kenneth’s relationship with Andy (Bruce Bohne, FARGO), a man trapped on the roof of his gun shop, which is across the street from the mall. More of these kinds of scenes could have made the film great, but I’m afraid it would have had to be a mini-series to pull it off. In the end, the film is a solid, entertaining horror film that will surely thrill all who watch it.