"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth."I'm usually not a fan of remakes, especially when it comes to films that I hold dear, but this DAWN OF THE DEAD remake was pretty good. I saw it opening weekend in the theater and I really enjoyed it. The weird frame rate shit during the action scenes can straight fuck itself, but other than that the story is far enough removed from the original, while at the same time staying respectful enough of the original, that it doesn't really even seem like a remake.
The film opens with a nurse, Sarah Polley, leaving work at a hospital and going home. Everything is nice and peaceful, but, when she wakes in the morning, the entire world is caught in the middle of a zombie outbreak! Yikes. After an very exciting encounter with some zombies in her house (that scene might actually be the highlight of the movie), Sarah manages to escape and with some other survivors make their way to a shopping mall. They hold up there and wait for a rescue...that never comes. They soon realize they're fucked. What should they do next?
Outside of the mall location and a few cameos from the original, the 2004 DOTD pretty much has no connection to the 1978 DOTD. Which is a good thing, since you really can't get better than perfection. Fast zombies, fast pace, loads of violence, good character development with actors talented enough to pull it off, nice unique look to it and a soundtrack with everything from Disturbed to Bobby McFerrin. Also, the opening credits featuring "The Man Comes Around" by Johnny Cash, sets the mood perfectly.
Out of all the bigger name horror remakes from the early 2000's (TCM, F13, ANOES), DAWN OF THE DEAD is the only one that I would like to see a sequel to Maybe on a cruise ship? Zombies on a cruise ship. That would be awesome!!! And in the final scene, when the humans have finally killed all the zombies, a giant zombie tentacle wraps around the ship and breaks the ship in half.
Original - Dawn of the Dead (1978)
