DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)

"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)

28 WEEKS LATER (2007)

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I think these movies are boring. The first film was a shaky cam snoozefest and Part 2 is barely any better. At least there's a little bit more zombie action in this one, but not much.

28 WEEKS LATER takes place 28 weeks after the initial outbreak of the Rage virus. A central area of London has now been cleared of the infected and cleaned up. The population is slowly being allowed to return. The first group of returners is held up in a high-rise apartment complex and as you would expect another outbreak takes place and all Hell breaks loose. Nothing cool happens like people holed up in their apartments fighting off monsters, no it's just a bunch of running around. All gloriously told in extreme shaky cam close-up shots. The bedroom/bathroom/front yard fight scene in the DAWN OF THE DEAD remake was better shot and more exciting than anything in this film.

If you liked the first film then you'll like this one because it's more of the same. If you disliked the first film then you'll dislike this one because it's more of the same. Me though, it bored the piss out of me, so if you will please excuse me I gotta go steam clean my sofa. Skip it.

Part 1 - 28 Days Later... (2002)

Stunt pilot visible.

Camera man visible.

CRAZY LIPS (2000)

"What is happening inside this house?!"

This movie is nuts! Two cute teenage girls and their mother are being harassed by the public and hounded relentlessly by news crews because their missing brother has been accused of decapitating four girls. That's the only thing I figured out for sure, because after that things got wackier than Takashi Miike on mushrooms including necrophilia, three rape scenes, a scalping, headless zombies, a musical number, lots of screaming, vomiting, violent telekinetic murders, "psychically" phone tracing, brutal fight scenes with axes, incest and even a nuclear explosion!

What does it all mean? I don't know and I could not care less. All I know is I couldn't peel my eyes from the screen in anticipation of what was going to happen next! The less I say the better.  If you enjoy the more frenzied moments of films by Miike, Tsukamoto or Lynch then you should check out the unpredictable CRAZY LIPS.