Overview:

Dawn of the Dead is a remake of the 1978 original by George A. Romero and was a sequel to his critically acclaimed Night of the Living Dead. The remake is directed by Zack Snyder and successfully proves that zombie flicks still have a place in the heart of the horror film genre.

Straight from the box:

Packed with more blood, more gore, and more bone-chilling, jaw-dropping thrills, Dawn of the Dead Unrated Director’s Cut is the version too terrifying to be shown in theaters! Starring Mekhi Phifer, Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley in an edgy, electrifying thrill-ride. When a mysterious virus turns people into mindless, flesh-eating zombies, a handful of survivors wage a desperate last-stand battle to stay alive…and human

This is obviously my kind of movie!

Review:

The movie starts off with young nurse Ana (Polley) ending a long shift at a local hospital where several weird events seem to go unnoticed. Strange injuries and seemingly unnecessary procedures are a few happenings which get a simple shoulder shrug. As Ana finally arrives at her home she immediately hops into the shower with her husband, Luis (Justin Louis), for some passionate relaxation to help wash away the stress of a long day’s work. While the couple are in the shower they miss an urgent message on the TV. Bum bum BUM!

They wake up to their cute neighbor girl, Vivian (Hannah Lochner), standing at their bedroom door. Ana’s husband gets up to go check on her and is surprised to see her bleeding from the mouth. As he tells his wife to call 911 in a frenzied panic Vivian bites him on the neck and rips out a giant piece of human flesh. Awesome.

Ana escapes and meets a giant black cop named Kenneth (Rhames). They end up running into an elctronics salesman named Micheal (Jake Weber) who was travelling with a street thug named Andre (Phifer) and his Russian wife Luda (Inna Korobkina). They decide the only safe place to hide is in the mall where they meet security guards CJ (Micheal Kelley), Bart (Micheal Berry) and Terry (Kevin Zegers).

Throughout the movie this group of survivors creates a sort of mini society in the mall and keep in contact with another survivor who is trapped across the street. A truck carrying some more survivors crashes into the mall and increases the size of the group. While Ana is treating the wounded she comes upon the discovery that bites are what causes the disease to spread. Shortly after their bud across the street gets bitten, right before they escape from the mall on bad ass reinforced buses. Well don’t that just suck?

After they leave on the buses and show up at a boat yard, CJ, who has been a dick throughout the entire movie, shows a great deal of valor by sacrificing himself to let his comrades get out of the bus and onto the boat. Shortly after CJ’s self sacrifice Micheal discovers he was bitten and tells the others he can’t go with them on the ride to salvation. He stays behind and the movie ends with him shooting himself in the head so he doesn’t become a mindless cannibal.

Final Words:

Dawn of the Dead is a movie that proves zombie flicks can still scare and that remakes don’t always suck. It’s an intensely scary film with insane, unforgiving pacing that leaves you exhausted from all the twitching.

Pros

• Fast moving Zombies
• Surprisingly good for a remake
• Intense pacing keeps you on the edge of your seat
• Scene where luda gives birth to a zombie baby. It’s gross

Cons

• Dumb decision making from lead characters pisses you off
• Disgusting fat zombie lady
• Only 2 scenes with boobs

Score:

Overall: 8.25/10 (Awesome)
Video Quality: 8.0/10 (Disgusting effects are clear enough to see every chunk fly out of each zombies head. Nice)
Audio Quality: 8.0/10 (Disturbing sound effects make you cringe throughout the film)
Concept: 9.0/10 (Take George A. Romero’s classic film and transform it for the newer generation.)
Execution: 8.0/10 (While the film definitely suits this new generation, it doesn’t exactly stay too faithful to Romero’s classic. Maybe this is a good thing, though)