Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Director: Zack Snyder

Cast: Sarah Polley as Ana, Ving Rhames as Kenneth, Jake Weber as Michael, Mekhi Phifer as Andre, Ty Burrell as Steve, Michael Kelly as CJ, Kevin Zegers as Terry, Michael Barry as Bart, Lindy Booth as Nicole, Jayne Eastwood as Norma, Boyd Banks as Tucker, Inna Korobkina as Luda, R.D. Reid as Glen, Kim Poirier as Monica, Matt Frewer as Frank

Shortly after a number of strange cases begin to appear at the hospital
where Ana (Sarah Polley) works, a bizarre zombie "epidemic" hits the
Milwaukee, Wisconsin area full force. Sarah escapes her immediate
threats and meets a number of other humans who decide to seek shelter
inside a large shopping mall. As they learn that the zombie outbreak is
much more widespread than anyone could have imagined, their chances of
survival grow increasingly dim.

I know an awful lot of genre fans rail against remakes, but like the
update of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), this version of Dawn of
the Dead is so good that we should instead be clamoring for more.

Writer James Gunn and director Zack Snyder knew that they had to come
into the remake with both barrels blasting. Hardly five minutes into
the film we're already into hardcore, high tension, gore-filled horror
material. In lesser films, our introduction to full-fledged zombie
activity would have been dream material as a kind of teaser. Gunn and
Snyder dispense with such weak-willed tactics and immediately launch
into Armageddon. We quickly move to a wide shot of explosions, brutal
car crashes and other mayhem.

We do finally get a breather while we're learning our cast of
characters at the mall in nicely written scenes that bring out
personality and depth to the relatively large cast, but horror fanatics
need not fret that the film will evolve into a drama--tension and gore
are never far removed from the film.

Gunn and Snyder earn credit for both paying homage to their source
material and taking off into other interesting directions. This remake
is just as intense and titillating as Romeo's original, but with a
different spin.

The cast is excellent, the cinematography and editing exciting and
innovative, and the makeup and "creature" effects are top notch.

Even though I've seen greater quantities, the DVD for Dawn of the Dead
also has some of the best extras I've seen on a disc in terms of
quality. You get two excellent short films that effectively extend the
feature. In one, a new character from the remake, Andy (Bruce Bohne),
who runs a gun shop across the street from the mall, gives us a
15-minute video diary of his last 15 days. It's similar in some ways to
the feel of The Blair Witch Project (1999), but for my money, it's much
better than that film. In the other, we get a 30-minute condensation of
the news broadcasts following the outbreak of the zombie "epidemic".
This also easily beats any mock horror documentary (such as The Last
Broadcast (1998)) with its hands tied behind its back. Make sure you at
least rent the DVD to check out these extras.