Dawn of the Dead
** 1/2 R, 106 m. with Sarah Polley, Mekhi Phifer and Ving Rhames. Directed by Zack Snyder. Opens tomorrow.
"Dawn of the Dead" is a remake of the classic 1978 horror film of the same name, in which zombies begin to slowly take over the planet. At first, the film seems to be a pretty good movie; however, once it sinks in, it becomes clear that it is inherently different from other horror films. Overall, this movie is nothing special. The movie is gratuitously gory as opposed to scary. Almost exactly like "28 Days Later," the movie seems to be an unnecessary re-imagining of a movie that has already had its major theme used repeatedly in other movies over and over again.
There are certain enjoyable aspects of this movie. Overall, the cinematic elements are very good. One might go as far as to call it "cinemagic." "Dawn of the Dead" does a good job of incorporating humor into the overall theme. At certain points, the audience was even on their feet clapping. One memorable scene included several main characters picking celebrity zombies out of the hoard and shooting them. Another enjoyable aspect of this film was the unexpected use of upbeat songs at points throughout the movie when action was becoming overbearing. It made the movie lighter and a more enjoyable experience.
"Dawn of the Dead," however, is more frustrating than fun. First off, the cliche "stupid horror film decisions" made by the characters can be found here, as well as in basically every other horror movie. At one point, the audience is actually forced to watch a girl go through the crowd of zombies to save a strange dog. As if that isn't bad enough, the rest of the main characters go after her through the crowd of zombies. Who would do that? If someone was stupid enough to go after a dog that didn't even belong to them through a crowd of zombies, they deserve to die.
Another big problem is that it didn't live
up to its potential. The entire movie takes place in a mall, with all sorts of small run-
ins with the zombies. It needs more explos-ions and more zombie deaths. The other
huge problem with the movie was the "horror film nudity," or the lack thereof. No horror movie is complete without its fair share
of breasts, but this movie fails to meet the usual expectations.
Overall, this movie is not for the squeamish or the faint at heart, but definitely worth seeing for a good laugh (but probably not worth the cost of a ticket). If you enjoy horror movies and watching a good amount of death and sweet zombie-on-human action, this is probably your kind of movie. Other than that, nothing special. Just another pointless remake where Hollywood tries to cash in on older successes.
