Anyone who knows me happens to know that I love horror movies. Naturally, I would eventually have to see the new version of Dawn of the Dead. I saw the original version a very long time ago and, unfortunately, I remember very little of it. Therefore, I will not be comparing the two.
The movie was everything you would expect from a zombie thriller.
It was quite gory. There is sniping, kicking, and biting. There are headshots, impalements, and chainsaws. There are jerks, morons, and breasts. This is a movie interested only in entertaining an audience. There might be some kind of satiric commentary somewhere inside it, but if it does exist it is pushed far to the back.
The basic plot is rather simple. Survivors of some kind of virus that turns its victims into zombies take refuge in a mall. Thrills and action scenes follow. In my opinion, the scenes before the opening credits are the best in the movie. However, if you enjoy zombie movies, the rest is not a let-down. The zombies in this version are similar to the ones in 28 Days Later--meaning they can actually move quickly.
The characters in the movie aren't too stupid. They only wander off alone a few times near the beginning. The movie is done in such a way that you might care about the main characters without knowing all that much about them. The audience is given practically no background on the characters. A small bit of information can be gleaned from the dialogue, but not really enough to make the characters seem all that important. The character who actually struck me most emotionally never even speaks on camera. There were two characters who seemed to have, collectively, only one real purpose...to be involved with a chainsaw.
If you enjoy zombie movies, I would recommend this one. It has zombies, gore, and a good bit of humor packed in between the "action" scenes. If you don't like horror/thriller movies, you probably won't enjoy this movie.
I was entertained, and I will probably buy a copy of the movie. After all, you can never own too many horror movies.
Posted by Randy at March 20, 2004 12:34 AM | TrackBack