Review of Dawn of the Dead (2004) by Camerons. — 24 Mar 2004

I am a big fan of George A. Romero?s zombie classics Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead. The latter film is a fun action movie, it contains many great scares, gore galore, and has biting humor in a world where humor is dying with the dead civilization.

The characters are also well developed and the film is focused primarily on four stranded refugees in a vast mall, the pinnacle of the 20th Century, while also creating many comic zombie fellows roaming the mall.

Absent are the things that made Romero?s film a great horror-comedy achievement. The poorly shot and imprudently edited actions scenes are incomprehensible to a point where it is hard to tell what?s going on.

There are far many more characters this time around, whose sole purpose is to get killed violently by the films climax. However, something did survive into this remake, and that?s the comedy. The film is terribly funny, making for something of an entertaining piece.

What I especially liked about the much better zombie movie ?Return of the Living Dead? was that the characters lived in a world where zombie movies existed, especially Romero?s films. The characters, as dumb as they were at times knew that they were dealing with zombies.

I note this because there is a scene when all the excess characters show up they wheel in a woman who is clearly about to turn into the dead, with her gray skin highlighting and her dying green veins becoming clearly noticeable.

I was just thinking how dumb these people would have to be to let someone they knew would be turning into the mall. Note to everybody: when somebody is greyly pale with their veins popping out and the smell of death, don?t let them into your place of refugee.

The direction is quite sophomoric and the screenplay is a serviceable homage to the original while coming up with some original tact and wit of its own, though it plays with the usual thoughts and clichés of most modern horror films.

That being understood, the acting is quite serviceable for this kind of movie, with Ving Rhames spouting lines so intrepidly panicky they come off exceedingly humorous. The film feels terribly inspired by the far superior 28 Days Later, but not stealing anything that would have made a difference, like the anti-cliché of instant infection.

Now we have zombies that are faster but just as dumb who can tip mobile vehicles that weigh several tons but are unable to break through a glass door. I didn?t wholly dislike this film, but I am curious as to why anybody would want to see this picture over Romero?s own classic.

But a good comment I would like to say about it, it is far better than Tom Savini?s trite, inane, and ghastly Night of the Living Dead remake or even Romero?s own humdrum, flavorless, spendthrift, feeble Day of the Dead.

But then again, that?s not much of an accomplishment either.