Rent Dawn of the Dead (2004)

A great zombie romp - Dawn of the Dead review by CP Customer

After the appalling remake of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' I was somewhat sceptical about seeing a remake of George Romero's 1978 classic 'Dawn Of The Dead'. The 1978 original was a cleverly written, darkly foreboding, and bitingly satirical look at society. There was a sense of dread that filtered throughout the whole film, and also included a clever social commentary on everything from consumerism to abortion. The original 'Dawn Of The Dead' was that most elusive of creatures, the intelligent horror film. In reality the only things that tie this remake and the original film together is the fact that they are both set in a shopping mall and both contain zombies, even the start and endings differ in both films. This remake is much more of a fast paced thrill ride, more polished, but also a great zombie based film in its own right. Though unlike the original there was no real sense of fear from the characters, everybody seemed to be accepting the end of the world a little too easily, and at points everyone seemed to be having a bit too much of a fun time. That aside, there were some clever new additions to the story. The emotional conflicts that characters had to face when loved ones were bitten by zombies, and the turmoil they had to face knowing their loved ones would eventually turn and have to be killed was well thought out. The zombie's ability to run made them far more menacing. The injection of some well placed humour was quite good, the soundtrack was great, and the ending was actually much better than the 1978 original. Overall 'Dawn Of The Dead' is a well made zombie flick, though not really a patch on the 70's original.

Action Horror - Great Fun - Dawn of the Dead review by GI

Highly entertaining action horror film and a general remake of an earlier 1978 film directed by horror meister George A. Romero. Here though Zack Snyder has made a contemporary graphic novel stylised film with some Hammer Horror touches. This is a zombie apocalypse story but not the traditional reanimated corpse type that shuffle around but a virus induced fully mobile type, these zombies race at their victims! This makes for a very adrenaline fuelled action film with some big bloody shocks to keep you on your toes. It's all great fun and very well done too. One day, without warning, a virus breaks out turning victims into cannabilistic zombies and one bite from an infected is enough. Ana (Sarah Polley), a nurse, just manages to escape being attacked by her infected husband and joins up with a small group of survivors including a cop (Ving Rhames). They barricade themselves inside the local shopping mall but, after the initial relief of finding safety, realise they have to form a plan to break out and find a better sanctuary. But they are surrounded by a horde of zombies. This is a story of survival and the real issues and themes come out in the struggles the survivors have with themselves as their individual loyalties, prejudices and selfish needs come to the fore. There's a great use of panoramic scenes, plenty of jump scares and a combination of tense, dark moments combined with full on gunplay. It's all tremendous fun and well worth checking out even if you don't normally like this sort of thing.

Can one 'enjoy' zombie films? Yes! - Dawn of the Dead review by RP

Yes, it’s a remake of the 1978 original. But I enjoyed it (Aside: can one 'enjoy' zombie films? Yes!). It follows the original storyline in that a small group of survivors hole up in a shopping mall – although quite why anyone would want to I’m not sure: don’t they have nicely breakable glass windows, doors etc. Doesn’t seem very secure to me...

A few minor niggles: the 'zombies' aren't the usual standard shambling type, but more like the Rage-infected variety seen in '28 Days Later'. There isn't the expected entrail-eating, only biting. The 'zombie baby' sequence is just soooo predictable. And there's too much f-ing and blinding for my taste, although I'm sure I'd be swearing if I was in the same situation!

One other thing: the 'extras' are pretty good as they aren't just boring 'how the film was made' stuff but include a couple of horror extras: a 'home video' from one of the characters, and a short film of how the outbreak happened from the point of view of a TV newsreader.

So, not a bad film if you like that kind of thing – recommended. 3/5 stars.