>> MOVIES > DVD REVIEWS

Dawn of the Dead

I will admit that I had MAJOR bias going into this movie. Everyone knows my feelings about movie remakes. It’s one thing to remake a movie if you are attempting to bring it closer to the original source material (like the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory); but in this case the first Dawn of the Dead WAS the original source. Strike one! I have also made it know to friends (and anyone else who will listen) that zombies are not fast! They are relentless monsters that can not be stopped short of popping them in the head, granted they are slow and shambling, but relentless none the less. What’s creepier, a fast moving foe who kills you fast or a slow lumbering beast that gives you time to ponder your own demise? Strike two! I really didn’t want to see this movie, it insulted the horror purist in me. One of my friends presented me with a proposition: She had two free passes, so in a way (she claimed) I would be taking money AWAY from the film by filling two seats without paying for them - and she’d buy the popcorn. Somehow I was able to justify seeing this movie now. Most of my friends didn’t understand, and I couldn’t blame them. It didn’t matter that the early reviews were very positive. The film was a pox upon Romero’s original. I would be dead to them if I went. I had made my choice. At 7:10 in the evening I entered the theater…

So, did like the damn thing?

Um…Uh…I don’t know… This will be the most anti-climactic review ever written. I really don’t know if I liked it. It had some good elements and a couple of shocking moments, but is that enough to warrant a positive review? I’ll take a look at the film from a couple of different angles.

First, I have to give accolades where they are do. The movie has good direction. First time director Zack Snyder really knows how to manipulate the audience. He showed us gore when it would get the best response and he also knew when to turn off the camera, a skill that many horror directors (yours truly included) have yet to learn. Synder was able to find the balance between total chaos and the unnerving calm just before. The director was also able to get some good performances from his cast. Not many big names in this film, which is fine by me. Each actor knew their character well. You really did believe in these people. You hated the ones you were supposed to, and felt sympathy for the others. I am thankful that the film broke many modern horror movie clichés in which the black man is a cool guy and the white guy is a wimpy nerd. These are just PEOPLE stuck in a terrible, violent, and decaying world. And boy does it decay. You can’t write about a zombie movie without talking about the zombies. There are a ton of them! They are friggen everywhere! As I said before, these are not the lumbering monsters of my nightmares. These creatures are more akin to the infected in 28 Days Later (A rant I will bring up at another time). They look great. They die really well. They sound good. But, they just didn’t seem that frightening. They may have created some good scares, but it was cheap jump out and say “boo” scares. I’ll grant you, a zombie film needs to have it’s share of shock frights. But, a good zombie film should build a sense of dread and hopelessness like no other horror movie can. This was what was missing from the current Dawn of the Dead. The zombie scenes (with one or two WELL shot exceptions - Which in an attempt to remain spoiler free I will avoid mentioning) are more akin to a good action film then a horror movie. I know I sound like a broken record, but zombies just don’t seem as scary when they can run. Logically they should, but they don’t. I think I know why. When a zombie comes at you fast the characters (and by proxy the viewers) never get to experience the terror in realizing that the person coming at you was a neighbor, a friend, a lover, or even your mother. A fast zombie is just a ravenous beast wanting to consume you. A fast zombie allows you to disconnect, it allows the primitive section of your brain to take over. As strange as it seems, the “brainless” zombie movie works best when you, the audience, is allowed time to think about and soak in the world you are viewing. The new Dawn of the Dead never gives you time for that…

So, can I recommend it? Um…Uh… I don’t know. If you have love for the original as I do, then you will be disappointed, possibly even upset by it. If you’ve never seen or remember the original then you may (and probably will) enjoy it. It pains me to say that. It pains me because this would be the time that I would tell folks who haven’t seen the original to go out and rent it after watching the remake; but I worry that you just won’t like Romero’s original work after seeing it. The tone and pacing are completely different. I worry that the crowd who is flocking to see this movie don’t want slow zombies. This worry was punctuated when Tom Savini made his (very fun) cameo on the screen and I was the only one who clapped…