CORPORATE LINE : As the United States is turned upside-down by a strange plague-like event in which millions of corpses walk the earth as blood-thirsty zombies (with the recently-deceased that the zombies kill usually returning as zombies themselves, multiplying their number), a small group of survivors of the onslaught, which include a nurse (Polley) and a police officer (Rhames), try to find shelter and protection within a massive shopping mall in the mid-sized city of Everett, WA. What they don’t reckon on is that the zombies still have some sort of residual memory, and *everyone* loves going to the mall, right? Realizing that their time is running out, they decide to make another attempt at flight, to a presumably un-zombie-infested island, but to do so, they’ll have to get past thousands of zombies in-between…
THE GOOD : Right from the beginning you are in for a blood bath. Remember how the zombies used to bumble around and move awkwardly? These aren’t your father’s zombies—they move fast and have the spirit of a vampire.
There are little odds and ends about this version of Dawn of the Dead that are welcomed updates. First is the change in script. It’s much more intense and quick paced. Also you get a few doses of welcome comedy. One finds the group walking through the mall while “Don’t Worry Be Happy” muzak plays in the background. Then there is a scene from the roof where they take shots at Hollywood celebrities who turned into zombies like Jay Leno and Burt Reynolds.
There is the reason we all want to go to a horror film; to be scared. It’s been a while since I’ve been truly scared—Dawn of the Dead scared me. It’s intense and very creepy. Of course there are lots of jump out of your seat moments.
THE BAD : It’s kooky, it’s goofy… and you have to wonder if it’s really all that bad. Here is a good and bad—the film wasn’t made to win awards—only to scare us to death. If you are looking for intellectual stimulation you won’t get it here.
DVD FEATURES: The gem of the special features is the “The Lost Tapes” which is supposed to be the gun shop owner’s diary of his last days. It’s extremely scary and a fun addition. “Special Bulletin: Zombie Invasion!” is a weak mock news report. There is a commentary by both the director and producer.
There are a handful of extended and deleted scenes. They are good for one look—but you can see why they were cut. Finally there is a really cool featurette on how they made all the extras into the walking dead.
FRANKLY: How many movies make you wonder just what you’d do or where you’d go should all hell break loose? What would you do?
I was scared to walk out of the theater and then to let my dog out when I got home. You never know what is lurking in the dark. There’ll be no sleep tonight. Dawn of the Dead is the stuff nightmares are made of.
+ Charlie Craine
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