This was always going to be a difficult situation for me. In my personal estimation Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is one of the greatest horror experiences there is. I have so many fond memories of the inventive styles and sequences used in the original. But I was determined not to let that partial favouritism overshadow my enjoyment of this remake, nor to let it become any overshadowing factor for my review.
Anna, a young nurse, finds herself thrown into the middle of a worldwide chaos as what appear to be flesh-eating zombies begin to kill and then just as easily rise up again, like any self-respectable zombie should. She finds shelter with a small group of other survivors in a nearby mall. But before long things start to deteriorate and survival is all that the group has in mind.
The instantly noticeable difference in this movie unlike most classic zombie treats is the overall pace. And I’m not just referring to the swiftness of scenes and the movement of the storyline but the incredible speed of the infected passing the disease between everybody. Not only does this disease zombify the body within moments after death, but these brain dead predators put the likes of Linford Christie and Michael Johnson to shame sprinting as they do to feed on their next victim. It’s a disturbing thought and one that I’m still a little unsure about.
We associate zombies with slow-paced shuffling, for obvious reasons, they’re brain dead! There is little activity going on upstairs and logical reasoning and coordination has slowed to a pathetic crawl. It wasn’t until 28 Days Later revived the sub-genre recently into a different life that we began seeing more rapid moving zombie-like persons. This movie steps up the pace 10-fold, attempting to take it to a whole new level and to play about with more groundbreaking departures. Concepts and ideas that leave yesteryears zombies looking sluggish and non-threatening. In this day and age everything moves quicker – technology, medicine and even the negative aspects such as infection and disease. This surely seems the next logical step.
So after being thrown into the haste and visual thrills of this ‘what seems to be’ intelligent remake we are treated to quality make-up and effects, which apparently were based on real forensic photos. Also, of course, there are some very nice looking deaths, which take full advantage of modern aids such as CG and other advanced techniques. Well, you live in this day and age you have to take full benefit from the tools you that are available to you.
The movie flows on, but slows to a degree. There is a couple of sub-plots slipped in involving one of the survivors and her unborn child and the relationship the Ving Rhames character has with the guy on the roof of the adjacent Gun Works store. There’s a number of notable cameos from stars of the original, there’s some decent music blaring in the background, and a few in-jokes that hardcore buffs will smile at. And the editing is great.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Although, as Resident Evil initiated, there is no direct mention of the word zombie. There is no mention of what the infection is at all. But of course I think we can all feel that that hidden edge is what makes a movie like this even more credible, due to its simple lack of explanation and justification. It’s a departure from the usual type of zombie movie. But with recent efforts such as 28 Days Later and Shaun of the Dead it just goes to show that there is still life and plenty of original ideas left in this rotting corpse of a sub-genre.