Ask any fan of horror movies who the king of the zombie genre is and they will almost certainly start chanting George A. Romero’s name. His ‘Trilogy of the Dead’ is widely considered as a line-up of all-time classics and consists of Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead and the original version of Dawn of the Dead. The 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead received a relatively warm reception from the horror community, but as expected, it was considered inferior to the original. So there was a scent of apprehension in the air when Zack Snyder’s plans to recreate Dawn came to light, a disappointing remake of such an exemplary example of the perfect zombie film would effectively turn Snyder into one of his subjects. However, there will be no need for a bloody finale (rather disappointingly) because Snyder has succeeded in creating an entertaining, slightly more action orientated, zombie flick.

Dawn of the Dead follows a young nurse named Ana who wakes up one morning to discover that the world has been infected with a deadly virus that manages to kill and subsequently resurrect its victims, giving them an unhealthy affinity for the taste of human flesh in the process. She frantically escapes her house and after a few close calls, comes across a band of survivors; together they hole up in the local mall and attempt to survive the terrifying epidemic. But as the days wear on and the undead’s unnerving attraction to the mall increases, they decide that it’s time for them to get out, before the dead gets in.

Linford Christie Eat Your Heart Out (Literally)

As is generally the case with zombie flicks, the narrative is easy to follow and based around the simple fact that a horde of undead beings are clamouring for human flesh. However, rather than going for an all out gore filled extravaganza, Snyder has decided to take the splatter conventions of the zombie genre and add a Hollywood-esque glossy sheen to it. The result of such a union is a zombie film with a satisfying twist: there’s still a fair share of the usual blood ‘n guts moments, but there’s also a strong, coherent plot stringing everything together.

Dawn doesn’t really qualify as a remake; it’s more of a new film that pays slight homage to the legendary George Romero classic. Sure a band of zombie holocaust survivors have taken refuge in the local shopping mall and yes, there are lots of zombies everywhere, but in the original the zombies were inside the mall and they were as slow as hell; now they can run. Danny Boyle’s zombie thriller 28 Days Later showcased the athletic talents of the undead (well they weren’t technically zombies, but we won’t go into that) and it seems that Snyder was following a similar path of thought. Don’t expect any zombies to be dragging their feet, they want to eat and slowly sauntering towards their victims isn’t going to get them anywhere - everything here is scarily fast-paced.

Steve, he’s a dick…apparently

Our line-up of survivors is rather believable in nature, if not stereotypical in compilation. We’ve got a nurse, a cop, a criminal, a man of lowly status-cum-unsuspecting hero, some general riff-raff and of course, a dick; well, a couple actually. The camaraderie we see develop throughout their time together in the mall gives the majority of the movie a pleasant atmosphere (which is rather misleading, its not hard to spot the lingering sense of doom) and helps to reinforce the horrors of death when people start actually getting picked off. However due to the size of the cast, its hard to really get as close to the characters as we did in the original (we even loved Flyboy in the end, didn’t we?).

Dawn of the Dead romanticises the zombie holocaust and will no doubt capture the imaginations of many viewers that have not yet explored what the zombie genre has to offer (See: Return of the Living Dead, The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue and Braindead). Snyder has managed to create a film that doesn’t particularly aspire to be named as a re-make; it ventures off into its own little realm and matches up to its predecessor with commendable prowess.

Director: Zack Snyder
Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Boyd Banks.
Year: 2004
Genre: Action/Horror
Buy: Amazon UK