Cinematic Cotton Candy

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2005)

When I first heard "they" were redoing "Dawn of the Dead," my heart sank. How could anyone recreate the magic and thrill of the 1978 classic? Well, they didn't ... but the movie was entertaining enough that I have now watched it thrice.
The opener really sucks you in. It's creepy, visceral, and glues you to your seat. It's so good, in fact, that those first 5 minutes provide enough juice to carry you through the rest of the movie, no matter how bad the rest might be. Fortunately, the next hour and a half is pretty interesting, too.
The directing and photography really help the film; it creates a cold, wet, slippery atmosphere well-suited to the zombie sub-genre. Normally the shaky, documentary-style camera work would be inappropriate for a zombie flick (I find it irritating in almost any movie), but this one is different from other zombie movies in ways that make the technique tolerable.
As scary and fun as "Dawn of the Dead" is, it lacks something. Maybe there was too much heavy metal in the soundtrack, or maybe the characters did one too many unbelievable things. But I've never just sat back and said "whoa," or had much to say to my friends about the movie. Like cotton candy, it's tasty and you'll probably want it again, but it leaves a funny, unpleasant aftertaste.
The new "Dawn of the Dead" stands head and shoulders above most Horror films that come out these days. But it hardly clears the original's waistline.