Devastating

Rating: 10/10 (11 January 2005)

This film is one of the most remarkable horror films I have even seen. Despite its origins, Dawn of the Dead 2004 never feels like "merely" a remake of a sequel: it feels like a totally new movie: it deserves a fresh approach, and comparisons with Romero's version are unnecessary.
From harrowing, uneasy beginning to the devastatingly dark ending, the film is alive with plot and pace, with dialogue that really crackles and sounds like it's coming from characters rather than a clunky expositive screenplay. This last is particularly surprising in a zombie flick: it's a genre in which the best dialogue usually comes from the zombies themselves.
Character development is taut but it is at least present. I especially liked Ana, the nurse who's given a split-second to realise what's going on, and she grabs the keys, and gets the hell out. CJ's transition from convincing, frustrating hard-case to team player is 100% genre, but he plays both so well that it's hard to fault. The isolated Andy cultivates a real warmth and I was just heartbroken when he meets his bitterly ironic end. Even the passive characters, the ones we just know are going to die, give us the impression that these are people we've only just met, rather than people who are waiting to die when they reach their allotted page in the screenplay. I certainly didn't want the trucker lady to die. In any case, up-against-it survival horror doesn't give much opportunity for long, complex character arcs: there isn't enough time, but the acting is so refined that the character moments always feel substantial, and we have the casting director to thank for that.
The gore is visceral and convincing - though a few of the scares are a little over baked, particularly the zombie childbirth, torture to watch, for sure, but not as scary as it should be because we see it coming from miles off. However, these suspense less mis-steps pale when compared to the verve of the faster scares - The parking garage chase, the little girl at the beginning, the chainsaw through Nicole's arm in the bus, and so forth. The zombies themselves are horrific: fast, crazy, determined, and with incredibly creative and individual make-up effects.
And the ending just destroyed me.