Nothing Tops the Original, But in an Age of Lame Remakes

Rating: 9/10 (18 October 2006)

This one is 1000x as good as the current spate of remakes of classics like the "Hills Have Eyes" or the "Omen" which is so derivative, why bother. Face it, Romero's original DotD was the greatest movie ever made, no debate. This movie can't reach that mark, of course. But Zach wisely recycled old zombie motifs, characters and settings but came up with something good and original.
Don't worry, there are tons of great zombie head shots, and I ain't referring to cameras. There is the coward, Steve, who screws the rest. There is the big black guy, Ken, who is tough, but isn't good at organizing. Mike is the main character: one of life's losers who has a good way with people and can foresee danger and new approaches, besides having a conscience. Ana, Sara Polley is cute and tough, but not like one of today's psycho woman Rambos. She is emotional and sensitive but understands that this ugly new reality requires extreme measures, which she learns to take. Besides, she brightens up the screen a bit. There is the bad-ass security guard CJ, who after his little tyranny is overthrown, becomes a tough fighter. By far, CJ has the best lines and pretty funny in his tough guy way;"You can take your ass over to the Quality Inn if it's still there, Shaq! ". Throw Andre, some black hustler, his pregnant Russian wife Luda, and a scrappy working class pair, a few girls and a Matt Frewer cameo, and you have a basic Canadian ensemble type of casting. Of course, the usual references to the original: "tv spots" by Scott Reninger, Ken Foree and Tom Savini(who recreates the sheriff from Night), Qualpeco truck, and Gaylen Ross boutique and you can see that Zach acknowledges his master. It is more serious than the original, without the zombie as consumer theme. The action scenes are great, but I could live without the slow motion shots of spent shell casings hitting the floor. Also, his zombies are speed freaks, not the lumbering, kinda harmless looking ones you'd expect. His one great scene of horror, the shootout with the crazy hustler and the truck driving woman which leads to the discovery of the newly born zombie baby. That was true horror with a minimum of gore. But Romero's low budget classic used a real mall and got real firemen, soldiers and cops to help out for free. His little crew worked for next to nothing. Though it is crude by today's cgi, it's semi guerrilla movie look is endearing. While this one, hardly a huge budget, has all the gloss the old one lacked, as well as having some good B level actors like Mekhi Phifer, Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley. a must for any horror buff, an absolute necessity for a zombie fan and a remake that won't hurt or upset any fans of the original.