A remake that doesn't make you cry (but does make you scream)!! A short review...

Rating: Null/10 (9 June 2004)

Zack Snyder, the director of Dawn of the Dead, turned down SWAT in order to make his first movie an 'R' rated. Obviously a fan of the genre, Snyder's first feature length is a remake that doesn't make you gag and scream pillage on the original (!!!). Based loosely around the 1978 George A. Romero (schlock-maestro of horror) classic, this version can certainly stand on its own merits. The screenplay is Romero's, tweaked by James Gunn  this being his only meritable mention, as his present other screenplay is now haunting parents everywhere as Scooby Doo 2  and really does offer plenty of belly laughs along with out and out adrenalin-pumping terror.
The story begins with soft undertones of things to come disquiet is raging in the background of idyllic suburbia, and hell is unleashed before the movie title even lands on screen. Your blood is pumping while narrow escape after narrow escape is launched, and your skin tingles at the thoughts of waking up from a settled sleep to discover that the world has gone mad and, as the tag line goes, hell has overflowed onto earth. The zombies have graduated to movable frights  they still have the familiar shuffle of the original 'Dead' trilogy, but once spying human flesh, they become more like the terrifying windmill speed demons of '28 Days Later'. They trail towards the mall en masse, and moan and drag until the scent of human flesh drives them into frenzies. Our heroes barricade themselves inside, all human stereotypes  the jock, the kid, the tough- cookie, the hard man, the redneck, the mother, the pregnant woman (even a dog joins the foray), as zombies wage war on their prospective dinners.
The movie genuinely does make you jump, (stay past the credits for the ending) and the comedy/terror combination of the original does not falter  watch out for the jazz version of 'Down with the Sickness' at a perfectly timed moment. Johnny Cash also provides a scary tune (no shock there), and the music ties in perfectly with high tension moments  particularly a zombie chase which ends in a lift with elevator-music'I like this song', quips a cast member. To follow his train of thought, and finish on a plaudit, 'I definitely like this movie'.