If you liked the original at all-stay away from this one

Rating: 3/10 (10 June 2005)

One sure sign that your remake of a cult-classic and near campy 1970's horror film is bad, is that you make the film you're trying to improve upon look more like a masterpiece, and your film like unintentional spoofing. That is the case with this film, that starts out wanting to be taken seriously, and lost me quickly with a strange choice of music with The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash during a title montage of apocalyptic footage borrowed from your local Fox affiliate.
This film really only has the same idea as the original, everything else is newer. This time there are more people who stay alive (and die) in a shopping mall (though much of the film is outside, taking away the claustrophobic fear of the original) while zombies, that are fast and with a virus (ala 28 Days later) eat people (not the mysterious reason in the Dead series). For those who always thought fast zombies were scarier this movie proves otherwise. Seeing a zombie run is actually funnier than scary. Perhaps that worked in 28 Days Later because it was mostly in the dark, but in daylight it doesn't work. And this film misses all of the important points of the original classic.
Gone is the hellishly creepy and dirge like atmosphere, and the social commentary on decadence and racial issues. Another aspect this film loses with fast zombies is that they are now killing machines, not almost sympathetic near humans that aren't all too different from us. The dialogue is just dumb, and the plot is as well. The only part I did like was the addition of a gun-store owner who is trapped on a near by roof, but they manage to mess that plot line off also. Gone also is the character development, bumped up from 4 people to about 20 or so, most of whom we never get to meet before they get eaten.
Unlike the original this film stays away from philosophy, and is much shorter, about half as long, as Romero's version. The action is almost boring, it's not scary, and in many ways this film is more vulgar than the original in handling death scenes. The violence and gore was extreme and unnecessary in the first, but here it's just profane. You'll see what I mean. I doubt that you can say Romero's direction was sympathetic, but it was more thoughtful than in this one. And a happy ending? Come on, it's a zombie movie! Quick List: Best Zombie Movies