Running zombies are very scary

Rating: Null/10 (23 March 2004)

MASSIVE SPOILERS CONTAINED WITHIN - SPOILERS - SPOILERS - SPOILERS
This is a big budget remake of the 1978 George A. Romero classic and because it's the new millenium it comes slicker than an oiled weasel. I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, the original is the better version but it does something different being more a statement of american consumerism than a straightforward horror film. This remake pretty much discards this in favour of jump out your seat shocks and lashings of gore.
A young nurses life is destroyed overnight by the advancing hordes of the living dead, she barely escapes from her zombified partner and hooks up with a tough cop and a young couple expecting a baby amongst others. They eventually end up seeking shelter in a local mall with the dead waiting outside for them in ever increasing numbers.
Gone are the blue faced shambling corpses of before and in their place are the screaming rotting RUNNING turbo zombies. A lot of people are complaing about these next generation zombies saying they're not scary. In my mind if you're not terrified by the decomposing corpse of a loved one running at you at high speed to chew your face off then there's not much in this life that holds fear for you. Personally i find them terrifying even if they have been lifted straight from "28 Days Later".
The movie is well paced, it doesn't waste anytime at the start and in doing this conveys the speed at which society collapses in the face of the zombie threat. The characters have no time to take stock or reflect as they flee and neither do we. Things slow down slightly as we reach the mall, many new characters are introduced including the obnoxious and possible slightly unhinged CJ and his security goons. Some of the new characters are somewhat pointless (old man and red lipstick girl anyone?) and by making the survivors group too large we loose time with the characters that we are meant to care about (Sarah Polleys nurse and Ving Rhames Cop for instance).

The film goes it own way and doesn't stick closely to the originals plot. There is no biker gang, in this film the threat comes staight from the zombies. For a relatively inexperienced director this is a good move, given the films tone it would have felt clumsy to have shifted the focus onto a human conflict midway through. The only thing that leaves a slightly bad taste in the mouth is the inconsistancy of some of the characters, it's almost as if the second half of the script underwent some major changes without the first half being revised afterwards. CJ's character changes midway through from difficult controlling dimissive gun toting security nut to heroic save the day self sacrificing good guy. I don't know if scenes were cut showing some sort of character development but this doesn't seem to ring true. Another female character after being level headed for most of the film sacrificies the safety of the whole group to rescue a dog which has been with them for a very short period of time.
The films final two or three minutes are the most effective with a blair witch style camcorder section. These last minutes give a confusing snap shot of the groups progress after the mall ending with a....well i won't spoil it but let's just say those last shots stayed with me long after the film ended.
In conclusion this film does exactly what it says on the tin, scares the bejeezus out of you for about two hours. If you want ironic post modernism humour go rent scream or something, if you want your horror with a dash of social and political statement then rent the original. If you want to soil yourself with terror in a cinema along with the rest of the audience and see a chainsaw make a welcome return to the genre then go see this. Four of five wibbles.