Not as good as the original

Rating: Null/10 (21 July 2004)

I saw this film at the theater. I grew up on horror films and the first flick that truly scared me was the original Romero masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead. After seeing Dawn of the Dead in England and walking the dark, deserted streets home afterwards, I was hooked on the genre. Day of the Dead was the goriest of the Romero films, but the characters were not as developed as in his first two and in his remake of Night of the Living Dead, and so, in that sense, was the least successful of his four productions. I have led a somewhat adventurous life on several continents and consider myself afraid of little except free-falling from the sky and zombies. The idea of confronting either has made me question my courage. As a teenager the question of whether I would charge into the room to try to save people, knowing I would be eaten alive, tormented me. I could not answer the question. Now, after watching these films over and over, I am closer to the answer and I think I know what I would do. So, with this catharsis mostly behind me, I watched the "remake" of Dawn of the Dead with great interest. Being a hard core Romero fan (George, please make more!!)I had my doubts about zombies that seem to be in training for long-distance sprints in the next Olympics. Part of the horror in the Romero films (apart from the sheer disintegration of society) was the army of dead closing in with that disconcerting, shambling gait...the inevitability of them closing in and being eaten alive. At the same time, the possibility existed in these films that one could avoid that fate by moving and thinking quickly, by taking direct action to thin their awful numbers by a well-aimed shot to the head. In short, the characters in the film and more importantly, the viewer, had hope. With hope comes the chance of success and life, and this engages the viewer in the film. The original Dawn of the Dead was so successful because it was really a survival story of four people who relied on each other to recreate a sane corner of the world and they cared for each other. Therefore, they mattered to the audience. The remake -- missed a good chance in the beginning to show the progressive breakdown of society - rather, it is thrust upon us too quickly. The many characters offered a good chance for "cannon fodder," but unfortunately left the "main" characters somewhat obscure(I had a hard time finding out who they were until the others had been "picked off" and process of elimination revealed them to me). The original soundtrack was also better because it gripped the viewer immediately and sounded like a heartbeat. The music literally got inside you. I found the remake's soundtrack bland by comparison and the Johnny Cash tune to be wildly out of place. As for the hordes of Olympically qualified zombies, there was really no way to fight them. And so, no hope. Without hope, human psychology can simply shut off or shut down. I did. To survive. I am not trashing this film. I would see it again. What I lament is the absence of so many of the underlying techniques that made the Romero films successful. George, our once and possibly future king -- where are you? I rate the remake a 5.0.