'Dawn of the Dead' makes a good ride

Rating: Null/10 (20 March 2004)

Dawn of the Dead (2004) Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, Kim Poirier, Kevin Zegers, D: Zack Snyder. Not-bad remake of the 1978 horror film, under the same name, wastes no time putting a young nurse (Polley) in danger after her boyfriend is bitten by one of the undead. Then she comes across a police officer (Rhames) and other survivors, and together they blockade their Milwaukee town's shopping mall from the zombies-who this time move a lot more quickly rather than staggering along. One bite and it's only a matter of seconds until they resurrect as a ghoul. Not much plot here as you would expect, but it's slick, fast-paced, superior acted, and efficiently packaged with wisecracks, gruesome blood and gore, and effective scares. Running Time: 100 minutes and rated R for pervasive strong horror violence and gore, language, and sexuality. ***