attack of the zombie marathon runners

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2004)

I've soured on horror films lately - aren't they just the most repulsive things ever? - and yet "Dawn of the Dead" won me over simply by being, well...exciting! Most of the gore is confined to the first few minutes (the worst of it, anyway), and the rest of the film relies more on tension than violence. So there's not too many long, lingering shots of people being eaten alive - thank goodness.
Of course it's no masterpiece, but then again neither was the original (I don't think that a few comparisons between zombies and mall shoppers makes for an insightful social commentary!). The main thing is that it's a bloody good siege story, and the characters - though thinly developed - are likable enough that you want them to survive. I figured that Rhames and Polley would be good, but the surprise show-stealer here is Jake Weber's Michael, who distinguishes himself from the crowd by not shouting all the time.

Huge gun battles, a pair of cool armored buses, and loads of tragic deaths keep the film rockin' on until the surprise climax, which is a bit too snide for me, but nonetheless effective. I'm not sure I like the running zombies; they're very "28 Days Later" and very human-like in their movements, whereas the original lurching brand of zombie seemed more alien and therefore more frightening. Still, faster zombies means extra action and a greater chance that the heroes will be caught, so there's both pluses and minuses to the new approach.