Satiric but not Satanic. Dawn of the Dead can't live up to the great original

Rating: 6/10 (25 June 2005)

Screenwriter James Gunn tries to add some new twists to George A. Romero's creepy 1978 script. But it's a hard act to follow. Our story follows registered nurse Ana ( Sarah Polly ) Who takes to the hills
with the rest of the Milwaukee area after her husband is murdered along with half the town by packs of rampaging zombies. It isn't long before she crashes her car off the panicked highway and runs into still human police officer Ken, played by the always excellent Ving Rhames. Banding together while dodging and executing the zombies alike, they meet up with a few more straggling survivors led by Mikhi Pfifer who has a pregnant girlfriend in desperate tow. In dire need of a safe house, and learning that many potential havens have been overrun by the bloodthirsty dead. They finally have to settle for breaking in to a large shopping mall. The problem with this, compared to Romero's genius original idea is that all the surprise element is gone for fans of the 1978 film. And the shocking quaintness of the inhabitants taking advantage of the mall's finer points seems lost in the shuffle of some pointless twists. In other words, during Romero's story, you could feel enough horror as to where you could picture yourself locked inside the mall. And you could relate to the extreme relief the raiders would be feeling in that situation. I didn't feel the same sense of urgency and therefore terror here. We don't even see that much of the mall. Instead, we have a revolving door of new characters most soon to be zombie food. And none all that interesting. In the original the cast was narrowed. Making it much easier to cozy up to the characters. Here a hard rock soundtrack keeps kicking in, not much of a substitute for Romero's eerie elevator music. There are some pluses, both Phifer and Rhames give credible performances as men in an impossible situation. Seeing how naturally these fine African American actors blend seamlessly with the rest of the cast, is a credit to Romero's vision. When 'Night of the Living Dead' debuted in 1969, Romero was ostracized for going with a black or 'Negro' leading man. He was told at the time that it was an outrage which would not wash with white audiences. Well here we are thirty six years later, and because of pioneers like Romero, black actors get the opportunities they deserve, while we scarcely notice the difference. All in all, I'd say 'Dawn of the Dead is not a total loss, it just doesn't approach the queasy horror of the original. And even though these zombies run much faster. Were still not quite as frightened that they might catch up. actually, this film is much more like an American version of '28 Days later' the British zombie takeoff, than it is to respecting Romero's Satanic vision. Good entertainment, but not permanently scarring horror. 6 out of a possible 10 T.H.