pleasantly (?!) surprised

Rating: Null/10 (1 April 2004)

As a long-standing fan of the original Dawn of the Dead i was apprehensive and a little insulted to hear of news of a remake. How dare anyone presume to remake what is in my opinion a classic movie?!
My initial hostility got me wondering about just how a remake could fail and i decided, to my surprise, that what made the original DotD so memorable wasn't its gory effects, convincing characters or interesting locale but its attempt at social commentary. So jaded have i become over the past couple decades that i expected a DotD remake to be a vacuous, irrelevant Zombie effects spectacular with - ahem! - no soul.
How wrong i was. What i got was not only a finely made movie with some terrific acting, effects and (notably) sound work but also a terrifying glimpse of how life might be if the infrastructures of civilisation were to collapse. And it has left me reeling in its wake. The remake DotD is truly disturbing...
Ask yourself this: "How much do I rely on the goodwill of others and, in a crisis, how far could I honestly claim other people could rely on mine?" and you have the terrifying question raised by this movie.
The central characters, of which there are three (IMO), are altrusitic archetypes: a cop, a nurse and a 'nice guy' with time for everyone. These are the pillars of civilised society, the givers and understanders, but they soon find themselves in a situation where they are faced with selfishness, pride and fear - a sort of hell on earth, as one character observes.
As the film progresses, and the zombie threat grows to truly overwhelming proportions, it becomes more and more obvious that the true threat to the survival of the 'heroes' is the dependability of the people they are trapped with. Should they admit other survivors knowing they may be 'infected', should they just bide their time and wait for a rescue they know isn't coming, should they hatch a daring escape - all of these issues are argued over with the effect that as a viewer I found myself sympathising with all views and wrestling with the fact that my own ethics and morality had become as strained as the characters in the movie.
Not wanting to seem trite or over-reactive, in this day of terrorist threat and tension the DotD movie does raise a very valid and frightening question which left me with a genuine sense of anxiety and dread that i hadn't felt since i was much younger and watching films like the original DotD.
I got what i least expected from this film, it frightened me. But it also entertained and left me with hope for an otherwise flagging horror genre.
Go see it, and congratualtions to the producers.