More babes, redder blood

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2004)

George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" has been a favourite of mine since I first saw it, in a heavily censored version, in Toronto in 1978/79.
I eventually saw the uncut version on video, courtesy of my older brother, who snagged the REAL version from a US video store; the frenetic pacing, cool special effects, nifty music & the STORY of the original "Dawn" all impressed me no end, and the film is easily in my Top Ten favourite films of all time.
I was dismayed when I heard about the remake, but, after seeing it this afternoon, I can say that I quite liked it, even if it is not as effective as the original, but it is a movie that reflects the time(s), and I think that it is not the travesty that I thought that it'd be.
First time director Zack Snyder does a good job, although some of his "tricks" are a bit obvious, and I think that there is perhaps too much blood, and the ghastly "thrash" metal on the soundtrack had my ears perilously close to bleeding (that said, the use of a certain Jim Carroll Band tune over the end credits is inspired).
The new "Dawn" takes the original "survivors of a zombie apocalypse holed-up in a shopping mall" (Toronto's Thorncliffe Mall), and expands upon it, adding more survivors than the original had; also, it has to be noted that the cast of the new "Dawn" is top-heavy with fabulous babes, notably the lovely & talented Sarah Polley, who plays an ass-kicking nurse with much aplomb.
Other babe-a-licious cast members include Lindy Booth, Inna Korobkina, and Kim Poirer, all of whom will probably be seen sporting bikinis in the pages of "Maxim" any day now.
The guys in the film all fair pretty well, too; Ving Rhames is as solid as ever, and Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, and especially Michael Kelly as the p***ed off mall security guard, are all splendid.
The fact that the zombies in the new version are considerably faster than the slow-moving ghouls of the past owes more than a little to the speedy living dead of Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later".
To sum up, the new "Dawn of the Dead" is pretty decent, and has babes to spare, but for a more thoughtful (and more fun) time, buy the original.