Could be worse, but not much

Rating: 6/10 (13 January 2008)

Well, i saw this movie last weak in a sneak preview, and was really surprised it had such a good rating (especially because it seemed that everybody in the cinema hated this movie). At first, the idea behind the story isn't that bad, but in my opinion too much inspired by dawn of the dead and half-life. Some people are trapped in a supermarket and threatened by an unknown power from the outside. It could have been a really haunting movie about a group of people in an extreme situation, with some suspense added by the supernatural powers from the outside, and somehow it really tries to be this movie. But there are 2 big reasons, why this doesn't work:
1.) Most of the characters act too stereotyped, and after some dialogs you think: "Did he really say *this*", and thereafter: "Yes he had to, he's the classical hillbilly/snob/leader/whatever". You're getting either annoyed by the stereotypes, or you have to laugh about them. So you can't take the movie seriously anymore, which destroys the whole atmosphere the setting could have constructed.
2.) There's an religious fanatic, and you are hating her after she said two sentences. And the director let her do several monologues about several minutes, which are that annoying that they really keep you from enjoying the movie.
So i gave this only 2 stars. It was technically well done, but i would strongly recommend to watch dawn of the dead instead of this one (the remake), because the situation is quite similar and the people act much more realistic.