"Dawn of the Dead” (Universal Pictures)
“Dawn of the Dead,” which is playing in theaters now, is a re-make of the George Romero horror classic. As such it suffers by comparison. The original had a creepier and even wittier approach to the subject matter. This one plays it pretty straight and in that way loses something in translation.
The story starts out with a pretty nurse named Ana (Sarah Polley) finishing up her work shift. When she gets home she greets her husband and soon retires for the night. With the dawn a zombie appear in her home and things begin to go downhill. It seems the entire town is being taken over by bloodthirsty creatures who want to eat all the non-infected humans.
Ana manages to escape to a mall where she is joined by a policeman (Ving Rhames), a man and his pregnant wife (Mekhi Pfeifer and Ina Korobkina), and a mild mannered guy (Jake Webber). Later they meet some more survivors who take refuge with them.
The movie deals with the inner conflicts within the group and their attempts at escape. The mob of zombies seems to grow by leaps and bounds but they aren’t the brightest creatures ever seen. They seem to line up in order to be shot down.
No one in the cast is outstanding. They just all blend together in their misery. If anyone would stand out it would be Rhames, thanks to his attitude and size. Polley makes a rather nondescript heroine.
The movie has some scary moments but none that are “gotcha’s,” which means totally unexpected. The gore factor is high but there is nothing shocking in its depiction.
The movie is rated R for profanity and violence.
In a movie titled “Dawn of the Dead” you expect the chills and thrills to be there. In this re-make everything seems to have been toned down a notch. It’s an okay telling of the story but nothing that makes it special in any way.
I scored “Dawn of the Dead” a sunset 4 out of 10.
