Dawn of the Dead

Recently, J and I watched the remake of the horror classic Dawn of the Dead. Having never seen the original Dawn of the Dead I will not be able to compare the remake to the original. I will say this however, seeing the remake of Dawn of the Dead seriously makes me want to see the original.

Dawn of the Dead is about a young woman, Ana played by Sarah Polley, who wakes up to find that everyone in her town, including her husband who is sharing a room with her, have all turned into zombies. Ana runs out to her car and eventually runs into another group of survivors. All of the survivors gather together and decide that their best plan of action is to hide out inside a shopping mall where the zombies supposedly cannot get to them.

Dawn of the Dead was not what I would call a horror movie. It is suspenseful, yes, but not scary at all. Unless, you're scared of zombies, then you might not want to watch. But anyway, the movie is much more sad than it is, scary. The ending is completely depressing and yet extremely realistic, well as realistic as it can be with dealing with zombies. But you must, must, must watch the credits to see the full ending of the movie. If you turn off the movie before the credits you will completely miss the effect of the ending.

Dawn of the Dead is not the best horror movie I've ever seen. However, it is the best horror zombie flick I've ever seen. I specify horror zombie flick because Zombieland is the best zombie movie I've ever seen but it is no where close to being a horror movie. The gory costumes that the zombie wear in the movie are disgustingly realistic and amazing. The images of legless zombies with half of their faces gone is equally as disturbing and helped to create the tense and unnerving feeling in the movie. However, the scariest thing about the movie was actually one of the very first scenes. Ana wakes up to find that a little girl in her neighborhood has turned into a zombie then witnesses her husband transform into a crazed zombie. The idea that someone you love and care so much about could ultimately be the person who kills you is just too terrifying.

Sarah Polley who plays Ana was a very good actress. Her emotions of fear and sadness were both extremely believable. However, the best actor in the movie, who played one of my favorite characters, was Ving Rhames. Rhames played a tough cop who was the "leader" of the surviving group. He was an extremely believable actor. I could feel his pain when one of his friends was killed and I could also truly feel his anger towards and fear of the zombies.

I would recommend Dawn of the Dead to anyone who likes zombie movies. But you don't have to be a zombie fan or even a horror fan to enjoy the movie. Dawn of the Dead is a well-made, disturbing, and sad movie, but would be a good movie to watch on a rainy day.

-H