Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Director: Zack Snyder

Writers: George A. Romero, James Gunn

Composer: Tyler Bates

Starring: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, Kevin Zegers, Michael Barry, Lindy Booth, Jayne Eastwood, Bruce Bohne, Tom Savini, Ken Foree

More info: IMDb

Tagline: When the undead rise, civilization will fall.

Plot: A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman, and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.

My rating: 7.5/10

Will I watch it again?  Maybe but I'll re-visit the original a few times first.

While it's not an easy task to remake a film as good as DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978), the people behind this one did a great job and made something worthy and still maintains a sense of fun and horror.  The cast is great.  Ving Rhames needs to be in everything.  Ty Burrell plays a deliciously selfish asshole and you know from his entrance that he needs to die. That adds to the fun of when and how.  I liked having Andy across the street and everything that happened between him and the group at the mall.  All of that stuff was really nicely played.  What surprised me most was how they avoided the massive amount of jump scares and dumb shit you find in 97% of modern horror movies, the kind of shit that'll ruin a film (at least for me).  It's Zack Snyder's first movie.  I didn't know that.  That guy's career skyrocketed pretty damn fast after this.  Then there's James Gunn's screenplay.  Good flick.