It is 6.37 am. Ana Clarke's husband collapses to the bed after Vivian, their next door neighbour's little girl, takes a chunk out of his neck. Ana throws the girl out of the bedroom and she slides across the hallway. She watches in horror as the girls springs to her feet with the agility of a gymnast and, screeching like a rabid stray, charges towards her.
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| "Call an Ambulance!" |
Boyle's 28 Days Later featured running 'infected' in 2002 and there's no denying it paved the way for a massive increase in popularity for the apocalyptic survival horror genre. At the time however, it was referred to as 'not actually a zombie movie', a statement that years later Mr Boyle denied. It was a zombie movie, just a little different.
Zack Snyder's remake of George A. Romero's 1978 classic had a lot to live up to.
When the movie hit cinemas we anxiously set off to see what a mess they'd made of one of our all time favorites. We were pleasantly surprised.
Snyder's remake delivers at a terriying pace that keeps up with modern blockbusters and the action sequences are intense and believeable. The movie is an ensemble piece, dispensing with the small group of the original and introduces a significantly larger and relatively well rounded cast of varying archetypes with a little more depth than the usual cliques.
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| Dawn of The Dead (2004) - Ensemble cast. |
Ana's (Sarah Polley) development through the movie is not necessarily clear and sometimes shifts a little too easily; a sore point with many, but the performances are top notch. Rhames is superb as Kenneth, a definite nod to Foree's Peter and Jake Webber's Michael plays a very strong supporting lead.
The production is terrific and, as a Hollywood big budget affair, the effects and make up are as good as they come. The additional footage in The Director's Cut release doesn't make significant changes, but if you're a fan of the film, they don't detract and Andy's 'Lost Tape' is not to be missed.
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| Andy (Bruce Bohne) |
Look out for cameo's from Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini and Ken Foree. Snyder is clearly a fan the master's original work. Romero is reported to have said about the movie "It was better than I expected. ... The first 15, 20 minutes were terrific, but it sort of lost its reason for being. It was more of a video game. I'm not terrified of things running at me; it's like Space Invaders. There was nothing going on underneath."
Fans of the genre were split down the middle with regards to the movie working or not but one thing's for sure - for every person that says 'original' somebody else pipes up with 'remake.' The 2004 movie was unquestionably apocalyptic and gets a Zombie Shop thumbs up.
We certainly don't think Snyder's Dawn trumped Romero's or that running zombies are the 'correct' zombies, but there's no denying that runners, artistic licence or not, are darned scary. The 2004 remake has earned its place as a must-have movie in the great zombie library.
What's your take? Runners or Shamblers?
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