DAWN OF THE DEAD
Directed by Zack Snyder
Starring Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Jack Weber
Now playing
**** (out of five)

The new Dawn of the Dead isn’t as much a film as it is a debate about remakes, at least for movie geeks. Peruse the message boards at most active horror-themed websites and you’ll find lively discussions (plus all-out flame wars) over the merits of Hollywood’s makeover of a classic.

Hell, "classic" doesn’t even do it justice. George Romero’s 1978 film about a small group of zombie-holocaust survivors holed up in a cheesy mall is considered sacrosanct in the horror canon, and not just because it’s apocalyptically frightening and satirically humourous or because it’s a surprisingly insightful metaphor for consumer culture. More than that, along with Romero’s Night of the Living Dead it invented and defined the flesh-eating zombie movie.

But even that doesn’t adequately explain the protective attitude many have towards it. The original was an indie film shot for about a million bucks, which even by late ’70s standards was peanuts. Roy Frumke’s behind-the-scenes documentary Document of the Dead details the struggles of just getting the movie made. From shooting in a real mall after hours, to constant budget deficiencies, to co-star/special effects guy/stuntman Tom Savini throwing himself off the second floor onto a precarious pile of mattresses and cardboard boxes, Romero’s Dawn of the Dead embodies pure determination and rebel spirit.

Zack attack

Who the hell is this first-time feature director to hop on a sacred cow and take it for a $26 million joyride?

Fledgling filmmaker Zack Snyder was entrusted with both the most and least enviable remake assignment. Even the word remake is contentious these days, thanks to a dump of tired sequels, thoughtless genre rehash and pointless remakes (notably Gus Van Sant’s Psycho). The preferred nomenclature now is "re-imagined," and as far as imagination goes this remake is solid.

Written by James Gunn, who started on low-budget Troma productions and moved on to–ugh–Scooby Doo movies, the film reuses the basic premise of a diverse group of strangers fortified in a shopping mall against hordes of undead. Sarah Polley stars as Ana, a nurse whose husband is zombified by the neighbour girl and turns on his wife with incredible speed and ferocity. Snyder prefers 28 Days Later-style over-clocked zombies, which not only makes sense in an undead movie for the MTV Generation, but also thickens the atmosphere of hopelessness.

Ana barely escapes amidst the chaos of formerly sterile suburbia and meets up with Kenneth, a burly cop played by Ving Rhames. They join level-headed Michael (Jake Weber), reformed criminal Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his pregnant girlfriend Luda (Inna Korobkina) to find refuge at Crossroads Mall (hardy har). The group is initially given an icy reception by a trio of security guards, but stay and hold down the fort. Others eventually join them until there are about a dozen humans surrounded by countless hungry zombies.

Malled by the undead

Snyder, who, like Romero, got his start making commercials, touches on the anti-consumerist message of the original but doesn’t focus on it. There are no comical images of plodding ghouls falling off escalators, and the group doesn’t bore itself with consumer goods. They have their own reason for making a run for it, which leads to an inventive Road Warrior rebuild of the mall shuttle buses.

Primarily, this is an action movie with some humour, plenty of scares, and a welcome lack of poisonous irony that ruins so many movies. Much of its success relies on having genuine characters worth caring about who struggle to redefine the value of human life.

One of the best "re-imagined" threads involves Andy, a gun shop owner trapped on the roof of his shop a couple of blocks away. Using binoculars and a whiteboard, he jokes, plays chess, and converses with Kenneth. He’s got plenty of ammo, but is running out of food–the reverse of the situation at the mall. Should they help him? How can they help him? What will it cost them?

A key element of the drama in both versions of Dawn is the role of Game Theory, which essentially deals with how groups of people interact in cooperative and non-cooperative situations. The film constantly brings up practical and moral problems that the viewer negotiates in his or her own mind: "Would I risk myself to rescue that stranger, and if I did, how would I get over there in one piece?" The majority of choices in both films seem logical given the particular personalities of the characters. That unwavering core of diehard fans would like to dismiss Snyder’s Dawn as nonsensical drivel; they aren’t justified in doing so.

OK, so then how about the fact it’s not as socially aware as Romero’s version? Should it have updated the commentary on consumer culture–changed settings to a big-box store or a Costco? What else could it have said that Romero’s didn’t?

The right choice was made in transforming the tale into a fast-paced roller coaster ride through hell. Dawn 2004 doesn’t tread on the master’s coattails, which means Romero may actually get his forth Dead film made if someone doesn’t try to make it before him.

Movie exec zombies

The 64-year-old director, whose third social-commentary-through-zombie-cinema was Day of the Dead in ’85, has lamented in several interviews that he’s had a script ready for some time but meets with the resistance from studios and financiers that demand changes, or just aren’t interested. Romero’s last film, Bruiser (2000), didn’t open in Canadian theatres, and until it went out of print was only available as a no-frills import DVD.

This utter neglect of a celebrated director is the real cause for anger, not the fact that his most popular work was remade. Zack Snyder skillfully directed an excellent zombie movie that happens to be a much different version of the best zombie movie. The fact that the remake of Dawn of the Dead knocked another resurrection film, The Passion of the Christ, from top spot last weekend is a hopeful sign that a rookie director will help a great director finally get another day in the sun.