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No doubt there are worse ways to remake George Romero’s 1978 zombie classic than that taken by first-time director Zack Snyder in this film. The new Dawn of the Dead barely qualifies as a remake, since it uses little more of Romero’s original than a few lines of dialogue and the basic concept: a band of people gather in a deserted shopping mall to stave off an attack by cannibalistic revivified human corpses. The characters, such as they are, are new. Sarah Polley is a nurse whose boyfriend is zombified in the first reel; Jake Weber is a nice guy who happens along; Ving Rhames and Mekhi Phifer are cops; and there are three security guards who play fascist for a while. The film makes no effort to update the story; as far as cultural references and behavioral details are concerned, it could be taking place in 1978 (or even 1958). Little mileage is got out of the shopping-mall setting, whereas the mall was half the fun, and the point, of the original. On the plus side, the acting is better than necessary, the special effects are savage and persuasive, and the undercranked action scenes are enjoyably frenetic. (97 minutes)
BY CHRIS FUJIWARA
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