Dawn of the Dead (2004)
By Aine

Finally, a remake that not only doesn’t suck, it’s also one of the most awesome horror flicks to come out in recent years. Almost from the very beginning you’re taken by jump-scare after jump scare. And these aren’t the slow, clumsy zombies of old, my goodness no. These zombies are fast and furious, and scary as hell.

A lot has changed between George Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead and this version, but it’s a good thing. There are more “survivors,” but I don’t want to give too much away. Ving Rhames is no Ken Foree, but he’s still pretty kick ass. And may I just say for the record, zombie children are cool as hell.

The female lead is a pretty blonde nurse and we begin with her heading home from a long day at work. She talks briefly with an adorable little girl on roller-skates, and then goes inside where she gets jiggy with her husband. While they are in the shower, they miss the news report of the zombie virus and go to bed with no worries…until they are woken up in the middle of the night by the little girl who is now a zombie, and proceeds to gnaw off half of the husband’s neck. He dies quickly then turns into a scary, and I mean SCARY, zombie and goes on a blood rampage.

She manages to escape to her car, but gets in an accident on the highway, and this is where we meet the other characters. She wakes after the accident and finds Ving Rhames pointing a gun at her, he is also a cop. They head through a tunnel where they discover a young couple and their companion, the woman is pregnant, of course. They all decide to head for the mall where the pregnant girl is attacked and bitten, but otherwise alright….for now.

They meet a few rogue security guards who are total jerks and they basically hang out in the mall for a long time and talk to a guy on his roof a few buildings away. Not much later a van full of people shows up, most are killed, or die quickly after, including a hilarious scene with a big fat lady in her night gown. Another great moment includes an infant zombie.

If I say much more beyond this I’ll give the whole thing away, but I can tell you it’s not anything like what happened in the original. Whatever you do, make sure you stay all the way through the ending credits.