Dawn of the Dead

A remake of George A. Romero’s eponymous film, Dawn of the Dead follows a handful of characters, including Sarah Polley’s Ana and Ving Rhames’ Kenneth, as they take refuge from swarms of zombies within an abandoned shopping mall. Filmmaker Zack Snyder, working from James Gunn’s screenplay, opens Dawn of the Dead with an absolutely enthralling pre-credits sequence detailing Ana’s discovery of the zombie outbreak, and it does seem, certainly, that the stage is being set for a briskly-paced and impressively visceral horror endeavor that bears little in common with its deliberate predecessor. And while that generally does turn out to be the case, Dawn of the Dead is never quite able to live up to the (admittedly massive) promise held by that first few minutes – as the picture segues into an entertaining yet entirely by-the-numbers midsection that’s only sporadically effective. The less-than-captivating vibe is compounded by a roster of characters that, for the most part, come off as overly familiar and one-dimensional, and it’s clear, certainly, that the exceedingly talented cast’s ongoing efforts at breathing life into their less-than-fresh figures are hit and miss (at best). By the time the admittedly exciting and engaging third act rolls around, Dawn of the Dead has cemented its place as a good-enough horror endeavor that generally does feel as though it could (and should) have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****