Zombies have invaded Milwaukee.
That is the basis of the new \Dawn of the Dead,"" a remake of the second of George A. Romero's ""Living Dead"" trilogy (""Night of the Living Dead,"" ""Day of the Dead"") originally distributed in 1979.
The people of Wisconsin awaken to find their world turned upside down with the undead terrorizing the streets searching for (and feeding on) human flesh. Five survivors head for the safest place they can think of: the mall. They hole up there and other survivors come and go, while they battle the zombie army waiting outside and plan for escape.
With all of its dark humor and wisecracks, ""Dawn of the Dead"" turns out to be more of a comedy-action flick than a horror movie. There are more laughs than cringing or shrieking moments, including some very funny rooftop games played between the mall residents and the owner of a gun shop across the street. The song choices for the soundtrack also provide some humor.??You hear tunes such as ""Don't Worry, Be Happy"" played over the mall sound system and a comical remake of Disturbed's ""Get Down With the Sickness"" played at exactly the right moment.
The most noticeable difference between the old and new movies is the new zombies barely resemble the undead from the original. Thanks to advances in special effects makeup and the use of colored contacts, these zombies look more demon-like than the originals. And they are faster too. Some may remember the zombies from the original movies hobbling along at a relatively slow rate, allowing their victims some time to run away. These new zombies are fast, even keeping pace with cars. This makes the scenes move noticeably faster and provides for a few more ""jump-in-your-seat"" moments.
One mistake in this movie is the over-development of its characters. In a horror movie, the audience should be on a need-to-know basis about the details of a character's inner workings. It does not need to be known that Mekhi Phifer's character is a gangster thug who has done some bad things and wants a better life for his unborn child. These are unnecessary details in what should be a zombie blood bath horror movie.
The characters also seem too stereotyped. The lead female is too preachy. The wiseass is too big of a jerk. The characters become unbelievable and you end up wishing they would just die already.
Along those same lines, it's always disappointing to try and include some romance in the midst of a horror movie, especially a romance that is not very believable in the first place. With all these attempts at a plot, the zombies become kind of a background noise, when they should be the focus of the movie.
Romero's original trilogy opened the doors for the ""undead"" genre and redefined horror movies. It is doubtful that this new ""Dawn"" will have the same kind of impact. The movie is no doubt entertaining and very funny, but those looking for a scare won't find it here.
