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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Steve Miner
Mena Suvari (American Pie)
Nick Cannon (Underclassman)
Ving Rhames (Dawn of the Dead (2004) )
Supplied By : First Look Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : June. 10, 2008
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| PLOT A mysterious virus has infected the small town of Leadville, Colorado, and the military is brought in to enforce a quarantine and stop the spread of the disease. As people perish, survivors realize that the virus is creating the walking dead who crave human flesh. Only a small number of people are immune to the virus, and those few survivors must battle to fend off the infected zombies while trying to make it out of town alive | ||||
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| THE REVIEW In this 2008 remake, DAY OF THE DEAD tells the story of the small town of Leadville Colorado that is plagued with Flu like symtoms, as the victims die from the virus, they rise from the dead, stronger and hungrier than ever. With the town overrun by zombies, a small group of survivors, including a young Corporal, Sarah Cross, armed with makeshift weapons as well as your standard firearms the band of survivors fight for their lives, all the while eventually discovering the orgin of the deadly virus that has claimed the town. Before writing about this film, I guess I should start by saying that I have never really been a fan of George A. Romero's "Dead" series of films. I can't tell you why, but I just have not been an avid follower - so with that, said, I went into this film ready to take it with an open mind, rather than to bash the film each and every time it wasn't accurate to the original, as most people have already done. Unfortunately, due to the countless theatrical and other direct to DVD zombie flix, DAY OF THE DEAD's set up is all too familiar, and has very little about it that would be considered original. A small town is plagued with Flu like symptoms which later guarantee their deaths, but before we know it, the dead rise to live again, attacking all that survive. In the mix of all of this, like any zombie picture, we have a small group of survivors left to fight for their lives....they also serve as something for us, the audience to root for. What bothers me the most about Zombie films these days is that they are most of the time, too comical, or too drawn out in places, which render them boring, at least that's my opinion. In this remake of DAY OF THE DEAD, we see some of these same faults, albeit some are more prominent as others. For one, as far as the characters go, they are for the most part thin and lacking in areas such as background and believability. In speaking of rooting for the characters, with this film we do, but maybe not as much as we should. I feel we know a little about our characters, but not enough. One character that deserved more emphasis is Corporal Cross(Mena Suvari) - we get that she is tough and independent, but we never connect with her emotionally - maybe better developing the relationship with her and her mother that has fallen ill with the symptoms would've helped cement this connection so to speak. We do get a touch of such a relationship with the fascination that a young Private named Bud has with Cross even well after he is part of the undead....in particular the undead's resident Vegetarian. I also have to say that i'm sorry, but I do agree with the complaints that Nick Cannon as Salazar, is just plain annoying with his over-the-top, made to be funny(that's actually mostly unfunny and predictable) hood sense". I do understand that this is a modern "hip" update of classic, but do we really need Salazar to spit out just about ever ebonic cliche in the book over the course of the film's 85 minute runtime? The film's strongest point lies in it's faced paced action scenes. Even though the characters aren't the strongest here, the action is fast and exciting as it is entertaining. It seems that in the film everywhere the characters turn is another zombie or two, thus it keeps you involved and interested. There has also been more complaints than anything else when it comes to the film's zombies in general. Firstly, they move too fast for someone who has just risen from the dead - you'd think that rigor mortis would hinder their movement to that of a slow, lurking pace, but instead they run as fast as as the latest gold medalist in Track and Field - it just doesn't feel, nor day it look right. Also in one particular scene, officials mention that an attacker(a zombie) had hidden bodies in a closet....this and other instances, give us the impression that not only do these zombies haul ass.....they are also smarter than your average zombie of the undead. All in all, if you go into this one with a clean slate, not worrying about the film's title or if it lives up to the original that the said title comes from, you'll find that you have a flawed but still surprisingly entertaining film overall. |
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| GORE
METER 5.5/10 Lots of head explosions decapitations and split heads......it's pretty fun. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 4/10 Honestly, I don't remember much of the film's score, but the film does feature Damone's song "Out Here All Night"(from the album of the same name) in good placement. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Overall, I wouldn't venture to compare this DAY OF THE DEAD remake to the original, because I feel that they are 2 different kind of films and should be viewed as such. As a standalone zombie film, without any ties with the "Dead" series it is quite entertaining, and most importantly it's a fun time, and usually that's all I look for in a film. (on a side note, why is the character of Sarah Cross credited as "Sarah Bowman" in the credits....it makes no sense seeing as she was referred to as Cross throughout the film.) |
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