Dawn Of The Dead: Critic Reviews

Snyder, making a killer feature debut, trades homemade cheesiness for knowing style, revels in the sophistication of modern special effects, and stomps off with the best remake -- er, 're-envisioning' -- of a horror classic in memory.

Mr. Snyder's blood feast is strictly by the numbers: this second-rater could be the world's most expensive Troma film.

A soulless but speedy redo of George A. Romero's two-hour-plus 1979 original about a mall and flesh-eating zombies.

Has many of the elements that made the first Dawn so darkly entertaining.

It more than surpasses the original.

Few of the original movie's political and philosophical preoccupations (abortion, capitalism, patriotism, individualism) remain. Instead, the remake feels like the product of the PlayStation era.

Only gore-thirsting teens will be satisfied.

The joke isn't fresh, but it holds up well in this crackling remake of George Romero's 1978 sequel to Night of the Living Dead.

Dawn of the Dead is a rarity: a horror movie in which every laugh is intentional.

Smarter, tighter and far scarier, start to finish [than the original].

Dawn of the Dead works and it delivers just about what you expect when you buy your ticket.

Romero's movie was both scary and satiric, but this reprise, directed by British TV-ad wiz Zack Snyder, is neither.

A surprisingly touching parable of community and the human spirit -- a terribly scary parable with a ridiculously high body count.

A shallow but potent gore-gasm that will make audiences scream, whoop, cringe, laugh and yell at the screen.

A big chomping horror delight, Dawn of the Dead reworks director George Romero's zombie classic with gobs of blood, buckets of black humor and enough cocky style to induce giggles between shivers.

Dawn of the Dead is just plain fun.

Whereas the resonance of Romero's film (and of 28 Days Later) derived from its ability to involve auds emotionally with a few spartan protagonists, here viewers don't spend enough time with any of the characters to feel such a connection.

The remake adds little to the genre and doesn't bother with character development.

Save your quarters for the video game.

[Sarah Polly] pretty much owns the picture, beginning with a slam-dunk prologue that establishes right off that this isn't your dad's Dawn, despite a plot that hews fairly closely to the original movie.

You know Snyder isn't the guy for the job about five minutes into the proceedings.

For those who enjoy tight, tense, graphic horror, this movie offers an ample helping.