10 Movie Remakes Better Than The Original

7. Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

Universal Pictures

The original might be hailed as one of the greatest zombie movies of all time - with a social critique on commercialisation and capitalism whilst building upon the zombie law - but the remake of Dawn of the Dead somehow surpasses it whilst giving zombies more bite to them.

After the superb Romero trilogy ended, the genre all but dropped dead for years, and it seemed like the undead hordes that craved brains were a thing of the past. That was until Zack Snyder’s 2004 violent remake help resurrected them for the mainstream. And yes, 28 Days Later released around the same time, but after Dawn they were here to stay.

Zombies were scary again. From very the opening encounter with the young girl silhouetted in the doorway to the climactic van escape, Dawn of the Dead is a terrifying heart-pumping journey that arguably has a superior fleshed out cast of characters compared to Romero's 1978 original. Even Andy from the gun store across the street feels like a fully fleshed out part of the group and for the most part, he’s only ever seen holding up signs.

No longer did the plot have to rely on a group being dysfunctional as for the most part this new group overcome their differences rather quick. Give or take a zombie baby. For one of the rare times in the genre, the humans are the least this group have to worry about.

Whilst remaining true to Romero's work this stand-alone story is a perfect update for original, and should certainly be considered the pinnacle of zombie genre.

[Ben-Roy Turner]

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.

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