10 Movie Remakes Better Than The Original
7. Dawn Of The Dead (2004)
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]