2004, R, 97 minutes

Dawn of the Dead is a supercharged, action-packed remake of the 1978 George A. Romero horror classic. Again, a zombie plague wipes out most of the world's population. A few survivors manage to seek refuge at the place where any respectable American consumer would find comfort: the mall. The similarities between the two movies pretty much end there, as the new one emphasizes action and wisecracking shtick over the character development and subtle humor of the original. However, this slick remake delivers the goods, providing an entertaining and wild ride.

The end-of-the-world scenario comes as quite a shock to Milwaukee nurse Ana (Sarah Polley). Within a couple of minutes, her husband turns into a blood-thirsty zombie, and she narrowly escapes her home with her life. Pandemonium is everywhere, with the undead sprinting around neighborhoods on a hunt for human flesh. Soon, Ana meets up with a small group of fellow survivors (including Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer). With nowhere else to turn, the group hides out in the local mall. No zombies inside, only a trio of armed mall security guards who don't exactly roll out the welcome mat for the newcomers.

Once barricaded inside the mall, the survivors have to come up with a game plan. They paint S.O.S. on the roof for any helicopters that might happen by, to no avail. Their only contact with the outside world is a guy on the adjacent rooftop of a gun shop. As the parking lot becomes swarmed with zombies, a truckload of fellow survivors arrives. Could they already be infected? It's only a matter of time before the aggressive zombies will infiltrate the mall (otherwise, how would the audience get the bloodbath it craves?).

There are a few too many characters in Dawn of the Dead. Some of them barely register before becoming the walking dead. Polley and Rhames play perhaps the most intelligent of the survivors, but most everyone succumbs to dumb horror-movie behavior at some point. Despite knowing an infected person turns into a zombie just moments after death, nurse Ana has no problem with leaning over a dead body or two, just to check vital signs, of course.

The movie is at times as dumb as one of the brain-dead walking corpses, but that doesn't mean it isn't fun. Director Zack Snyder (a commercial and music video director making his feature debut) keeps the carnage moving along at a brisk pace, and consistently delivers both laughs and scares. Snyder is not above going for the cheap scare, grabbing every opportunity to make the audience jump. The movie delivers the gore that admirers of the Romero version would expect, and then some. The fate of Phifer's pregnant girlfriend alone makes this one worth seeing for horror fans.

Fans of the original Dawn of the Dead need not worry. The main accomplishment of the remake is that it makes you forget Romero's film (as great as it is) in the first five minutes. In updating the zombies-in-a-mall classic, director Snyder ups the action and humor for modern audiences, who will hopefully want to check out Romero's version after seeing this super-sized remake.