Day of the Dead: Zombie Defecation

Man... There is no doubt that 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later redefined the zombie horror and set new standards in all kinds of areas: acting, tension, character development, plot pacing. All of these things are almost or wholly absent from most of the zombie movies that have preceded or followed.

And in the post-28 Days Later world, a movie like this, even though it features vastly superior camera work and cinematography to most other zombie movies, doesn't cut it. In all other regards it falls into the abyss that traps most movies of the genre: crappy acting, characters you don't care about or believe, a story that drags its way to the end at the pace of a classic zombie.

Mena Suvari (American Beauty, American Pie) stars as an army corporal. For someone with her resume and experience, you would really be expecting more at this point. But she was cast massively against type, and seemingly simply because "Hey, we can get Mena Suvari!"

Ving Rhames Pulp Fiction, MissionL Impossible is apparently forging a position for himself in the zombie flick culture, as his role here follows his stint in the Dawn of the Dead remake.

Anyway, the nostalgic love affair with George Romero zombies seems to be continuing in Hollywood, and in this case, they brought in Friday the 13th mastermind Steve Miner to spice it up. And from a filmmaking perspective, it's passable in comparison to most other zombie movies. But the fact of the matter is, you don't care about anyone and it quickly descends into "How many different ways can a person kill a zombie or a zombie kill a person..."

The script does try to go briefly into the psychological capabilities of a zombie, which deserves some credit. But again, had I cared at all about the people involved, it would have been far more effective. And the physical abilities of the zombies made no sense. Sometimes they run at human speed, sometimes they run like The Flash, sometimes they scramble upside down along the ceiling a turbo-charged spider. But at least when I was trying to figure out just how far their superhero powers extended, my mind and attention were engaged in some way.

So, if you're a zombie movie fanatic, then this one will probably be above average. It falls somewhere below the Dawn of the Dead remake, and above Zombies on a Plane.

Two Bruce Campbell chins out of Ten.