The Underground Man

Dawn of the Dead - oh, goodie!

Ok, I admit it. I'm a B-film scifi junkie. I love B-films. Some are bad, some are great, but I watch them all. I admit that I don't know exactly what defines a "B film", but "Ah knows it when I sees it" (engage Southern drawl). I think the term may come from "A list" actors--and their absence from these films.

This promises to be a relatively high-budget effort as they've got Ving Rhames in the film (how on earth did he agree to this?). I think he does "cool" better than most actors out there today and he will be the sole reason I see this film in the theatre rather than waiting for it to hit DVD.

It appears to be a remake of the original Dawn of the Dead (1978) where our protagonists are trapped by George Romero's zombies in a shopping mall (this was some sort of social statement in the first film). It's almost satirical and has some very quirky humour mixed in with the blood and brains. As far as zombies go, I think a new high water mark was set by the British thriller, 28 Days Later.... Though Resident Evil comes close as well. Not nearly as spooky but very stylish nonetheless.

I think it's pretty funny that the shopping mall in question (in the new film) is in Everett, Washington. I've certainly shopped in that mall.

I don't know what it says about Hollywood when it feels compelled to remake even B scifi flicks. But then, Hollywood has never been populated by our best and brightest. They seem compelled to remake even very good foreign films for the American audience--as if we couldn't appreciate the original because it wasn't with actors we knew or in English.

Posted by artandscience at February 27, 2004 01:37 PM