Down With The Sickness

by Brody Rossiter

Dawn of the Dead is not a horror picture rich with slow-burning frights. There’s copious amounts of death, destruction, shooting, stabbing and horrifying resurrections to gnaw upon – and it’s all rather thrilling despite its gory simplicity.

The narrative thrusts together an unlikely collective of characters and propels them toward increasingly deadly threats brought on by the massing zombie hordes. Whether making the perilous journey to restart the generator in the parking garage or being forced to put a group member out of their misery before they get snappy, there’s lots of visceral fun to be had. Despite his filmography being somewhat maligned of late, Zack Snyder choreographs set-pieces with an addictive sense of urgency – fostering a bloodlust in the viewer to match that of the snappy antagonists clawing at the doors and windows.

The film could easily be recognised as the most instantly gratifying and impactful contemporary zombie film out there. Yes, it spawned lots of mediocre action-horror in its wake, but when your heart begins pounding for all the right reasons, that unfortunate fact is easy to swallow.