DayoftheDead2008

Day of the Dead (2008)

When a small Colorado town is hit with what appears to be a flu bug the army is called out to quarantine the town and contain the bug. What no one, including the soldiers on the ground, knows is that a chemical weapon has mutated and is turning the locals into flesh eating zombies. Though they will all realize it soon enough as the virus runs it’s course and the zombies rise up (running and wall climbing – more on that later). Into this mess is a young solider named Sarah, who happens to be a local and goes to check on her mother and brother. Have they become infected, and if not can she save them?

So I’ve stated in many reviews that I really wanted to like the movie that I was watching. Then of course I’ve ripped it a new one after trying to convince everyone that I’ve given it a fair chance. If I am to be honest with myself I sat down to watch this re-imagining of the George Romero classic with nothing but disdain. I was determined to dislike this movie from the very beginning, but I just couldn’t do it. Now I’m not saying that it is a good movie, because in many ways it isn’t. But to judge this movie fairly I have to compare it to all zombie movies, including the original Day (which this one doesn’t come anywhere near to) as well as the other independent zombie movies (which this one compares favorably to). The story is tight and wastes little time getting to the good stuff. The zombies show up early and often, which makes for some great fun. The entire sequence in the hospital where all the infected freeze at the same time right before turning into zombies is creepy and effective. I also thought the hidden military base and chemical weapon explanation, while not terribly original, worked very well and setup the end of the movie nicely. At the same time I hated the zombies in this movie. Running zombies is bad enough, but ones that suddenly jump around crawling on walls like Spiderman is a bit much to take. I also thought the whole bit with the radio station was simply there to add a few minutes to the movie and felt unnecessary and repetitive. Oh god and the whole Bud (not Bub this time) story line about the vegetarian zombie was so stupid that my head hurt.

Other than the wall crawling sprinting zombies the most disappointing thing about this movie is all of the CGI gore. Some of the zombie makeup effects are handled with practical effects, but most of the attacks and all of the bullet hits are CGI. I really don’t like CGI and it gives the movie a “video game” feel to it that just doesn’t work for me. The CGI gets really bad in the big finale with all kinds of digital blood flying in every direction.

See now I’ve managed to write this review without comparing this 2008 version to the classic Romero film. The truth is that it just doesn’t compare favorably in any way whatsoever. That said I still would rather watch this zombie movie than the piles of other direct to DVD zombie movies that I’ve forced myself to sit thru. Not really a recommendation, but if you can rent it on the cheap (maybe those dollar rentals that big chains advertise on occasion) you might want to check it out.

2 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer