Day Of The Dead (2008 Remake) - One of my favourite bad films

Let's get this out the way... `Day of the Dead' (2008) is awful. Pretty much everyone absolutely hates it. I can completely see where they're coming from. If you've heard negative criticism about this film then it's probably justified. However, saying all that... I still enjoy it every time I see it.

The title has been lifted straight from (zombie Godfather) George A Romero's 1985 dark and brooding film of the same name. And, if you've seen the original Day of the Dead and are wondering how this remake relates to it, it can be summed up in one word: names. Many of the characters share the same names in both films.

Perhaps the 2008 film's main fault is that it shares the name of a classic and people therefore attribute words like `remake' and `re-envisioning' to it. Plus Dawn of the Dead was remade in 2004 (and it was actually highly thought of!) and Ving Rhames stars in both, leaving many people to wonder if Day 2008 is a sequel to Dawn 2004 (it isn't).

So... on to the faults. For a start there's the casting. Not only is Ving Rhames' presence confusing, but he's the best actor there and he's completely underutilised. Then you have Mena Suvari as the tough solider in charge. That just doesn't ring true. She neither looks nor acts like she's in the military and is more the `token pretty face.' Many people have pointed out how the film is called DAY of the Dead and most of it takes place at night, plus the survivors don't reach the missile silo (the 1985 version's setting) until the end of the movie. The zombies seem to turn at random whenever the story needs another scare and - most bizarrely - they have the ability to run up walls like giant spiders (but only when they're attacking pointless extra characters - when they're chasing Mena, they kind of forget they can run up walls and just run blindly into her gunfire)

One plus point people seem to agree on is that the zombies' are well made up and look pretty grisly. However, despite all the negatives, I still watch it ever now and again. If you can forgive them for using a classic zombie movie's name and look at this as nothing to do with the original, then you might find enough fun in it to keep you entertained for an hour and twenty minutes. And, if nothing else, you get to see a vegetarian zombie (no, seriously).

6/10 May just keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights