Dawn of the Dead (2004)★★★★★

As you may have guessed, I love this movie. I saw it in theaters when it came out. Twice. And I almost never see things in theaters. I know it’s not perfect, but I’d be lying to myself (and my readers) if I rated it anything less than 5 out of 5. Today’s viewing confirmed that, of course.

(Spoiler alert. There might be a lot of spoilers for this one.)

This is the first thing I ever saw Ty Burrell in and while Steve is no Phil Dunphy, he’s definitely my favorite character in this movie. From the sex scene in the mall to the boat videos to Ana shooting zombie Steve in the face, every scene he’s in is awesome. And speaking of Ana, can I just say that I love Sarah Polley? I love Sarah Polley.

And did I mention Ving Rhames is in this? Because he’s in this, and he’s awesome. Kevin Zegers and Lindy Booth (familiar names to readers of this blog by now) help round out a really great cast, including appearances by Mekhi Phifer and Matt Frewer.

I know some folks were upset that Zack Snyder’s zombies weren’t the classic Romero slow-moving zombies, but not me. Slow zombies are creepy, but fast zombies are terrifying. Oh, and this movie will see your kid zombies from the original, and raise them a baby zombie. It’s pretty epic.

I love the soundtrack choices in this movie. From the Johnny Cash song playing during the title sequence to Richard Cheese’s cover of “Down with the Sickness,” every song is just perfect. The mall sounds are all pretty awesome as well.

I’ve watched this movie so many times but it never gets boring. The pacing is really great – you get a lot of action and a lot of character development, which is something most horror movies don’t pull off. And it means that you actually feel bad for everyone with more than 5 minutes of screen time, even the more annoying characters.

I love this movie. I really, really love it. In fact, I’m thinking about watching it again right now…