I didn't write the last two days because I had nothing to say.

But, I *did* see Dawn of the Dead yesterday, so now I do!

Top 10 Reasons Dawn of the Dead kicked ass:

10: The soundtrack
They dug up that old Jim Carroll classic "People who've died" for the closing credits, as well as Disturbed's "Down with the sickness". I own a Disturbed album. I got it because of their re-make of Tears for Fears' "Shout" but I like it nontheless. And "Down with the sickness" rocks. So does Lounge Against the Machine's version of the same song, which makes an appearance about a third of the way through the movie.

The nice thing is they don't overdo it. Most of the time the music is unobtrusive. Sometimes you get a metal soundtrack and the damn thing is so annoying it kicks you out of the movie.

9: Johnny Cash
Maybe I should list him with the soundtrack, but they played "Man Comes Around" over the opening credits. Kewl!

8: Scott Reiniger and Ken Foree cameos
They were two of the actors who appeared in the original. It was a nice touch; Ken got to repeat his famous line about no more room in Hell. Gaylen Ross, who played Fran in the original, didn't want to do a cameo but in honor of her they named one of the stores in the mall after her. I don't know if David Emge made a cameo, or not. I didn't see him credited anywhere.

7:Tom Savini cameo
Tom Savini is 'Da Man' and made a career out of realistic make-up effects. He also has done some acting. He appears here as a sherriff on tv (a nod to Night of the Living Dead) explaining that a head shot is the only way to bring a zombie down. It's always kewl to see Savini (last seen as 'Sex Machine' in From Dusk til Dawn which owes its pedigree to Romero somewhat, as well).

6: Sarah Polley, Jake Weber and Ving Rhames
They played the leads. The movie had a bunch of people in it and I can't tell you any of their names (except Rhames' cop was named 'Ken' and there was a guy named 'Andy'. More on him later). I have a memory from Hell, anyway. Polley plays a nurse who is obviously scared, but can think on her feet without going into SuperChick mode. Jake Weber has this ordinairy face and plays a concientious, nice guy who tries hard to think straight in a real tough situation. Rhames is a no-nonsense cop who doesn't take charge as much as tries to cope.

Despite minimal character development, these actors did a fine job bringing some distinction to their characters and making us feel for them. Like I said, there's tons of other characters, including an ex-gangsta and his pregnant Russian wife, three security guards from the Mall that everyone flees to (is it my imagination, or do mall security guards get no respect?), and a truckload of zombie fodder. Some of these characters get some character-defining moments, others are just there.

5: Stupid chainsaw tricks
I'll leave it at that. Saying more would be a spoiler.

4: Andy
Across from the Mall is a guy who owns a gunstore who is trapped in his store by himself. He and the mall denizens strike up a long-distance friendship using whiteboards and binoculars. He and Ken especially bond. He is a likable character, and we don't even get to spend much time with him close up. Some of the saddest and most chilling scenes in this movie involve him.

But I'm singling him out because he's a GUN STORE OWNER!! Since when did Hollywood allow a gun store owner to be portrayed as such a likeable person? Don't they have a law against that? Isn't he supposed to be a narrow-minded redneck?

3: Zombie head in the ice chest
Okay, that was a spoiler. But *heh*!

2: It scared me.
Now it wasn't pure horror terror scary, but I was on edge. And yes, I had zombie nightmares. I'm wondering if the Ephedrine I'm taking didn't have some to do with it. It puts me on edge, ups my aggressiveness, and definitely makes me jumpy. I was holding onto my husband's arm pretty tight during this movie. As someone else said, this movie owes as much to James Cameron as to George Romero. This movie reminded me some of Aliens, especially when our little group decided to get out of Dodge.

You might think I'm touched, but I thank whatever God that exists that I can still have these kinds of reactions to stupid movies. I know it isn't real, but I love the fact that for little chunks of time, I can forget that and just let my emotions take me wherever the movie goes.

1: Zombies! Zombies, zombies, zombies!!!
And they died (again) and in many varied squishy ways. The original DoD was ultra-gory and was released un-rated (I was 15 at the time. My sister Andrea and I spent quite a while finding a theater that would let us in). I was surprised (and happy) at the amount of gore this movie had. I'm sure on subsequent viewings I will find out that I imagined much more than I saw. The kewl news is the director has promised to put back what he had to cut out to get an 'R' rating. Nifty!

This movie wasn't perfect, but damn it filled my flesh-eating zombie needs just fine. My biggest nit is they really had no reason to leave the mall. As someone on a forum pointed out, they were in Minne - freaking -sota. The first nasty storm of the winter and you would have nothing but zombie-sickles to walk past. But that's a *small* nit. If people didn't do dumbass things in horror movies, there'd be no movie.

I'd write more, but I actually have to work now. *Whine*.