Dawn of the Dead

The original Dawn of the Dead (1978) was a colourful mix of social commentary, black humour and gory effects work. Romero's cannibalistic zombie hordes, instinctively amassing outside an enormous mall in which a handful of survivors are temporarily holed up, stand in quite nicely for America's all too human consumer capitalists. The remake, from first-time director Snyder (formerly of commercials), keeps much of the gore and loads up on the laughs, but eschews all pretence at cultural criticism in favour of high-octane, almost nonstop action.