Dawn Of The Dead (2004)

Touched by the very hand of America’s living living-dead legend George A. Romero, 1978’s outstanding zombie flick Dawn Of The Dead needed a remake like it needed a hole in the head. Luckily, Zack Snyder’s—of 300 and Watchmen infamy—first feature-length film ramps up the pace and dumbs down the message enough that it’s like a completely different movie. Gone is Romero’s creeping intensity and commentary on capitalism, and in its place is Snyder’s heavily stylized, head-exploding carnage. But if you don’t use the original as a yardstick for the remake, it can be pretty fun to sit back and watch bodies pile up. 

Updated 01/26/2012