Director reinvents zombies.

Dawn of the dead (Cert 18, 100 mins, Entertainment In Video, Horror/Thriller)

Starring: Sarah Polley, Jake Weber, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Inna Korobkina, Jayne Eastwood, Michael Kelly, Lindy Booth

Zack Snyder directs this snappy and largely faithful remake of the 1979 George O Romero zombie splatterfest, in which an invisible plague has decimated the world's population. A ragtag bunch of survivors of the holocaust from the Wisconsin town of Great Lakes City seeks refuge from the zombie onslaught in the Crossroads Mall.

These plucky few ( including resourceful nurse Ana (Polley), veteran police officer Kenneth (Rhames), electronics salesman Michael (Weber), street smart Andre (Phifer) and his pregnant wife Luda (Korobkina) ( use every meagre resource at their disposal to co-exist as the last bastion of humanity in a deranged world.

Dawn Of The Dead is surprisingly gripping. Director Snyder opens with a riveting pre-credits sequence that sets the tone brilliantly, as Ana and her boyfriend come face-to-face with an infected 10-year-old neighbour. The tension doesn't let up as the humans congregate at the Mall, where paranoia and fear are almost as deadly as the few zombies lurking in the various department stores.

Screenwriter James Gunn contrives a number of thrilling action sequences, subverting some conventions of the genre ( zombies don't just shuffle, they run at full pelt after their prey ( while reaffirming others ( zombies can't speak and growl menacingly. Thank goodness the undead aren't clever enough to smash one of the many panes of glass which block their entry into the mall.

DVD Extras: none stated.