Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Zack Snyder’s action-packed re-imagining of the 1978 George Romero classic is faster paced and scarier — and got in ahead of this century’s recent zombie craze.

Instead of creating a carbon copy of the first Dawn, screenwriter James Gunn — now the head of DC Films — plays with the basic premise of a group of human survivors finding refuge in a shopping mall during a zombie apocalypse.

Some critics feel that it lacks the witty satire of Romero’s work, but we think it holds its own, and its one of our favorite horror movies remakes. Also: Its zombies are a little scarier than the blue-tinged undead of the original Dawn of the Dead.

Also: The opening scene of this one is much more effective than the slow-burn newsroom panic of the original Dawn of the Dead.