Very peculiar are remakes that do very little in the way of actually remaking the film in their title. The same can be said for Steve Miner's Day of the Dead (2008) which is no more a remake as it is its own zombie picture with a handful of events from George A. Romero's legendary original re-invented for continuity's sake.

But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it will have many calling this just another shameless remake/re-imagining that really has no reason to exist. But as its own zombie film, and not one that should draw comparisons to Romero's classic Day..., there are surely worse. Moreover, director Zack Snyder's very successful 2004 remaking of Romero's definitive Dawn of the Dead has, surprisingly, been hailed as one of the best remakes/re-imaginings of the new millennium, so this film certainly has a lot to live up to.

I should probably mention right from the jump that this film is very unlike Romero's original: zombies sprint and crawl on ceilings, there is no underground bunker for the better part of the film, and perhaps more importantly, there is none of that wonderful subtext that was so prevalent in Romero's film(s). But in the end, that works just fine for Miner's remake due in part that this isn't the slow thinker that Romero's classic 1985 shocker was. Some viewers may not appreciate Miner's stylized, go-for-broke direction and all-style-no-substance approach to screenwriter Jeffrey Reddick's script, but it can't be argued that this material does differ greatly from the source's. At least in that regard it gives it a reason to exist. If nothing else it makes for a pleasant hour and a half of zombie slaughtering and people-munching.

Completely unrelated to its direction and approach, and even with its R rating, Day... (2008) does manage to deliver the goods in the gore department also. It doesn't begin to approach Romero's film in terms of on-screen bloodletting, but there is certainly enough gore here to satisfy. Although lacking on the intellectual front where Romero's films excelled so well, Day... (2008) works purely as cinematic junk food. While a remake of a classic zombie film such as Day..., which in itself works largely as a human vs. human drama, it would probably be best handled if written and directed more akin to the original. Call it a highly miscalculated flaw, but this different approach to a familiar setup manages to work quite well. Although Miner's will probably never be hailed as a cinematic masterpiece, it's a relatively painless way to kill 87 minutes.