Grade: B

Verdict: A rotting good time -- if you like that sort of thing.

"I was able to sit through only the first 15 minutes of 'Dawn of the Dead,'สำ squeamish New York Times critic Janet Maslin wrote in her review of George Romero's potent follow-up to his masterful 1968 flesh-eating zombie film, "Night of the Living Dead."

Maslin might have been more disturbed at a recent preview screening of the unexpectedly entertaining re-make of "Dawn of the Dead," because there were some 30 gored-up zombies hanging out before the movie even started.

The outrageous decomposing bunch, known as "nether spawn," usually only come out to scare people around Halloween at Atlanta's Netherworld Haunted House. But this night they were at the theater, rooting for their favorite creeps. And, judging from their hoots and hollers, they seemed to like what they saw.

"Dawn of the Dead" circa 2004 certainly isn't nearly as good as Romero's highly regarded 1978 original. But horror buffs and "Dead" aficionados will have a blast yucking along with all the genre in-jokes (Q. "Is everyone there dead?" A. "Well, deadish!") and comparing and contrasting first-time director Zack Snyder's update with similar series movies.

In this tale, a small group of survivors flee to a deserted mall in suburban Wisconsin, lock themselves inside and band together to fight marauding hordes of tissue-chomping corpses who have suddenly regenerated to roam the Earth. Why such a thing is happening doesn't really matter. Sarah Polley as Ana, the nurturing nurse; Ving Rhames as Kenneth, the big, strong cop; and Jake Weber as Michael, the sad-eyed salesman, do a good job conveying the terror, outrage and even humor of the incredible situation.

Romero's take was a critique of modern American society: zombies as symbols of its rampant, mindless commercialism and consumerism and the mall as the focal point of its excesses. Snyder gets that -- which isn't surprising considering he's spent most of his career shooting spots for the likes of Audi, Budweiser and Nike.

His Crossroads Mall is a garden of unearthly delights, where the refugees slurp lattes from Hallowed Grounds Coffee, feast on PFK Chicken and try on strange new clothes while insipid Muzak drones on in the background. Particularly perverse is a scene in a baby shop, where Mekhi Phifer, as street tough Andre, takes his pregnant girlfriend to give birth to their first child. Uh-oh!

Bottom line: Snyder gets the horror thing too. The first 10 minutes of his "Dawn of the Dead" are a dizzying, paranoid thrill ride that resolves into some equally cool credits (with Johnny Cash singing the apocalyptic "When the Man Come Around"). That relentless pace isn't sustainable, and the movie bogs down at times. But it also has some suspenseful set pieces and several black comedy interludes. In one of the best, the survivors perch on the mall's rooftop with high-powered rifles and pick off celebrity look-a-like zombies: "Get Jay Leno. No, get Burt Reynolds. OK, Rosie O'Donnell."

"Dawn of the Dead" 2004 isn't likely to find its way into the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, as Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" did. And its graphic gore and brain-splattering violence are definitely not suitable for children or anyone else who's easily upset. If you like campy fright movies, though, this is an unpredictably fun one, right down to the closing credits.