Dawn of the Dead (2004)

The sweetest friendship in Dawn of the Dead happens across a parking lot, on whiteboards. Ving Rhames’s Kenneth is stuck on the mall roof, Andy is stuck on top of his shop across the street, and they trade notes and chess moves over a sea of the undead. That’s the movie at its best: lonely, specific and a little funny. The opening is legit great too, with Sarah Polley’s Ana waking up to her quiet suburb falling apart in one terrible morning. The problem is the middle. Too many survivors pile into the mall, and most of them exist to argue, make one bad call and leave. Zack Snyder’s sprinting dead are scary in a fast, loud way, though the film leans on noise over dread and keeps things more frantic than gross. It made $102.3 million worldwide on a reported $26M. A 6.8 because the setup and the rooftop pen pals beat the crowded middle. $3,987 says you walk into a mall this month and quietly pick which store you’d barricade yourself in.

What works: The opening morning is a gut punch, and the whiteboard friendship between Kenneth and Andy is the most human thing in the movie.

What doesn’t: The mall fills up with survivors who exist only to argue and make bad choices, and the middle stalls under all that bickering.

Who it’s for: Zombie fans who want them fast, and anyone who has ever wondered which store they’d hole up in.