Stephen King praised the “brilliant” remake of a 70s horror film

Stephen King, throughout his writing career, has created numerous works that were later adapted for the screen and terrified generations of viewers, including “The Shining” and “Misery”. There is also considerable interest in King’s own tastes, as he occasionally shares his insights on films and TV series.

In 2010, in the updated version of his book “Danse Macabre”, King spoke very highly of Zack Snyder‘s “Dawn of the Dead”, praising the director’s feature-length debut to the point of calling it brilliant. He added that it contains one of the best opening sequences in horror history. In the film’s prologue, Ana (played by Sarah Polley) escapes from zombies during the outbreak of an epidemic. King writes that he most effective horror sequences result from instinct or chance, rather than from the script or direction, and this is one such case.

King added that casting Sarah Polley as Ana was beneficial, because if a bigger star (like Julia Roberts or Charlize Theron) had played the role, we would know she would survive. The author described the opening sequence as a “sonata of unease.” He concluded his praise of the film’s prologue by saying that Snyder clearly knew what makes people scared.