Shaun of the Dead

By John Reppion

When fans of Channel Four’s Spaced first heard that series director Edgar Wright and co writer Simon Pegg were working on a zombie film together, expectations were naturally high. However, no one (Pegg and co included) could have anticipated the world wide success of Shaun Of The Dead; the self proclaimed first rom-zom-com.

Shaun (Pegg) is in his late twenties, working in a dead end job with his dope dealing best mate Ed (Nick Frost) living on his couch. He and his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) have been having some problems recently; she thinks Shaun’s too stuck in his ways and decides that it would be best for everyone if they split up. After a night of drowning his sorrows in the local Shaun wakes up, with a hangover, to a London suddenly filled with the living dead. He needs to get Liz back, but he also needs to stay alive. Cue zombies being clobbered with cricket bats, pummelled with pool cues, smacked with spades and assaulted with ashtrays as Shaun and a small band of friends, family and acquaintances battle their way towards the safety of…the pub?

Combining the visceral horror and full on gore that one would expect from a “proper” zombie film with all the pop culture reference of Spaced and the quirky Britishness of a Richard Curtis romantic comedy, Shaun Of The Dead is a masterful blending of genres which offers, literally, something for everyone. It’s laugh out loud funny from start to finish but there’s never any question of the genre being parodied here; the zombies are deadly serious.

The film is crammed with genre references and, as with Spaced, Wright borrows lots of shots, angles and set ups from other films (as he himself points out the DVD commentary track early scenes of subdued urban panic in the film were heavily influenced by Philip Kaufman’s Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, for example) but it’s done very openly, with a great deal of affection and always manages to stay on the right side of the thin homage/rip off line.

Shaun Of The Dead is more than just a fantastic zombie film; it’s a fantastic film full stop and comes pretty damn close to being perfect in my book. It’s so well balanced in terms of comedy drama and horror that it’s almost impossible for me to criticize, short of saying “it should have been longer”.

Shaun of the Dead

A Review by Jon Walmsley - trioxin.wordpress.com/

Here we have a film that knows how to play the homage card. Subtle references along with blatant imitation all wrapped up in an original, funny and great little British movie. And oh, how British it is. Smashing people around the head with cricket bats, listening to Queen records, having cups of tea and sandwiches around at your Mums, and of course… The Pub.

All us Brits know that the solution to life's problems can be found down at the pub, so when a Zombie outbreak occurs for Shaun and Ed they decide that easily the best thing to do is to go to the boozer. Just as when Shaun needs to think of a place to take his girlfriend he suggests the pub. And also when he gets dumped by his missus the best thing to do is to… go to the pub. And why not? There is beer there, snacks, games, music and TV so why wouldn't you want to spend your time there?

Featuring a great British cast from some of the greatest TV comedies of recent years (Black Books, Spaced, The Office, League of Gentlemen…) they are all obviously just mates, but great at what they do here too - mostly playing for laughs, but going for the serious moments when needs must.

Anyway, I should discuss this film for it's Zombie credentials I suppose. That's what i'm here for after all. The zombies here are PROPER zombies, all shuffles and groans, not running and vomiting or anything these new-fangled undead seem to do these days - just straight up flesh eaters. Slow and stupid enough to easily escape from, but it's the quantity that's the problem, as it should be. Loads and loads of the pesky critters litter the streets, and get smashed, run over, gored and shot at. Plus they eat and dismember plenty of humans too, which is to be expected.

It's a great little number, and one of the best Zombie films of the past 10 years. And amazingly it's possibly the only Romantic Comedy that I can actually enjoy without wanting to tear my own limbs off.