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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 52.69%
Worth A Look: 27.42%
Average: 7.53%
Pretty Bad: 4.3%
Total Crap: 8.06%
13 reviews, 108 user ratings
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| Shaun of the Dead |
by Erik Childress
"Nobody Gets Zombie Humor Like The Brits!"
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Hollywood is so busy trying to mix their peanut butter-and-chocolate franchises that they normally overlook the proverbial boat by the length of an ocean. Instead of seeing how Freddy would react to Jason or another group of stupid humans battling monsters, why not shift the focus to cultural satire? You’re just as capable of having the stupid humans and the usual monsters, but twist it up enough to play off the eccentricities and offer another society’s retort to the end of the world. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright have done just that and it certainly has to rank as the funniest apocalyptic romantic zombie gorefest you’ve ever seen.Not-so-jolly ol’ Shaun (Pegg, in a truly great performance) is barely holding onto a bunch of things. He’s disrespected in his managerial position where the age of 29 is considered ancient. His lovely girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield, resembling Cate Blanchett’s hotter younger sister) is tired of being taken to the local pub as his idea of a romantic evening out on the town. He’s been reduced to sharing a flat with his old schoolmates; his best bud Ed (Nick Frost) is a part-time drug dealer who never met a couch he never got off of.
Life in general is so typically malaised that the early joke of the film is that no one seems to notice that the undead are slowly decreasing the population. Despite news reports and sirens penetrating the streets, Shaun keeps his head down and focused on his selfish priorities. He’s not a bad chap, just a guy with a focus away from an existence that has all but turned its back on him.
Soon enough though he does take notice. With the walking dead moving at their more traditional pace, Shaun and Ed have more than enough time to process that the pale, bloody gal in their garden isn’t just sauced beyond recognition. A hole through the stomach reveals that sort of tip-off. It’s off to save cheery mum (Penelope Wilton), disassociated stepdad (scene-stealing Bill Nighy) and, most importantly, a chance to take the woman he loves to his favorite watering hole one more time.
Watching these individuals try to out-think their predicament to maintain a modicum semblance of their everyday life manages to feel more real than the heroic and screaming ragtags complacent within horror films. Defending your most acknowledged safe harbor and maintaining your record collection make sense, doesn’t it? After all, what are you going to do if you manage to survive? The clever epilogue ties in an outlandish solution with the state of the world as seen through the eyes of discontented workers and video game enthusiasts.
SotD overuses its spoofing of quick cuts, especially as their penchant counterpoint for the dry humor of the UK early on. But the dialogue becomes crisper, the callback jokes increasingly inspired and everyone’s response to the predicament takes on a wonderful absurdist quality that appears to even place one of their pitstops through the bizarro world. Not that it would be such a far stretch considering it’s a rather accurate appraisal of the film’s territory.The film unfortunately settles in for a less-humorous and more traditional zombie-under-siege finale (which upon second viewing is even better), but it’s still treated with a respect for the great genre creations that have inspired it. References to Raimi, Romero, Landis, Dawn of the Dead’s Ken Foree and even a clever jab at Danny Boyle’s infected rage monkeys of 28 Days Later are just part of the fun. You’re aware the filmmakers have paid attention over the years and even if you haven’t, Shaun of the Dead is still a bloody blast. How often do you get to watch a zombie get the hell beat out of him and still find an arguably better use for a Queen song than Wayne’s World or Flash Gordon?
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link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=9265&reviewer=198
originally posted: 09/24/04 14:28:53
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USA
24-Sep-2004 (R)
DVD: 21-Dec-2004
UK
N/A
Australia
07-Oct-2004
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