Shaun of the Dead: Review By slysnide

Director Edgar Wright shares a writing credit with Simon Pegg in their first installment of their "Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy" with a spoof on the whole zombie genre. Unlike the tagline suggests, this isn't a romantic comedy with zombies, but rather a zombie spoof with romantic humor. Of course it wouldn't be anything new as we've all seen too many romcoms to stave through any more. But pair Nick Frost with Simon Pegg for the lead roles with Edgar Wright behind the camera and you've got comic gold.

George Romero has made only seven zombie films in his 43yr career. And nearly all of them are rehashes of their predecessor. Well, Edgar & Simon must've seen at least one of these films a few times as their zombie film takes shots at everything ridiculous about a zombie movie. The fact that most zombie films are all the same with differences in characters and locations helps this spoof out a lot. Such as culling from the hoards of typical questions like, why zombies always seem to have the element of surprise when they roam in droves? Why they're always so terrifying at a whopping one mile per hour? How the hell does the infection spread to everyone whom could save humanity except our dimwitted main characters? Why hazmat and the military in all their fortified might can't do jack with all their toys despite being locked behind impenetrable concrete bunkers (okay, George's "Day of the Dead" [1985] may have answered that one)? How we can quarantine microscopic killers, yet can't stop a few zombies? And despite supposedly being reflections of the dark side of human nature within us all, they seem to possess no logic? All are addressed here in comical ways. So how are they ever threats? Or case in point, whom would find them most threatening?

Enter two boozed losers Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost). They do nothing but booze at the local pub and play video games, except Shaun has a job at a lousy electronics store, and Ed doesn't work or pay rent, much to the dismay of their square roommate Pete the prick (Peter Serafinowicz). And Shaun's got a regular girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) who's clearly nothing special. Her roommate Dianne (Lucy Davis) is a somewhat crazy, happy-go-lucky girl. And the unbelievably dull David (Dylan Moran) is her secret admirer. Now you'd think all these nut jobs would be Shaun's worry, the fear of the average life. Yet the greatest nuisance to Shaun is everyone mistakenly referring to Philip (Bill Nighy) as his father rather than step father. Maybe it's because he's given up helping Shaun out of the ditch he's in to the point that Shaun's afraid to bring Liz home to meet him? Or perhaps the inheritance of genes from his oblivious mother Barbara(Penelope Wilton) is responsible for such trivial worries? [Such lovely personalities our survivors have!]

The chemistry between Shaun & Ed is what makes this film work at all. For you'll find no epic montages of the zombie apocalypse here, but rather two losers' journey across town to their favorite pub where they believe they'll be safe {Or at least be numb when the zombies come barging in}. Except Shaun faces the challenge of collecting Barbara, Liz, and possibly killing Philip with Dianne and David tagging along. But Ed's driving, rock music, and ignorance to the dangers abound will probably do them in before the zombies do. Not convinced? Well, to fully understand Ed's thoughts in this doomsday scenario, one need only read his shirt: "I Got Wood."

Shot almost entirely on location in England, this film delivers the laughs, blood, guts, gore, and typical elements of a zombie film, with a little bit of legit romance sprinkled on top. For while a romance typical to the romcom genre can only be made all the more duller in the dreary London setting. But with zombies? Then you've just bought yourself a good $8 worth. Poking fun at the fact that zombie films like to seem more energetic when they lack it sorely also plays in this film where the stupidity of the characters and their on the fly decisions kick up the kinetic energy that the zombie genre lacks. Or at least it did until Zack Snyder showed the world they could run in his remake of "Dawn of the Dead" (2004). But you get where I'm going with this. Most zombie films are slow and dull, laying out the 'been there, done that' response by their audience from the first day of pre-production, catering still only to young adolescents. But when you openly acknowledge all these things in a realistic manner, then it plays well. For let's be honest. How prepared would you be if --Uh I mean, when the zombie apocalypse hits? Surely not as much as the heroes in all the zombie flicks. Hence the harrowing journey of our survivors is probably more accurate than we give it credit for. Point being that this in itself is practically a legit example of a zombie apocalypse, as we all know there are plenty of dimwits out there. Doesn't "Parade Magazine" & "The National Enquirer" still make money? Doesn't MTV, MTV2, VH1, E!, "Jerry Springer," and "Maury Povich" still score high ratings?

So overall, this spoof of the genre and homage to numerous games like "Resident Evil" is actually far better than most legit zombie films, and for the sake of reality, probably is one. For as stated, they're all rehashes of each other, getting worse sequel after remake after spin-off. So why not give this a shot? I mean, how bad could this be guys?