DannyB's Shaun of the Dead Movie Review

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From the moment I first heard about this film I knew I had to see it. My campaign to get my friends hooked on rotting corpses was running out of steam after the atrocious Zombie Flesh Eaters 2. Shaun looked like it could win over the nay-sayers and stand out amongst a crop of mediocre modern horror.

It didnâ€™t disappointâ€¦

The story follows Shaun (Simon Pegg â€“ a well known face in British comedy) whoâ€™s life is going nowhere. He has a dead end job in an electrics store, heâ€™s hanging on to his girlfriend Liz by a thread, and he spends all his nights with his friend Ed in their local pub called The Winchester.
When Liz dumps him after plans for a fancy dinner collapse, Shaun decides to get his arse in gear and sort his life out. Heâ€™s going to get Liz back, heâ€™s going to get a decent job, heâ€™s going to stop living like a slobâ€¦

Unfortunately for Shaun the country is besieged by a zombie invasion.

Despite this monumental catastrophe, Shaun is determined to win back his girlfriend. He and Ed decide that action must be taken. They plan to get Shaunâ€™s mum, Liz, and her 2 friends David and Dianne and take them somewhere safe. However where is a safe, secure location that they know well? Why The Winchester of course!

Billed as a romantic comedy with zombies, Shaun of the Dead is a great film for gore hounds and joke junkies alike. The film honours the older zombie films in many ways. I was particularly glad that the zombies were the slow moving corpses like in the original Living Dead series and not the jumped up hyperactive zombies of more modern horror films. Many people will detect the subtle references to other films and also take not of the cameos made by numerous other comedy stars from the likes of Black Books, The Office, and Spaced. Even Matt Lucas from Little Britain fame makes an appearance.

The zombies are very well done with the less is more approach to them. There is still plenty of gore, but they still look very human (not like the "walking flower pots" of Fulciâ€™s movies) The whole atmosphere of the zombie infested city is well done. Even in the daytime it is a very foreboding place. My favourite scene is when Shaun is walking to the newsagents, totally oblivious to the chaos and death around him.

Another notable scene is when Shaun visits his Mumâ€™s and talks to his step-dad. This raised a lot of laughs out of all the people in the cinema (We live on the Isle of Wight).

I have recently purchased this film on DVD and I have enjoyed every second of it. The disc is crammed with extra stuff including outtakes, extended scenes with optional commentary, 2000AD comic strips, various interviews, etc.

This film does well to revive the elements of old zombie films, causing a strange mix of terrified screams and hysterical laughter out of the viewer. If you are a horror fan (and I know you are) you owe it to yourself to get Shaun of the Dead.