Overall Rating
  Awesome: 52.6%
Worth A Look: 28.13%
Average: 7.29%
Pretty Bad: 4.17%
Total Crap: 7.81%
13 reviews, 114 user ratings
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| Shaun of the Dead |
by MP Bartley
"The best Horror/Comedy since an American Werewolf in London"
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It can sometimes be depressing when they release a new British comedy. With the exception of Richard Curtis' luvvie-fests they generally tend to be awful, base and crude with little wit or intelligence (see 'Blackball', 'Sex Lives of the Potato Men', '51st State'...or rather don't), and are always a triumph of concept over content. With 'Shaun of the Dead' however my interest was roused. The best British films of the last couple of years have been horrors ('Dog Soldiers' and '28 Days Later') and it sounded a daft enough concept to work...and it does. With often hilarious results.In an admittedly slow beginning we're introduced to Shaun (Simon Pegg), one of life's losers. He's a senior sales assistant in an electronics shop and lives with his slob of a best mate, Ed (Nick Frost), whose idea of cleaning the flat is to drink 4 cans of lager. As well as having a crap job, Shaun is steadily annoying his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) to the point where she dumps him.
After getting drunk to the point of passing out, Shaun wakes up the next day with the resolve to get Liz back. The only problem? Over-night London has been invaded by zombies and now Shaun and Ed have to save themselves, Shaun's parents (Penelope Wilton and the always great Bill Nighy), and Liz and her flatmates (Dylan Moran and Lucy Davis).
With a concept like this, the film could have either stank horribly or been a breath of fresh air. Luckily it's the latter. This isn't a comedy laden down with knowing, ironic winks to the audience or 'Scream'-esque recitations on the rules of zombie movies. It plays it refreshingly straight, but just also happens to make it very, very funny. It balances the humour from slapstick (throwing darts at a zombie) through to sly, observational wit (Shaun walking through the early morning streets of London completely oblivious to the devastation around him). This isn't a spoof of zombie movies, the zombies are played for horror, and horror alone, but its the characters reactions where the humour lies.
It also takes a very successful pot-shot at the lives (or lack of) of 20-something males living together. Defending themselves against a couple of zombies with household items leads to a discussion of which vinyl LP's to throw away and which to keep. "The Stone Roses Second Coming?" "I like it..." (if you don't get that joke you're obviously not a 20-something British male).
Pegg and the rest of the cast throw themselves in with much enthusiasm, but thankfully refrain from sending it up. A great British comedian said "True comic actors don't play it funny. They play it real". It's advice that's very true here, as it never descends into smugness or too obvious spoofery. Instead Pegg makes a dazed and desperate hero (in his first big screen role as a lead, he takes to it like a natural, displaying both deft comic timing and dramatic energy) whose relationship with Ed is one of the best double acts there's genuinely been for a long time. Frost's performance is great too, being a lazy slob, but being utterly loveable with it. Together, they form a partnership sweet and actually quite touching. After all how many twenty-something lads out there, come the end of the world, would be stuck choosing between their girlfriends and their best mates? When should we out-grow our best friends and take some responsibility for ourselves? It's testament to the skill of the writing that 'Shaun of the Dead' can throw these sorts of questions in, but never hamper the gleeful fun and dizzy energy of the narrative.
And it's clear that co-writer Pegg has a genuine love for all things zombie. Unlike the Scary Movie films, there's an affectation for the target being lampooned here, which shows in the numerous references to the Romero films and 'The Thing'. It doesn't drown in these references though, it just throws them in there for the knowing.
It could have been easy to make the zombies cheap looking for an obvious laugh, but the film avoids that so they could stand comparison to Romero's ghouls. When characters inevitably die, they die in a truly gory way. And this is reflected throughout the film. It's a small scale production but never looks cheap or tacky and works superbly. There's a lot of invention and energy in Edgar Wright's direction and the foreshadowing of events. Check out Shaun aimlessly channel hopping, with the changing channels slyly explaining the events just outside Shauns world. Wright also balances the humour and the horror of the situation perfectly.
And one thing you may not be expecting is how suspenseful the finale is. You'll be distracted by laughing to not notice how close to the edge of your seat you've got, but come the final siege and when some unexpected emotion creeps in, you're willing the characters to get out alive. It's not exactly 'Night of the Living Dead' suspenseful - but it's pretty damn close.
And this is also the best use of a Queen song since 'Flash Gordon'Sometimes it's the unexpected films that turn out to be one of the best. From what sounded a terrible concept comes a fresh, very funny and surprisingly scary film. I guarantee it'll be the funniest zombie/rom-com you'll see all year. It may even be one of the funniest films you'll see all year, full stop.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=9265&reviewer=293
originally posted: 04/22/04 02:46:08
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USA
24-Sep-2004 (R)
DVD: 21-Dec-2004
UK
N/A
Australia
07-Oct-2004
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