Every once in a while you stumble across something so special that you just can’t wait for everyone else to discover it too. Well about a couple of months ago I discovered Shaun of the Dead. Yes I know, we here at The Movie Blog have been yacking about this film for months. Well it’s here now folks, and in your local theater, so get off your can and get over there, drop your $10 and see one of the few films this year that are actually worth the price of your admission ticket.
It’s difficult to define the genre that Shaun of the Dead falls into. It’s not exactly a comedy… it’s not exactly a horror… it’s not really a spoof… it’s probably best defined by it’s poster: “A Romantic Comedy with Zombies”.
Shaun of the Dead is the brain child of co-writers Edgar Wright (also the Director) and Simon Pegg (also the star). On the one hand it’s a tribute film to a whole lot of other great flicks, while standing on it’s own as a heavyweight comedy. Throw in there some legitimately scary scenes and a couple that made a couple of people in the theater actually cry and you’ve got a treasure of a flick.
The premise sort of follows the standard Zombie movie formula: There a viral outbreak that kills a person and them brings them back to life as a Zombie. The virus is transmitted when an “infected” person bites an uninfected person. There you have it.
However, to say this is a “Zombie” film would be misleading. Nor is it a “spoof” on Zombie films. At it’s heart (despite the efforts of some other critics to see a deeper meaning to the film) Shaun of the Dead is a sharp and witty comedy that makes a couple of observations about the zombie-like-way we all lives our lives in one way or another.
I noticed a couple of “easter eggs” in the film. Names like “Ash” were dropped here and there all over the place. I asked Edgar Wright if there were more than the 6 or seven I had noticed… to our surprise he mentioned there were probably about 50-60 of them in total, some obvious ones and others more obscure that he was sure no one would even notice. Being an Army of Darkness fan this stuff brought a huge grin to my otherwise boring face.
There are already a million other Shaun of the Dead reviews out there that you can avail yourself to, so just let me say this: The movie is hilarious, charming, and quite creative with it’s use of characters and dialogue. It’s already been in theaters for 24 hours people… why the heck haven’t you seen it yet?!?! I put this film in my top 3 best films of the year so far and I proudly give it a 9/10.
