Shaun Of The Dead

As we all know, the zombie movie is making a comeback. Big time. (A friend of mine said that “Zombies are the new pirates.”) And now it’s time for a spoof. And who better to do it than…a British comedian? Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a loser. He works at a electronics store, lives with his deadbeat best friend Ed (Nick Frost), and never takes his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) anywhere but his favorite bar with Ed. Sometimes her flatmates, Dianne (Lucy Davis from The Office) and David (Harry Potter look-alike Dylan Moran), come along.

Everything changes when London starts to be taken over by zombies. Of course, the people in Shaun’s life are so emotionally dead anyway that it takes a while for him to notice that they are actually dead now.

Yes, there’s some social commentary here, but don’t let that get in the way of your good time. The movie is, after all, a loving tribute/spoof of zombie movies past. Just about every scene has some reference to another movie that made the filmmakers and the rest of the world fall in love with the walking dead.

As Shaun and Ed start to realize that something must be done, Shaun steps up and becomes the leader of their little band of survivors that he collects along his way to where he thinks will be safe…the pub. (“It’s a pub! And it’s got big, thick doors, and…”) My favorite scene is after they get there. It’s the “Don’t Stop Me Now” scene. You’ll know it when you see it. Absofuckinlutely brilliant. (And a strange homage to A Clockwork Orange. Gotta love that.)

The movie is pretty fucking hilarious for the most part. It slows down a bit at the end, but it’s an action comedy. There has to be a resolution and to get there you have to slow down the comedy a bit. But everyone is completely committed and puts in great performances.

I’ve been watching Simon’s BBC series, “Spaced”, lately. Many of the actors here have smaller roles in the show and Yvonne in the film (Jessica Stevenson) writes and co-stars with Simon. They’re both directed by Edgar Wright and they both have his kinetic nearly Guy Ritchie style. But, since Edgar didn’t marry Madonna, he still has talent. He, Simon and Jessica are obviously big ol’ geeks and they want to show it off in their work. And I love every minute of it! “Spaced” is supposed to be coming to DVD soon, but they’re showing it on Trio right now. It’s a pretty big cult hit in England and hopefully gets big over here, too. Most of the zombies in this movie were fans who were recruited from the website.

Watch for a cameo by Coldplay zombie, er, leadsinger Chris Martin in news shows at the end and as a zombie. In the future, watch for cameos by Simon and Edgar as zombies in George Romero’s upcoming Land Of The Dead.

Meanwhile, just go see this movie and watch “Spaced.” You’ll thank yourself. Then you’ll go out and beat dead people about the head with a cricket bat. ‘Cause that’s what you do.