Shaun of the Dead

[Guest Alchemist]

[b]Directed by:[/b] Edgar Wright
[b]Starring:[/b] Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield

[url=http://www.uip.co.uk/romzom/]A romantic comedy. With zombies.[/url]

Yes, it's the first and only (that I know of) Zom-Rom-Com.

Written, directed, produced and starring most of the people responsible for Spaced(1999), a quirky alternative to SitComs, this is a re-telling of the architypical Zombie Horror from a gritty British point-of-view.

Set in London in the present day, it tells the story of Shaun(Simon Pegg), a 29 year old man stuck in a dead-end job, sharing a house with his slovenly childhood friend, Ed(Nick Frost) and the fastideous Pete (Peter Serafinowicz-omg voice of Darth Maul!). Shaun is coasting through his life, spending each and every night down the local pub(The Winchester) with his girlfriend Liz(Kate Ashfield), her friends & Ed. Things come to a head when Shaun fails to arrange an evening out for Liz's birthday that DOESN'T involve the pub & she chucks him.

Unnoticed is the developement of a bizarre crisis, described very realistically using background TV & Radio clips. Shaun is oblivious, intent on his own life's drama, but has a rude awakening when a Zombie appears in his garden. Things go downhill from there.

Once they realise what's going on, Shaun & Ed set out to rescue Shauns' Mother(Penelope Wilton) and (ex-)girlfriend. They then head to the safety of The Winchester with Lizs' friends and Shaun's stepfather(Bill Nighy) in tow, but one by one they succumb to the hellish plague in a frenzy of blood, gore and Queen tracks.

The plot was based on an episode of Spaced, which was in turn based on the Video Game "Resident Evil 2", in which Tim(Simon Pegg) starts seeing Zombies everywhere after a marathon Playstation session thanks to some cheap speed they bought down the pub. Spaced fans should look out for various camios from the likes of Jessica Stevenson and others.

The love of the genre is evident, they've watched all the classics and thought "What if that happened for real? In London? How would ordinary people react?" The result is an expertly crafted insight into English life, death and undeath.

It is gory - people literally ripped apart & eaten.
It is funny, and sad, and romantic.
It is completely excellent - go and see it!

[Manic Webb]

I just saw a commercial for this movie not 5 minutes ago. It looks like a fun satire on the whole zombie movie genre. The majority of the commercial already had me laughing at the concept, but I nearly blew yesterday's milk out my nose when I realized the title was something as goofy as "[i]Shaun[/i] of the Dead." So yeah, I'm looking forward to this movie.

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]I remember seeing the ads for this on telly a while back when it was in the cinemas. I never actually got to go see it but I remember laughing in a kind of simple glee at most of the gags in it. The title is one of the most clever and yet silly things about the Film, though I have to admit any Zombie comedy would have an easy time driving me into fits of laughter. I must make a personal note to rent the film when it actually comes out to video.[/SIZE]

[MarkAnthony]

I saw this movie a few months ago and it is the first decent British movie since Monty Python.
The title of 'romantic comedy' is misleading and I would recomend seeing it (it has a lot of the same elements as Spaced) There are a few things meant for British audiences only which I imagine Americans wouldnt understand, but it is still a very funny movie.

[James P. Galvatron]

Shaun of the dead is hilarious I just saw it and Resident Evil 2 that movies amazing I am going to buy it when it comes out on DVD just to watch it again.

I think it was hilarious, scary, gruesome, and amazing all in one if you see a movie you have to watch Shaun of the Dead it is a amazing experience.

[DeathBug]

I laughed; I cried; I had a nice day.

SotD was a neat lil' film; it wasn't the funniest movie I'd ever seen, but it lampoons both romantic cliches and zombie cliches quite handily. I'd highly recommend it to those who enjoy British humor or black comedies.

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]My first instinct is to say [spoiler]omfgz dud getting ripd and eaten lolzorz[/spoiler]!!!

But that wouldn't do SoD justice, now would it?

I can honestly say, gore and everything, that this is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen.
It's hilarious while being tear-jerking and utterly watchable. The characters were all individuals, and there were actually some surprises when it came to [spoiler]died and how[/spoiler].

I love the scene with the toy slide. *laughs *** off*

[Spoiler](Daphne beating the zombies up with David's legs was pretty funny, too.)[/spoiler][/FONT][/COLOR]

[Dagger]

So.... just how bloody is this film? While I can stomach all kinds of animated atrocities (hey, I've lasted through twelve episodes of Elfen Lied!), I'm not really into watching live-action movies that involve eyes being gouged out, limbs sawed off, etc. I had to walk out of the theater during Saving Private Ryan, and I didn't dare go see Kill Bill.

Normally I wouldn't even consider going to a zombie flick, but Shaun of the Dead has received a lot of positive reviews (where I live, at least), and the concept sounds interesting. Do you think I'd be able to handle the gore?

~Dagger~

[Godelsensei]

[COLOR=Gray][FONT=Courier New]The extent of the gore is a guy having his stomach ripped open by undead zombie fingers, then having his bowels ripped out and devoured, without the camera turning away.

You can see his intestines being unraveled and whatnot.

I didn't have to turn away, but I'm afraid you might. : P
[/FONT][/COLOR]

[Shinmaru]

I saw Shaun of the Dead today, great movie.

The British humor definitely lends a fresh point of view to zombie movies, I think, one that I think would be sort of fun to be explored a bit more. I don't if they'd be able to quite match up with Shaun of the Dead, though.

The writing is sharp and funny, and the characters (Shaun and Ed, in particular) are quite fun. Plus, you get to see a bunch of zombies get beaten, bashed and blown up. How fun is that?

Most of the gore isn't that difficult to sit through (at least for me it was lol), but the scene that Godel described was definitely pretty graphic. But, hey, I welcomed it, I have no qualms with movie gore. I know it's not real, doesn't bother me. I'd be whistling a different tune if I saw something like that in actuality, but that's neither here nor there. lol

Everyone who liked the movie should pick up the DVD, it's very good. The extras are well worth buying it for, especially the plot hole explanations, which are a riot.

[Inu500]

Shaun of the Dead was a very funny movie. The Zombies were funny instead of scary. It reminded me of Scary movie three without the killing. I heard they didn't spend that much money on it. But it still made millions over here. That shows how strange americans are.(I'm american)^^ :confused: