The first time I had heard about Shaun of the Dead was earlier this year at Ain't it Cool News. I remember reading the descriptions and seeing the early trailers and thinking how good it looked. I also remember thinking that it did not look like anything that would et played in that many theaters, the best I figured would be a direct to DVD deal similar to Bubba Ho Tep. Seeing this pop up at the local cineplex brought a smile to this zombie.
The movie isn't so much about the zombies, but about the characters who are trying to deal with this latest uprising of their relatively simple lives. The movie deals with a guy who is coasting through life who reaches a point where he must make a choice to step up or be swallowed by his surroundings. In this case, that motivator happens to be zombies.
Shaun is the hero of this piece, working a dead end job at an electronics store, hassled by a girlfriend who wants more in life, urged by his best friend that everything is fine as is, not to mention a host of other factors causing him to wander through life in a stupor. Then one day something is different, Shaun has to step up and do something. He has to take charge of a situation which has stunned everyone else into shock.
The best example of this film are two nearly identical tracking shots early in the film. We see Shaun get up, leave his apartment, go to the convenience store up the road, buy a soda, and finally return home. The whole time passing people on the street, a kid playing with a soccer ball, a bum looking for change, various other people walking on their own paths. We see Shaun do the same thing the next day, except everyone along the way are zombies, yet Shaun is oblivious to them, to the point that he even ignores the bloody handprints on the cooler. It, as well as a few other examples I won't describe, is a good example of how it is we who are zombies sleepwalking through our lives.
Article comments
1 - Jim Carruthers
I finally got to see several eps of "Spaced", including the one which inspired "SotD", where Simon Pegg's character was playing "Resident Evil" and really got into it.
Plus, since the second Resident Evil movie mainly focused on blowing up where I live, well, Shaun rools!
2 - Matthew
Man, do I love this movie. I agree totally with your review - I think the film really treads some fine lines with amazing acuity - between horror and humor, and between entertainment and social commentary.
Cheers to the Brits for showing up Hollywood at its own game - in every way, this is a much, much better film than the recent remake of Dawn of the Dead (and for that matter, so was the other recent British zombie offering, 28 Days Later.)
Shaun'll definitely be on my top ten list for 2004!
M
3 - Jonathan
This movie cracked me up so much, I was dying in the theatre. This is the funniest movie I've seen in a very long time.
4 - Eric Olsen
thanks Chris, very nice job, now I want to see it, more obligations
5 - Kurt Nordstrom
Just for the record, Bubba Ho-Tep was not a straight to DVD movie. It was just a rather limited release. Stupid distributors, not givin' us the good stuff.
Anyhow, I totally am going to see Shaun of the Dead.