Review of Shaun of the Dead (2004) by Stevenf — 21 Oct 2013

The first of a "Cornetto Trilogy" from friends and regular collaborators Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, Shaun (Pegg) is a bored and routine thirty something who spends too much time at the local pub, the Winchester, with his best friend Ed (Nick Frost) who doesn't do a whole lot with his life, Shaun's girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfiled) is annoyed at his lack of focus and believe that Ed is holding him back.

They sit and play video games, Shaun goes to work and is made fun of by his much younger colleagues, while also going through his life in sort of auto-pilot mode of repeating the same at ions day in and day out.

The excellent refreshment of the film stems from what is really a subplot, that lead have risen as zombies and are eating the living, yet the constant bickering of these three, along with Liz's friends Dianne (Lucy Davis) and David (Dylan Moran) takes centre stage as they attempt to come up with plans at every turn in an attempt to get through a situation.

The dark humour is particularly well written from Pegg and Wright, who also directs the film, his fast-paced and energetic style of filming adds heightened tension to otherwise menial scenes, these are definitely callbacks to zombie films of old, they need to get to a safe haven, which Shaun and Ed believe to be the local pub of course, is it so wrong to sit in relative comfort and drink free booze until an apocalypse blows over? The human element feels grounded and doesn't give way to too much zombie time, we get various situations of such routine where we even see Shaun walk to the shop and back without even noticing the people around him where zombies, it was funny, but it also showed a message of just how familiar people will be that we don't even notice change right in front of us.

The witty britishness of it all is particularly fresh, a cup of tea will fix everything, while even in the most frightening of circumstances, jokes bar regulars and dead people not being your real dad can still hold a dark sense of comic relief, especially in a time of zombie overkill in the film industry, no pun intended.

We have chemistry and urgency with the characters to get the point across, Pegg and Frost are the perfect duo, no matter how much Shaun wants to change, he can't say no to his best friend. Its a relief to see a different sort of apocalyptic film that centres much more on the people involved and how it affects their routine, especially in a hilarious and witty way.