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Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Reviewed by Carl
Posted on September 23, 2005 
Filed Under Comedies, Zombies

I was expecting good things from a movie which no less a critic than George A. Romero unashamedly promotes at any opportunity as one of the finest zombie films he’s ever seen, but even I wasn’t prepared for the quality of Shaun of the Dead. My eyes tend to glaze over when I am confronted with a piece of recent British film-making, which is a real arse as some of my favourite films hail from these very shores (I have only to mention The Wicker Man as proof). I blame it on too much box office success for Richard Curtis and his insidious ‘rom-coms’, which have somehow distracted the cinema going public’s attention from the fact that Hugh Grant a) cannot act and; b) is a tosser. I thus made every effort to avoid Shaun of the Dead at the time of its release in light of reviews describing it as ‘the first romantic zombie comedy’ – no thank you. With several friends recommending it though I finally bit the bullet (having first been assured that Grant was nowhere to be seen) and can only apologies for every shrug of indifference I affected when being told to go and watch it at the cinema.

What strikes you most about Shaun is the seamless integration of several genres into such a slick little movie. You could describe it as a zombie film, a romance and a comedy and you’d be right on all fronts. This is a very ambitious undertaking, especially when you consider that it was Simon Pegg’s first effort at movie screenwriting. Those who’ve seen him on British TV will appreciate that the man is a comedian/comedy writer of the first order but here he shows that he’s overly capable of dealing with any challenge a story might through at him. Though the comedy and romance are integral buttresses of Pegg’s story he’s much truer to the Romero approach to horror than most other imitators. Here, as in the Dead series, the zombies provide the startling catalysts to the human story. We’re back to the slow-moving, ponderous creatures of old which is a refreshing contrast to the hyper-efforts of the Resident Evil-type that seem to have established themselves as the typecast, with the former being infinitely more effective in fostering a menacing atmosphere.

Pegg pulls off the difficult task of retaining this horror while at the same time delivering a hilarious comedy. His mum calling the unbeknownst to her zombies ‘a bit bitey’ or Bill Nighy reassuring the family that he’ll be okay having just been bitten because he’s run the wound under a cold tap. Quintessentially English, but they gel together beautifully with the top-notch cast that delivers them. Pegg and Bill Nighy I’ve already mentioned, but it’d be unjust if I didn’t also single out Nick Frost, who’s fantastic as Shaun’s flatmate. On top of all of this (as if that wasn’t enough) the movie also has a serious and at times uncomfortable undercurrent which is impossible to disregard. The scene where Shaun has to shoot his mother is really wrenching and seems to jump out of nowhere and knock the viewer off balance. It’s a measure of both the writer and the superb cast that they never skip a beat in navigating their way through the confusion, and the sincerity with which they exhibit fear, sarcasm and genuine emotional hurt is a rare thing to see in film, especially a relatively low-budget British offering. A first rate zombie film, comedy and human drama, Shaun of the Dead is one of those rare offerings that gratifies on every level and restores faith in how good the cinema can be. It deserves to be in every DVD collection.

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