Shaun of the Brain Dead

Rating: 6/10 (4 September 2005)

I am a big fan of what I would still call pulp and others would call pulp fiction. This is because good pulp can say more than pretentious literature or cinema can even aim to say.
Shaun of the Dead tells the story Shaun, an ordinary guy who lives life is a dead end, and when his girl friend dumps him his best friend tell him it is not the end of the world. But he is wrong, it is, because the dead have started to walk the earth and feed on the flesh of living.
What we get is basically a funny little comedy involving Zombies. On one hand I can argue that pop-horror works because it takes itself seriously and uses humour to cover the lack of budget, so Shaun of the Dead turns horror completely into a comedy missing the point. On the other hand, I don't know any movie that has ever really delved deeply into Zombies (while other unspeakable evils, such as vampires, werewolves and lawyers have all been suitably looked at). So Zombies are always good for a laugh and treating a zombie movie as a comedy makes more sense.
That sums up the movie, good for a laugh, never rises above that. It contains over 10 times your daily requirement pop culture references and with the best ending to a Zombie movie that I have seen.