Dead Man's Party

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2005)

Ever watch a Romero flick and wonder, "Why is it there's always some heroic and noble character in there? What would happen if you stuck real life people in this situation?" Shaun of the Dead answers that question. Actually, it answers that question with such precision that it's quite disturbing. With my luck, I wouldn't be stuck with expert marksman and all-around badass Roger from Dawn of the Dead. Hell no. With my luck, I'd be sitting in the dark eating peanuts with Shaun.
I love the approach the creators took to the film. Instead of a relentless and mindless bashing of the zombie genre, Shaun of the Dead is actually quite affectionate towards its inspiration. As far as the zombies go, Shaun of the Dead is every bit as legitimate as George Romero's movies; what makes it a comedy is the characters and how they deal with the situation. In Dawn and Day of the Dead, you have military personnel trying to survive in a place they can fortify. In Shaun of the Dead you have a guy sitting in the dark eating peanuts as he waits for the whole thing to go away.
This approach, I feel, is infinitely superior to the whole "Let's make mindless jokes that appeal to the lowest common denominator" method. The humor isn't always insultingly spelled out and shoved down the audience's throat--freeze-frame and flash "laugh now" on the screen why don't they (see Scary Movie 3)? I like how the humor in Shaun stems from simple observations about zombies, how they resemble drunks, and when you have a hangover you really don't notice them. And I really like how some jokes will only register with horror fans (A restaurant named after Fulci? Heh, I'll pass, thanks.) The cast of misfits is fun to follow, and possesses a degree of depth that's vital for good comedies to work (granted purely silly characters can work when they're the exception and not the rule.) Bear in mind, I'm not talking Scorsese-deep characters but these aren't purely goof-ball caricatures a la Monty Python (when done well) and Scary Movie 3 (when done poorly). They have their moments of glory, moments of trauma, and moments of despair (I mean, end of the world zombie infestation can become quite depressing when you think about it.) But through it all, the film is still funny, still a comedy . . . a black comedy, but a comedy none-the-less.
On a separate note Â– I think it's funny (for the wrong reasons) that Shaun of the Dead is one of the first zombie films to show a death scene reminiscent of the master Tom Savini's Dead effects since . . . well, Tom Savini's work on Dawn/Day of the Dead. "Choke on 'em!" Anyway, Shaun of the Dead is a film for zombie-genre freaks made by zombie-genre freaks. Everyone'll get something out of it, but the genre fans will watch Shaun with the satisfaction that this project fell into the hands of people who actually "know" the genre instead of someone who simply "knows of" the genre.