A new classic!

Rating: 10/10 (7 November 2009)

I'm not a George A. Romero fan. Putrid ex-people tearing flesh with their teeth is not my idea of fine film-making, still, what seems to appease critics is the social commentary found on Romero's "Saga of the Dead". Either way, the filmmaker's revolutionary concept of horror and zombies spawned a new generation of movies that made their attempts to either honor Romero or improve his work. 28 Days Later may be the best example of the latter. However, most of those zombie flicks are known for being schlocky, formulaic and tasteless, particularly Resident Evil.
This homage to George Romero, by British comedians Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, is one of few that takes the concept to another direction. The script actually isn't focused on the zombie invasion at all. Shaun is a frustrated man with a job that goes nowhere, a friend that, while a faithful companion, only drags him further back, domestic problems with his mother and stepfather and, most importantly, a turbulent relationship with Liz, who's fed up with Shaun's lack of motivation, and threatens to leave him. All of this happens while an apocalyptic phenomenon strikes London, where people stop living and turn into flesh eating zombies.
Wright and Pegg blend this strange mix up of genres so brilliantly that it honors it's tagline "rom com zom" and becomes unique in it's kind.
It's not the "Airplane" style of parody, which usually means a pointless story made up with the sole purpose of making fun of a specific genre of films. It actually tells a really serious tale. Most people may not get that this whole horrifying zombie phenomenon actually helps Shaun in moving on and leaving his no good lifestyle behind. The tragic loss of his mother and Ed makes a necessary change on Shaun, as he no longer has someone to drag him back to his frustrated routine life.
The reason of the wide appeal of this film is it's versatility. Romero fans while find it a laugh riot, people who have never seen a zombie movie in their lives while find it extremely amusing, the cinematic homages by Edgar Wright are quite funny to the educated film scholar, and the technical aspects are quite flawless for film critics.
It's a favorable stereotype the fact that British humor is light years ahead of American or much farther of Mexican humor. The jokes found in Shaun of the Dead are original, creative and most likely never to be repeated again. Had this film be made by incompetent hacks passing as writers in America, the jokes might have been vulgar and with stupid punchlines. There are scenes that aren't just incredibly funny but their creation is technically ground breaking, like Shaun's two trips to the store done on a single shot each. Since I'm no Romero fan, the homages went largely unnoticed for me (unlike Hot Fuzz), but that doesn't affect the fine technical mastery involved in the film.
It doesn't matter if you love zombie films or hate them, the innovation in this British comedy will make the most avid living dead genre detractor thrilled and off their seat with laughter. Along with Hot Fuzz, a must have.