A gory surprise of a movie

Rating: 9/10 (20 April 2004)

First let me say that this is probably the first ever splatter movie that I'm about to give a rave review. Some are well crafted but I find it hard to enjoy the gore that's mandatory in most of them. When I saw the trailer for Shaun of the Dead I instantly envisioned an English version of Scary Movie and decided to never see it. But it was the only movie showing in my local theatre, so I decided to give it a go (you only live twice after all).
To see a movie with expectations lower than a David Lynch dwarf can be really fantastic, as in this case. What unfolded in front of my eyes was actually something groundbreaking new. Take two cups of good English comedy, add some tongue-in-cheek gore, put some drama with a bit of romance into the mix and you get Shaun of the Dead. All these genres put into one movie could easily create a huge mess but this is certainly not the case here. So what makes this movie stand out comparing it to similar outings like Scream and Scary Movie? Well, it's simply much braver! Scream eventually was too similar to the movies it made fun of while all the Scary Movies go for cheap jokes that we've all heard before. Shaun of the Dead on the other hand has lots of intelligent humour that will please most audiences.

Simon Pegg is totally convincing in the lead, but Nick Frost gets most of the laughs as his slacker friend Ed. Kate Ashfield and Dylan Moran also deserve praise for their roles. The only reason I don't give Shaun of the Dead a ten is because it can be hard to take the dramatic moments seriously between all funny moments. Go and see it if you want to see a zombie movie that gives you a good time instead of nightmares!
Verdict 9/10