A brilliant satire, an often moving drama, and a darn good horror film all in one

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2007)

"Shaun of the Dead" isn't a spoof of the zombie genre. It just isn't the same sort of film as "Scary Movie" or even in a sense Pegg and Wright's later effort "Hot Fuzz". It's a darker sort of satire, not light hearted and at points it is a reasonably effective drama. Surprisingly, it's actually a bit scarier than your average modern zombie film because it takes the time to develop its characters and make you feel for them. The screenplay is actually human and smart instead of just being a loosely connected series of gore scenes. Zombie films are, and have been for over 25 years now, for the most part simply meaningless gore scenes attached to each other. Remember when Romero was out making films that genuinely horrified you? Remember how terrifying even the dated "Night of the Living Dead" still is, and how its sequel "Dawn of the Dead" was a wonderful, edgy satire with some truly horrific moments? Sadly, those movies just aren't around any more. With the exception of a couple of gems like "28 Days Later", zombie movies are now nothing more than extremely violent action films with a slightly supernatural feel.
It's a simple movie really, Pegg's character Shaun has lost his girlfriend and realizes that his life is going the wrong way so he vows to get his girlfriend back. Unfortunately the day he does this is the day when London becomes 'populated' by the living dead, but Shaun soldiers on regardless armed with only a cricket bat, attempting to save his family and friends. The film doesn't work as well for someone who is unfamiliar with the sort of film that "Shaun" is simultaneously making fun of and paying tribute to because it is after all a fan film, jam-packed with references to other films both in the script and visuals (the zooming and quick cutting is directly taken from Raimi's latter two Evil Dead movies). It helps if the viewer is familiar with those films.
At times during "Shaun of the Dead" one forgets they're watching a comedy and feels genuine horror and sadness. There are only two or three extremely violent scenes, but the sense of dread, particularly when combined with the generally fun mood of the film, is effective, and when major characters die, you actually do feel a bit sorry for them, which is a lot more than I can say about most zombie movies that have been made recently. The script doesn't focus on making fun of the zombie genre, or more specifically "Dawn of the Dead", instead opting to create both an effective satire on the zombie genre AND on our society, much like "Dawn of the Dead" did in 1978. Of course, "Shaun" is a lot funnier and much less gruesome than that film, but they are so similar in the sense that they were more about people and society than about zombies. Zombies themselves are hardly the most intriguing creatures, they're dumb and slow and really not all that menacing, they lack the creepy sophisticated cruelty of vampires or the pure cruelty of regular human villains.
Edgar Wright's direction is superb, and the scene with the zombie in the pub involving Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' is both an excellent bit of comedy and an involving piece of cinema- well-staged, well-shot, and well-acted. The last half hour of the film is less light-hearted and more serious than the rest of the film and includes some genuinely dramatic moments. It is not my intention to make "Shaun of the Dead" sound less funny than it is, but it is absolutely, unequivocally necessary to point out that this is hardly just a random spoof of the zombie genre, it does mock the genre in areas, but it is more of a loving tribute to the genre films of past than a heartless spoof of them, which makes it in a sense similar to "Young Frankenstein". "Shaun" is also a brilliant satire on society, much like the best of zombie films. Actually, "Shaun of the Dead" is truly one of the greatest zombie films ever made and an instant classic.
8/10