Hilarious tribute to zombie films.

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2004)

Much has been made about the links to the cult English series "Spaced", however even that aside this film is an excellent parody of the Zombie film genre. I heard that even George Romero was impressed with the way it was done.
By co-incidence I've spent a lot of time this year watching classic Zombie films so they were all fresh in my mind when I watched this and it is brilliantly done. There are many clever little tributes to various films (and yes also self referential moments to the series "Spaced" as well). Night and Dawn of the dead are referenced several times and other films such as 28 days later, Evil Dead and even the Clockwork Orange (not a Zombie film but still a classic) gets a tribute. But even that all aside I think most people will find this film thoroughly enjoyable. There are a lot of great one liners and amusing dialogue as the situation itself is hilarious. In a way it turns out to be one of the most realistic Zombie films to date due to the bumbling ineffective way the protagonist and friends deal with the situation at hand.
The horror side of the film isn't skipper over either, there is a classic zombie film scene at the later end of the film where one of the gang meets his gory demise, and at various times Shaun himself has to deal deal with those close to him returning from the dead. The zombies themselves look very good and the approach of getting fans of "Spaced" to come in as the zombie extra's has a resulted in a worryingly realistic zombie mob.
Being a tribute to the classics the film features the more familiar slow, slightly silly zombies that are a menace only when they catch you by surprise or when in mass numbers (which is most of the time) rather then the fast on their feet mega aggressive zombies that are more popular these days through films such as the new (I hesitate to call it a remake) Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later. These zombies often seem quite silly when in smaller numbers and without the element of surprise and this film takes maximum advantage of that.
Really I don't think this film could have been any better then it was. Despite revelling in parody and classic zombie style the film doesn't become predictable and keeps a good pace throughout. The same can't really be said for other recent zombie films I have seen. In summary, for fans of Zombie flicks it's a classic, for Spaced fans it's a magnificent and I think for everyone else it'll still be an enjoyable one to remember.
This is a film definitely going into my DVD collection.