An Extension of Spaced

Rating: Null/10 (6 April 2004)

WARNING : The following review may be extremely biased based on my predisposition towards anything related in any way to the-bestest-thing-on-telly-ever, aka 'Spaced'. Please bear this in mind before rushing out to see it. If your over 40, don't like blood and guts, and aren't British, then your probably not going to like it.
'Shaun of the Dead' is released on Friday. Described as a 'romcom', or 'a romantic comedy with zombies', SOTD focuses on the life of Shaun (Simon Pegg), an almost-30-something who fears responsibility and growing up. So much so that his girlfriend of 3 years has had enough and dumps him, leaving him to his life sharing a flat with his best mate Ed (Nick Frost), a 30-something with the mental age of a 10 year old. To make matters worse he doesn't get on with his family and he's been stuck in the same dead-end job since he was a student.
Drowning his sorrows with yet another night in the pub across the road from their house, Shaun decided to sort his life out. He's going to be a good son to his mother, going to win his girl back, and going to sort his life out. One small problem though, the living dead has decided to start walking the earth. Shaun enlists the help of Ed and together they battle across London to rescue his mother and girl, and pick up the crop of the current British sitcom elite on the way.
SOTD is basically an extension of the 'Spaced' universe. This means we get repeated jokes (Ed and Shaun's straight-as-a-peg Heterosexual man love, just like Tim and Mikes), in-jokes (Jessica Stevenson, aka Spaced's Daisy, popping up saying "I'm glad one of us made it), and the obvious running themes. Not wanting to face up to responsibility, trying to cling on to your youth. Make what you will of the fact that the zombies may be representative of that responsibility... take on that responsibility and you become another drone, wheeling that trolley through Asda on a Sunday afternoon wondering what happened to your life.
It's also very British. The Yanks just might not "get it". There's lots of references to British media (news, T4, music) and British institutions (the pub, pork scratchings, popping down the corner shop for a pint of milk). Then there's all the little 'Spaced' bits - references to clubbing, drugs, and dance music. One of my favourite lines is "It's not Hip-Hop, it's ELECTRO!".
Lastly a word on the certification. The actual film cert is a 15. How it managed this I have absolutely no idea because it's even more violent than the latest 'Dawn of the Dead' remake which received an 18. It perhaps managed to scrape past because it's a comedy, the violence however is not comedic. It's extremely gory and, respect to the sfx guys, extremely believable.
Anyway, despite the violence if you love 'Spaced' and/or you love zombie films and/or you love romantic comedies go see it. Support these guys, because I'm sure if you will they'll pay us back with more gems like Shaun.