You'll never look at cricket or darts in the same way again

Rating: 10/10 (12 April 2004)

To be quite honest I was really expecting to be disappointed with this.

The word of mouth was just TOO good

15 certificate? Oh, no! Watered down FX!

They'll never be able to keep up that 'Spaced' feel for a full two hours...

How wrong I was!
Compared to the recent Dawn of the Dead remake (which flew straight into the action in a matter of minutes) there was quite a wait for any undead action, with actual characters being developed with actual back stories. By the time there was anything even close to danger, you actually felt that you knew them, and I would have been quite happy to watch a whole movie of the characters alone. They were painted in such a way that you sympathised with them and their dead-end lives.
When the zombie elements start to creep in, there are many very funny scenes of the main characters' complete obliviousness to the escalating situation. There is one particularly impressive tracking shot of Simon Pegg making his way to the corner shop and back for a drink to cure his hangover, the exact same journey he made the day before - but this time with a slightly different backdrop! Wonderful, both cinematically and humourously...
Throughout this film there is a well balanced mix of sadness and scares as well as the laughs. It's certainly no spoof, and I'm sure could work as a full-blown zombie flick with minimal changes. The effects are good, and quite graphic at points, but in a typically zombie cartoon fashion. The performances are good, too, especially the friendship between Pegg and Nick Frost (though I'm not quite sure how much acting would have been needed here!)
For fans of 'Spaced', 'The Office' and other British comedies, you could spend the whole film spotting cameos.
All in all, this exceeded my expectations significantly. It's just such well made, good natured, witty, infectious fun and everyones obvious love for the material is infectious. My only worry was for the lack of an audience. I saw it on the opening Friday night, expecting a full house - the turnout was quite embarrassing. Perhaps it's too close on the heels of the Dawn remake... Maybe the marketing's only reached those who didn't need it (Spaced + horror fans). This is a shame, as even my wife (a complete horror movie hater, and never seen Spaced) said it was her favourite film in a long time.
I just hope word of mouth gets this film all it deserves. Why? Cos I want to see 'From Dusk Til Shaun', and I want it now!!!