Sadly disappointing...*mild spoilers*

Rating: 4/10 (26 April 2004)

After waiting with baited breath for this film to surface I finally made it to the cinema yesterday to see it. The British Nationals have been going crazy for this film. Needless to say being a 'Spaced' fan and a (HUGE!) zombie-flick fan I had very high expectations for this film.
It is with regret, however, that I'm not rating this film nearly as high as I wanted to...which is a shame. Yes, potentially, the concept sounded extremely promising - Simon Pegg is a very intelligent and witty guy and his work on 'Spaced' and 'Big Train' was superb.
It just failed to raise any serious humour in my eyes that was so evident in Pegg's other (and earlier) work. I know many people would have seen this film with preconceptions of his style and humour but, for me, Shaun's humour lacked a fair deal of subtlety and the gags were few and far between. Coupled with the more 'serious' element behind the film - like losing your best friend and having to kill your own mother (!!) - the film becomes a mixed affair that isn't quite as light-hearted as one would imagine.

There's a fulfilling amount of gore to keep some of the horror-fans satisfied and the fan-boys among us will no doubt pick up on some of the more subtle allusions to the horror genre. There were also a couple of shock moments which were successfully done but overall it seemed to be carrying a few too many flaws and it's positioning between horror, comedy, rom-com and satire seems so tightly interwoven that it becomes a muddled affair whereby it doesn't know it it's truly coming or going.
In closing - good special effects for the zombies, good soundtrack, Bill Nighy, some nice cameo roles, some mildly funny slapstick moments but sadly could have been considerably better. 5/10