When it comes to the "RomZomCom", this movie is DEAD on target!

Rating: 9/10 (23 April 2005)

Poor Shaun. A twenty-something on the nearer end of 30, he's got a dead-end job at the electronics store where he works, a dead-ending relationship that his pretty (and pretty BORED) girlfriend wants to deep-six, a flat-lining rapport with his doting mum and disapproving stepdad, and various friends, neighbors, acquaintances and the like who are just...DEAD.
No, I take that back. UN-dead.
Like the best and brightest Python skit taken to extremes that would even raise THEIR eyebrows, SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a breath of fresh, fetid air in a genre that's been DYING for a bite of good, solid, comic irony. The truly talented Simon Pegg, who plays Shaun with the right combination of distress and deadpan humor, also co-wrote the script with Edgar Wright, and boy, do they know their movies! Good thing, too, because as so many satirists before them have demonstrated, you have to truly love whatever the issue or thing is that you're poking fun at.
But this is not simply some NAKED GUN or SCARY MOVIE copycat here. The quality that makes the humor/horror/heartbreak chemistry cook, is the realness of the relationships that have been developed between the characters, as well as all the details of their lives which the audience can readily relate to. Going through the daily grind of his life, mired in his own sense of misery and ennui, Shaun barely notices the changes taking place in the world around him as the dead begin to rise and walk, and we all laugh knowingly, because we've all had times when we feel that way, and more often than not.
The social commentary (a nod to George Romero's brilliant worldview presented so effectively in DAWN OF THE DEAD, to which this film pays loving homage) is what elevates SHAUN to a level far beyond the usual gut-munch extrava-GORE-za. And it poses some really interesting questions! Aren't all of us in some ways a lot like Shaun, with aspects of our lives that are just like his? And the people around us, zoned out into their own little worlds the same way we all are. If they died and came back to life as zombies, would we actually notice? If it happened to us, would THEY notice?
But before things get too philosophical, there is so much more to SHAUN that can be appreciated. Besides the outstanding performances from everyone, with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost taking the lead as Our Hero and Ed, his ne'er-do-ANYTHING-well best bud, this movie is damn near flawless script-wise and technically as well.
There is a sequence near the film's beginning done in one continuous take that De Palma would envy, and Hitchcock would be proud of, and if you've seen this movie you know exactly what I'm talking about. What makes it so fascinating and startlingly funny is all the little background details you can spot, which of course Shaun is oblivious to. Even better is the second time around, when the sequence is repeated, but things are VASTLY different. It's so well done, that it may take repeat viewings to pick out everything you missed the previous time.
Well, I have never seen SPACED, and probably won't get the chance unless they show the reruns on BBC America. But if SHAUN is any indication of what the cast of that show is capable of on the usual episode, I'll have to keep an eye on the listings.
But for lovers of horror, the zombie genre, or just a good black comedy with something different to offer, look no further. We were fortunate enough to get a DAWN remake that didn't suck, but if you want to do better than just a movie with "minimal suckage," don't rent this one. BUY IT. That way you can save the money you'd be spending otherwise on repeated rentals, because you WILL be watching this more than once. Trust me.