Best zombies ever

Rating: 9/10 (26 February 2005)

I'm a bit of a zombie purist.. Dawn of the Dead is one of my top 10 favorites film. I love the cinematography, and the irony of the ambulatory corpses shuffling around the shopping center as is their old habit. But the recent glut of zombie film depicts them as steroid-enraged track stars drooling blood. They move so fast whenever one is killed or merely shot, the camera zooms in so fast you don't see the impact. Saves the big budget film some bucks on squibs I guess. But also it lacks imagination. You can always add the whiz and growl effects in post.
Well thank the producers of Shaun of the dead for not only giving the zombies a plausible pacing, but making them memorable personality wise. In Dawn you have the helicopter zombie, the machete victim, many more. When Shaun goes to the deli shop for the first time, you get the outlay of the neighborhood with all the familiar characters he sees everyday in almost the same spot. To name a few; The soccer playing kid The Jamaican guy washing his car The panhandler The Indian grocery owner The one-armed guy in the blue tux.
If you listen to the commentary track, you'll find that every zombie character appears in an earlier scene in a living state. All in all the film was great. Funny, action packed and only slightly ironic.