A Terrific Send-Up of a Dopey Genre

Rating: 9/10 (1 October 2004)

I wouldn't, normally, go to a zombie flick even with a free offer of the now insanely high priced popcorn scooped out in Manhattan theaters. But director Edgar Wright (also co-writer) turned out a roaringly funny spoof of zombie films, also caricaturing many other genres. And it's all based on a true story.
Set in a working class London neighborhood (this film would have fallen as flat as a flatfooted guy's arches if made in the U.S.), the focus is on a small group of friends having the relationship problems that infest most sitcoms. Shaun (Simon Pegg, who also is co-writer) is an appliance salesman sharing a flat that earns the Most Slovenly Set Oscar with two guys. One is sick and tired of the third guy's belching, gas blasting, beer guzzling, video game obsessed mindlessness. That fellow is Ed (Nick Frost), the roommate from if not hell at least the end of the bar in a pub that doesn't care much who sidles up for a drink. But Shaun is his ever-loyal defender, his true-blue mate.
Shaun is, how original the idea, a forgetful suitor of Liz, a very peppery, pretty and fun character (Kate Ashfield). He can't even make a dinner reservation for a much anticipated, by Liz, romantic evening. Shaun does have a nice relationship with his mom but a less than ideal one with his stepfather, Philip (Bill Nighy who was terrific in "Love Actually" and turns in a very good performance here).
Early on there seem to be a number of folks walking about the street who aren't feeling well. Public service announcements on the telly report a spreading flu.
Very soon Shaun and his set are besieged by hordes of extras, all beautifully made up to be homicidally weird but hardly frightening zombies. They add to their ranks by biting the dwindling number of healthy folks. Shaun and Liz, accompanied by Ed and another couple frantically seek to stay alive through a series of (mis)adventures that build up to a very funny denouement.
While, obviously, lampooning zombie flicks is the main theme, this director and cast set their sights on other very familiar screen staples including:
1) Guy must mature to keep gal who dumps him but really he's the only fellow in the world for her (of course).
2) Monty Pythonesque extreme silly violence with ample blood flow and many bitten and wrenched body parts. (Special effects here are quite good.)
3) Adversity brings out the hero in if not Everyman then at least our hero (Shaun).
4) Heroic "I'm a goner but you gotta get out of here now" scene.
5) The ever imperturbable English newscaster who reports horrific depredations by monsters with the same aplomb customarily employed to announce yet another aristocratic sex scandal.
6) Ingenuity in devising weapons.
And there's much more.
No one will be affrighted by "Shaun of the Dead" although those who found quick dismemberment in "Monty Python" off-putting probably won't like the heavy dose here.
Can't imagine what the special features will be on the DVD.:)
9/10