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Ian Stanley reviews

Shaun of the Dead

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Well, Danny Boyle’s somewhat derogatory attitude towards ‘genre’ cinema seems to have annoyed the Spaced crowd.

There are quite a few digs at his movie 28 Days Later littered throughout this one. Even though there are scores of the flesh munching monsters around, the characters in this movie don’t like to mention the word zombie because "That’s ridiculous isn’t it?"

I discovered the sitcom Spaced quite late in the day, I’d heard it was a great programme for media buffs, but for whatever reason I’d just never gotten around to catching it. When I did I kicked myself for not doing so earlier, great comedy, great visuals, great characters, surprisingly serious moments (well handled) and also an extra layer of references for those who will appreciate them. All of these have been carried over to Shaun Of The Dead and have been added to.

Shaun's (Simon Pegg life is going nowhere, just about everyone knows it but him, and he’s starting to wake up to the fact. The only person who seems oblivious to it is Shaun’s loyal but lazy flatmate Ed (Nick Frost), a man with pretty much no ambition whatsoever. Shaun’s girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is growing weary of his refusal to try and move on, and, after he botches his last chance, dumps him. To add to this, Shaun’s rather scary stepdad is pressuring him to make more of an effort with his mother, who Shaun’s been neglecting as of late.

Thusly, Shaun wakes up one morning with a mission, to get his life back on track, to visit his mom and to get his girlfriend back. Challenging tasks, to be sure, made doubly hard by the hordes of walking dead now crowding the streets of London intent on eating any survivors.

British cinema seems to have been in the doldrums as of late, churning out worthy social dramas with little chance of succeeding, Mockney gangster movies and (mostly) bland rom-coms… In the past few years U.K. filmmakers seem to have taken note of the re-emerging popularity of horror movies, and have been starting to diversify their output somewhat, with differing levels of success. Long Time Dead and Deathwatch are best forgotten, the former should first be burned though, by the Djinn it raised… 28 Days Later is a flawed curio with a great first two acts let down by the third, and then there was Dog Soldiers.

Dog Soldiers was a breath of fresh air, made on a low budget by fans of the horror genre, and revelling in its staples. It didn’t take itself too seriously, didn’t try to pretend it was more than it was and the makers didn’t look down on the intended audience. It did do everything it was meant to do, it was exciting, scary, funny, and it under-performed at the cinema due to its guycentric nature and the apathy of British audiences. I half-fear a similar fate for Shaun of The Dead but this might not be the case as there’s plenty here to hold the interest of both sexes.

The acting is good all round and, for a horror comedy, the wise decision has been made to populate it with cast members from (decent) British sitcoms. Simon Pegg (Spaced) makes a good lead, showing some pretty good acting chops in the movie’s more serious moments. Pegg is ably supported by Nick Frost (Spaced), Dylan Moran (Black Books), Lucy Davis (The Office), Kate Ashfield, and the quickly becoming ubiquitous, Bill Nighy.

The film is directed by Edgar Wright and is co-written by Wright and Pegg. The script is intelligent, very funny and contains quite a few scares. It is also pretty ruthless with its’ characters, you’re just never quite sure who is going to make it to the end credits in one piece. The media references are toned down for the film, but there are a couple including a nice scene where our group meet up with some of their co-stars from their respective TV shows.

Edgar Wright is a great visual stylist and makes good use of the 2:35:1 ratio. He pulls off some pretty good camera tricks in the film, most impressive are the two tracking shots early in the film following Simon Pegg down the street to the corner shop. Thankfully he’s also decided not to hold back on the gore, ‘Shaun’ is surprisingly gory for its 15-certificate, so those of a queasy disposition might want to take note.

I can recommend this movie without hesitation, it has some good jumps, it’s surprisingly tense in places, well written, acted and directed, and it’s also ‘laugh out loud’ funny to boot (the audience I saw it with had a great time). Go see it now, and send a message to British filmmakers that this is the type of movie we want to see more of!

Review copyright © Ian Stanley, 2004.

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