Every once in a while, the UK pops out a film that just takes the world by storm, on one level or another. Like "Trainspotting",
"Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels", and "28 Days Later" before it, Edgar Wright's supremely enjoyable zombie romp
"Shaun of the Dead" breaks new ground by stirring up old ground with aplomb. What do I mean? Well, I'll explain.
First, the synopsis...
Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a bit of a slacker. He's in his late twenties, working as a low-level manager at a consumer electronics
shop, where is "underlings" have little to no respect for him. He lives with his stodgy roommate (and former college chum)
Peter (Peter Serafinowicz), as well as his slovenly but kind-hearted friend Ed (Nick Frost). Shaun is dating a cute gal named Liz (Kate Ashfield),
whose friends Dianne (Lucy Davis) and David (Dylan Morgan) think Shaun is bad for Liz. It seems that Shaun's idea of a romantic
evening is to take Liz (and the ever-present Ed, naturally...who represents Shaun's childhood in the most literal sense imaginable)
to the Winchester...the neighborhood pub for drinks and beer nuts. After yet another screw-up on Shaun's part, Liz gets fed up and dumps
the poor bastard. To make matters worse, his step-father Philip (Bill Nighy) keeps guilting Shaun about not spending enough time with his mum Barbara (Penelope Wilton).
Shaun falls back on his support group, namely Ed, who treats him to a night of debauchery and self-pity at the Winchester (naturally).
Upon waking up the following morning, Shaun blearily makes his morning trek to the local corner market for a Coke. It's at about this time
when we, the viewers, start to become aware of zombies bumbling about in the background. 
They appear pretty much out of nowhere, and for no apparent
reason, but we notice them. That's more, of course, than we can say for Shaun, who remains completely oblivious to them...at first. Upon returning to his
flat and starting up Playstation game with Ed, they hear a ruckus in the back yard. They check it out, and find a young woman, whom at first they believe
to be intoxicated. After failing to sufficiently rile the girl, Shaun and Ed discover that she's, well, a zombie. A second, fat fuck of a zombie stumbles into the
yard, and Shaun and Ed find themselves having to defend themselves...first with Shaun's vintage record collection ("Not 'Blue Monday'!"), and then with a cricket bat
and a spade. Finally, the two begin to realize that something's...erm...not quite right with the world, and they formulate a plan to rescue Liz (whom Shaun hopes to win back in the process), along with David, Dianne, Philip, and
of course, poor old mum. Shaun's plan? To hole up in the Winchester, of course. After all, it's all too familiar territory, it's stocked with liquor and snacks, it's got heavy wooden doors,
and there is a rifle (hence the name of the pub) on the wall behind the bar...a rifle that may or may not actually be in working condition. Can Shaun and Ed rescue everyone? Will Ed ever stop farting? Will David ever stop being such a
ponce? Will Shaun pleasantly surprise Liz with his sudden burst of resourcefulness and maturity? Will mum ever get the flowers she so richly deserves?
What follows is a perfect example of a film that can actually
manage to be simultaneously original while paying almost slavish devotion to its influences, among which are (of course) "Dawn of the Dead" and "28 Days Later" (look for the subtle, almost subliminal "dig" at Boyle's film late in "Shaun"). Wright and company instill their film with an
apparent knowledge of zombie films and lore, and in fact, they never try to explain the shambling dead here. Come to think of it, there are several instances in "Shaun" when a bit of news story is seen or heard on a television or a radio, but the device in question is, without fail, either turned off,
switched to a different channel, or otherwise completely ignored. Therefore, we never learn exactly what's going on. It doesn't really matter, though...this filmmaking tactic only serves to remind us that, ultimately, it doesn't matter why it's happening...none of that changes the fact that it is
happening. In the proper context, it's quite refreshing to see that the filmmakers are less concerned about the "reasons" than they are about the well-being (or otherwise) of our characters. And what characters they are! In most films of this type, the characters are wooden, stock, "cut-outs"...basically interchangeable
with those in any other given zombie movie. Not here...each of the principals is not only fleshed out as much as possible, but we really feel that we know these people. And, of course, that only serves to make us care a bit more for them and how they deal with their plight. Interestingly, we end up caring just as much about
whether or not Shaun can win Liz back as we do about whether or not they survive this nightmare. That's a credit to the writing team, I think, as they've accomplished something at which so many other films fail miserably. Shaun is a loser and a slacker, but clearly he has good points, too...otherwise, a cute and relatively
stable babe like Liz would never have gone for him in the first place. Ed, while being a fat, lazy, misguided bastard, is nevertheless a nice enough bloke, and as mentioned before, he is the perfect representation of Shaun's misspent youth. He is the part of Shaun that would much rather stay at home all day playing Tekken 2 than
trying to live a "normal", "responsible" life. Liz is the model of a put-upon, but loving girlfriend...she represents what Shaun should be doing with his life...everything he could have and accomplish were he simply to apply himself and get off his duff once in a while. Dianne and David represent the opposite extreme...
that of people who went too far in their devotion to their personal goals and successes, never paying enough attention to their interpersonal relationships to notice that their lives are, in fact, a shambles. Mum and Philip...well, they represent Mum and Philip. Sorry...only so much subtext to be found in one place. The point is that every character
here is so well-drawn and well-written that just about anyone can see something of themselves in any given one of these characters, and that makes us give more than just a passing shite about their lives and their well-being. And that, boys and girls, is what good horror films are made of!
"Shaun of the Dead" works on just about every conceivable level. It's a truly funny comedy, it's reasonably gory, it's kinda scary in parts...overall, everyone involved did such a bang-up job that it's almost impossible to find anything negative to write about it. Likewise, this DVD from Rogue Pictures/Studio Canal is pretty much as good as they come. Aside from the perfect widescreen transfer, the sound quality is simply stunning for a film of this type. The extras leave little to be desired as well; two audio commentaries (including the hilarious cast commentary), photo galleries, a zombie trivia game, Simon Pegg's video "production diary", special effects breakdowns, outtakes, storyboarded "plot hole" fillers, and more. All told, an excellent package for an excellent movie. Because of the supreme quality of the film and the DVD release, "Shaun of the Dead" gets the "Atrocities Cinema Essential" award (like you thought it wasn't going to get that, or something!)
Every once in a while, the UK pops out a film that just takes the world by storm, on one level or another. Like "Trainspotting",
"Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels", and "28 Days Later" before it, Edgar Wright's supremely enjoyable zombie romp
"Shaun of the Dead" breaks new ground by stirring up old ground with aplomb. What do I mean? Well, I'll explain.
