Post by Bub on Oct 11, 2004 17:27:59 GMT -5
This Saturday I went and saw that latest horror offering in local cinemas, Shaun of the Dead, and I was not let down at all. Zombie films seem to be making a comeback these days with the Dawn of the Dead remake, Day of the Dead Contagium, and Land of the Dead, but Shaun of the Dead will stand out from them for the single reason that Shaun of the Dead really is funny as hell while delivering standard zombie thrills.
Shaun of the Dead has been dubbed "a romantic comedy with zombies" and that ain't too far off. Shaun is a normal guy who is at odds with his girlfriend, hates his stepdad, can't keep his social and buisness life seperate, and lets his loyal but non profitable best friend Ed live with him. Then zombies show up, and things get a bit different.
SOTD is hillarious. The comedy is very clever, and pokes fun at the sub-genre in a respectful fashion while not chastising or making a total joke of the sub-genre. The characters are all in depth, and performances were admirable and perfect. Shaun and Ed particularly won me over and I really liked their characters a lot. Very rarely does a zombie film make you really like the characters you're supposed to like before ripping them to mince meat, but SOTD does it effectively.
Much like Dawn of the Dead, SOTD serves as a social commentary on society. Whether it be Shaun's not noticing the zombie invasion at all in the morning or the TV shows at the film's end, SOTD portrays humans as zombies and zombies as humans. The only difference is that zombies eat people.
The zombie makeup is very convincing, and sticks to the conventional zombie mythology. They're the basic slow, mindless Romero zombies, and they look effective and real. Gore isn't abundant as usual, but this isn't a dry movies. Blood is used in good doses and there's one "torn apart" scene similar to Day of the Dead. There are also various homages to other zombie films that the zombie fan should catch.
Shaun of the Dead may be the best horror film this year. I certainly loved it.
10/10
