When I heard about this movie it sounded so bizarre that it had to be good; its slogan, "a romantic comedy, with zombies," left me dying to see exactly what was up. Shaun of the Dead, starring Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, and Nick Frost, is indeed both bizarre and good.
The setup to the romantic comedy part is yawn-inducing: boyfriend lives with loser roommate and never does anything; girlfriend can't stand boyfriend's apathy and dumps him; boyfriend realizes he's an idiot and sets out to win back his true love. Shaun (Simon Pegg) is the lame boyfriend who wakes up the day after his breakup with Liz (Kate Ashfield), and finds out, along with roommate, Ed (Nick Frost), that there are zombies infesting the streets of London.
Thus is the setup to the zombie portion. Like every zombie movie before it, Shaun of the Dead wastes no time pretending to scientifically prove the cause for the zombie breakout. It just happens; which is fine, if that's all you expect.
Combine both mediocre plotlines and you get the main story of Shaun of the Dead: Shaun must save Liz from killer-monsters and, in doing so, win her heart back.
Throughout the movie, hilarity comes in all shapes and sizes; some cute laughs, loads of slapstick, plentiful gross humor, and even a bit of bathroom humor provide a lush array of comedy. Even though it might seem odd on paper, the movie puts it all together nicely. For instance, Shaun sets out to save his mother from her soon-to-be zombified husband. The mother, oblivious to everything around her, makes cute and funny remarks about people outside her house as being "a bit bitey." Shaun, barely listening to his mother, attempts to murder his stepfather, Philip, with a cricket bat, only to find the husband is only sick with a fever-providing a hilarious "what on earth are you doing with that?"-scene between Shaun and a startled Philip.
Alas, in the commotion of combining two opposite genres, it becomes difficult to feel any emotion for the characters, even as they are being torn apart by flesh-eating undead. The movie is so goofy and silly that only a few attempts to jerk a tear or two work; it's simply too odd when the entire rest of the movie is a complete joke.
Similarly, the zombie-horror itself becomes a joke after a while. The zombies are such dumb, slow-moving buffoons that entire horror sequences lose all recognition of being scary.
That said, the movie need not be categorized as either a romantic comedy or a horror flick; it's a great film with fun characters and good laughs populating every scene. Go to this movie to see how blending different types of comedy can make a good movie, and that zombie-slashing can be funny. A word of warning! This movie is not for the squeamish-tremendous amounts of bloody, cannibalistic murders abound and are often used as jokes.
Shaun of the Dead (99 minutes) is rated R for colossal amounts of absurdly nauseating zombie violence and language
Lincoln Bostian. Lincoln is in his third year on print staff as art editor. Lincoln was rushed onto staff in the wake of Shansby's departure, and has attempted to sustain what he can of the art department in his stead. He is a senior and has no … More »
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