Theatre of the Dead #10 - Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Director: Edgar Wright Stars: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield

Review:


Shaun of the Dead (2004) is a zombie comedy that not only make fun of zombies like its predecessors such as Braindead, but also plays around the cliches also. I would not say this is a spoof on the zombie genre, since apparently the director Edgar Wright like the zombie cliches and pays homage to them rather than makes fun of them.

Shaun is an everyday un-successful guy in london. He has a boring job, disrespected by his co-workers, have a friend that everybody hates, and broke up with his girlfriend because he goes to the same pub with his best friend on every date. And one day when Shaun was doing his daily routines, zombies rages.

The zombies are in the Romero type so actually they does not poses whole lot of threat to our heros. Shaun didnt even realize the street were occupied by the zombies when he went out to buy a bottle of milk. Besides the comic routines, we actually see more deeply of the characters as the disaster go on. Shaun's best friend is an unemployed bum, who is fat and dirty. However as disaster strikes he seems not affected and keep on his fucked-up attitude even to the end of him, which makes him somehow courageous. The male roomate of Shaun's girlfriend had always been despising Shaun and thought he does not deserves her. However now with the involvement of zombies he turns out to be a selfish coward, and cares nobody other than himself. All he has is his good mouth. Of course Shaun becomes the leader, tries to get the group out of trouble and gets the girl. That went without saying.

This movie contains references to other zombie movies everywhere, and I am not able to spot all of them. A obvious one would be a guy being torn apart by the zombies, which appeared in Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead. Also there's the "We're coming to get you Barbara" line. As I have put it, these scenes reminded us of the classic zombie films, but not much of a parody or spoof of those.

As far as zombie comedy goes, this movie certainly contained some sad scenes. Most zombie movie ends up with most of the main cast being killed or turned into zombies and this one is no exception. Come to think of it, Shaun's stepfather died after resolving their hatred, his mother died in his own hands, his best friend was bitten and left for dead, and even the bartender of his favourate pub died. That is harsh man.

Shaun of the Dead would become an example on zombie comedies to come, rather than like the classic zombie comedies which mostly rely on slapstick humour.