TB4000
10-04-2004, 04:58 PM
Zombie comedy runs rampant in Shaun of the Dead
Once upon a time, two zombie movies were released within the month of September. One was entitled Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the other called Shaun of the Dead. One was a terrible attempt at recreating the horrific atmosphere of the walking dead within your own town; the other was a pretty good attempt at recreation. Now let me tell you that one was more of a comedic take on the zombie lifestyle, and the other was dead serious. Now which would you assume is the more accurate movie? And yes, the answer to that question is obviously filled with irony. Shaun of the Dead is probably one of the better zombie movies out there, and that is really saying something.
Shaun (Simon Pegg) is your typical everyday 20-something from London…he has a 9 to 5 job that he dreads going to, his best friend Ed (Nick Frost) bums off him whenever he can, whatever he can, and his relationship with his girlfriend is on the rocks even more than usual. Day after day he goes through the same routine, even as an unexplained plague causes the masses of the world to slowly turn into flesh eating creatures. He gets up, goes to work, stops at the supermarket for a drink, and all the while, bloodstains and corpses are all around him, and he doesn’t even notice. Only when he and Ed discover a girl passed out on their lawn they think is just drunk who suddenly tries to eat their brains do they figure out what exactly is going on around them.
Most of the movie’s humor comes from the fact that Shaun and Ed have absolutely no idea what to do in order to stay alive, which is probably the same thing most people in that situation would be facing. They throw random things from their tool shed at approaching zombies, including copies of Prince’s greatest hits (most preferably the Batman soundtrack). They spend most of their time at the local bar or playing first person shooters on their Playstation 2, so it’s not exactly too far out that they’d choose everyday items for their weapons of choice.
Though the movie has a lot of humor, it’s not entirely a comedy. By the time the zombies have pretty much taken over, they stop kidding around and try their best to locate their loved ones and stay alive long enough to escape the horror. This isn’t “Scary Movie” type stuff where everything is a joke…if a zombie gets a hold of you, you’re pretty much written out of the story. It’s not censored, either. People get limbs bitten off, blood spurts at random, and well…you see where I’m going. That horror element combined with the comedy is what really makes it a movie for a really huge audience, as each person will have something they can seriously connect with.
The writer and lead actor, Simon Pegg, also works on a British sitcom called Spaced, which I haven’t seen in entirety, but caught a few times on that BBC channel, and it’s basically the same type of dark comedy you’d expect, only with more people dying. There will be a lot of horror movies coming out this month in honor of All Hollow’s Eve, but I think that Shaun of the Dead will definitely be the one to set the standard.
Once upon a time, two zombie movies were released within the month of September. One was entitled Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the other called Shaun of the Dead. One was a terrible attempt at recreating the horrific atmosphere of the walking dead within your own town; the other was a pretty good attempt at recreation. Now let me tell you that one was more of a comedic take on the zombie lifestyle, and the other was dead serious. Now which would you assume is the more accurate movie? And yes, the answer to that question is obviously filled with irony. Shaun of the Dead is probably one of the better zombie movies out there, and that is really saying something.
Shaun (Simon Pegg) is your typical everyday 20-something from London…he has a 9 to 5 job that he dreads going to, his best friend Ed (Nick Frost) bums off him whenever he can, whatever he can, and his relationship with his girlfriend is on the rocks even more than usual. Day after day he goes through the same routine, even as an unexplained plague causes the masses of the world to slowly turn into flesh eating creatures. He gets up, goes to work, stops at the supermarket for a drink, and all the while, bloodstains and corpses are all around him, and he doesn’t even notice. Only when he and Ed discover a girl passed out on their lawn they think is just drunk who suddenly tries to eat their brains do they figure out what exactly is going on around them.
Most of the movie’s humor comes from the fact that Shaun and Ed have absolutely no idea what to do in order to stay alive, which is probably the same thing most people in that situation would be facing. They throw random things from their tool shed at approaching zombies, including copies of Prince’s greatest hits (most preferably the Batman soundtrack). They spend most of their time at the local bar or playing first person shooters on their Playstation 2, so it’s not exactly too far out that they’d choose everyday items for their weapons of choice.
Though the movie has a lot of humor, it’s not entirely a comedy. By the time the zombies have pretty much taken over, they stop kidding around and try their best to locate their loved ones and stay alive long enough to escape the horror. This isn’t “Scary Movie” type stuff where everything is a joke…if a zombie gets a hold of you, you’re pretty much written out of the story. It’s not censored, either. People get limbs bitten off, blood spurts at random, and well…you see where I’m going. That horror element combined with the comedy is what really makes it a movie for a really huge audience, as each person will have something they can seriously connect with.
The writer and lead actor, Simon Pegg, also works on a British sitcom called Spaced, which I haven’t seen in entirety, but caught a few times on that BBC channel, and it’s basically the same type of dark comedy you’d expect, only with more people dying. There will be a lot of horror movies coming out this month in honor of All Hollow’s Eve, but I think that Shaun of the Dead will definitely be the one to set the standard.