Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Having no ambitions was just one of the many reasons why Liz (Kate Ashfield) dumped her long term boyfriend Shaun (Simon Pegg). But when his predictable humdrum life of playing Playstation games and heading over to the Winchester with his best friends Ed (Nick Frost) and Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) is turned upside by a random zombie outbreak, Shaun stops messing around and starts taking on the zombies directly in an attempt to protect his parents and Liz.

This English horror-comedy comes directly from the minds of director Edgar Wright and actor Simon Pegg. With both of them having written for the popular U.K. Television series Spaced, you can clearly see the sitcom style comedy stretched over this full length movie. While there is a horror element to it, the movie plays more on site gags and fart jokes than anything else. Some of them are dead on, while others flounder horribly.

Taking advantage of the style and lore created by George A. Romero, the streets are suddenly filled with the walking dead as the television and radio announcers have dubbed this Z-Day. Luckily, in this movie, the way to kill these zombies is instantly revealed by the media in hopes that people will be able to defend themselves if need be, but the goal over all is for them to stay inside and hide. Unfortunately, Shaun seems to be oblivious as to what he just watched and heads out to work.

It’s rather chilling to watch him walk the streets, passing by zombies that could easily attack him. The story really begins to move when Shaun and Ed find one of them crawling around the backyard of Shaun’s apartment. The slow build up gives just enough time for characters to be developed enough to relate to before entering into a survival/action/comedy styled zombie movie. Shaun’s weapon of choice throughout this adventure? A cricket bat.

If you’re a fan of British comedy or just zombie movies in general, this is truly a great watch. If you’re the type that plans for a zombie apocalypse, then you’ll at least gain the knowledge that Queen makes for some kick ass zombie killing music. Besides that, this movie is more of a cult classic than anything else, leaving many disappointed as it was really built up to be more than that.