MyRating: YYYY1/2Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Penelope Wilton, Bill Nighy
MPAA: Rated R for zombie violence/gore and language
US Gross: US$ 13.5 Million
Worldwide Gross: US$ 30 Million
Do you know why I love Zombie movies so much? I will give you 3 reasons :
1) You do not have to make things and yourself complicated with something called love and lust (sorry Dracula & Vampire lovers), because a Zombie is done with all those mortal things.
2) You do not have to feel ashamed together with the main character when you see him find himself waking up naked somewhere in the park in the morning (sorry Werewolf fans), because a Zombie never cares about that, and he seems to always have shirt on him.
3) You do not have to worry too much about your perfection (sorry Mummy devotees), since Mummy needs to kill a lot of people before he can make his face and body perfect again. But not with a Zombie, he doesn't mind to look ugly at all, and he only needs to bite one person in order to make that person look as ugly as him.
Maybe I will think of something to mock of Zombie the next time I write about Dracula & Vampire & Werewolf & Mummy, because actually I love those movies too, but maybe not as much as I love Zombie's.
When I heard a comedy about zombies was made (the same year with Dawn of the Dead remake), I said to myself, "What? I will not watch it! It will be just a silly zombie spoof. Zombies should be scary, serious... and cool, not something funny or to take a joke of. It must be a very stupid movie." I watched it anyway. And I found out myself laughed in tears while watching it. Not small laughs, but big round laughs. Indeed Shaun of the Dead is one of the most brilliant and hilarious comedies I've ever seen. Not only the story is engaging, but also the casts are charming with very convincing actings. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are two funny British actors who work well together as a laughing inducer machine. And most of all, the dialogs are clever and superb. Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, as the screenwriter, have a seriously huge amount of humors. Even when I watched it again and again, I still can't stop laughing because this movie is really-really funny.
The story is about Shaun (Pegg), who has a mundane life. He works a dead-end job in an electronic store, where his subordinates do not take him seriously. He also has problem in his relationship with his girlfriend, Liz (Ashfield). She complains because Shaun seems to spend more time with his best friend and roommate, Ed (Frost) rather than her. Ed is a lazy and jobless man, who spends his time everyday playing video games in front of the TV and drinking beers. Liz is also fed up with Shaun's less of initiative. He only knows one place to have dates, which is his favorite pub, the Winchester Tavern, a boring pub where Shaun hangs out every night with Liz and Ed.
When Shaun did one unforgivable mistake, Liz thinks that she already has enough and dumps him, supported by her two best friends, Dianne (Davis) and David (Moran), who also do not like him. But Shaun does not have much time to cry his broken heart as London is suddenly overrun by flesh-eating zombies. In this chaos, Shaun knows that it is time for him to stand like a man, as he has to safe his ex-girlfriend and his mom (Wilton), who lives with his stepdad (Nighy). Together with Ed, he has to bring them to a safer place before the zombies could reach them. And he can only think of one place, which is also the safest place on earth, the Winchester!
There are so many funny scenes in this movie, but I will give you 3 scenes that I think were the funniest (my lecturer once told me that, give only 3 points when you want to give your opinions, because 3 is the ideal number and also the maximum people can absorb):
1) The scene when Shaun and Ed throw two zombies in Shaun's backyard with Shaun's recording plates collection. In that hectic time, they still have to choose and argue which plates to throw away and which ones to keep.
2) Shaun's imaginary scenarios on how to save his mom from her house, including on killing his stepdad.
3) When Shaun, Ed and Liz hit a man in the Winchester Tavern with billiard sticks while a Queen's song, Don't Stop Me Now, is playing in the background.
4) Sorry, I have to add another one. A scene also in the Winchester when Shaun, Ed, David, Dianne and Liz are pointing gun and broken bottles towards each other, while shouting about a matter of life and death.
5) One more. The way Ed repeating Shaun's words, such as "It's on random" when talking about a random record playing in a jukebox and "We're not using the Z-word" when talking about zombies, are just hilarious.
There are still many funny moments which I cannot write down one by one, because I've spoiled a lot already. And don't think that this film is a soft zombie movie because of its comedy, because I assure you it has quite a lot of gore and blood to satisfy the zombie fans.
If you don't like zombies but you like comedy, then you have to watch this. If you don't like comedy but you like zombies, then this one is perfect for you. And if you don't like both zombies and comedy, well, just consider this as an action movie or a romantic comedy with zombies, as mentioned in its tagline, and I urge you to go for it and experience the wonderful experience that I had.
This is a little gem of the British comedy, and a masterpiece of world comedies... and zombies. And I love this movie so much. (MJ)
