Shaun of the Dead (2004)
AKA: Tea-Time of the Dead (UK) (working title)

(Release Date: April 9, 2004)
(US Release Date: September 24, 2004)

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J.C. Maçek III The World's Greatest Critic! The Office Sighting! An old friend from The Office stopped by... Lucy Davis ("Dawn Tinsley" from The Office plays Dianne in Shaun of the Dead! Apparently poor lovesick Tim can't stop following old Dawn around, because Martin Freeman from The Office briefly pops up for a "What's All This Then" before dashing off to go meet Marvin, I guess... BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! Scroll Down for the Complete Zombie Collection: After a while, pretty much every Zombie movie looks just like all the others. A mysterious curse, cosmic radiation, virus or experiment infects the dead who walk again and eat the living. A shrinking group of heroes finds shelter in a dubious safe place, then falls back, back, back and is eaten. Shaun of the Dead is no different, plot wise. The difference here is that Shaun of the Dead is incredibly funny. No, not just spoof-heavy, quotable and corny, it's incredibly funny! After I, Zombie, a Zombrit film with about as much pathos as a funeral for a cricket, it's a pleasure to watch a British Zombie Flick that abandons the depressed sorrow angle for some serious UK-style laughs. And, while the laughs are subtle and intelligent, make no mistake, the horror and gore is anything but muted. This is a Zombie film. This is a Comedy. This is absolutely Brilliant. This is Shaun of the Dead! Shaun's just an average Joe, with an average job! He's your average white suburbanite slob! He likes football and porno and video games about war. He's got an average house with two roommate bores. That is until he starts seeing bizarre zombie-like sights on his way to work, home, the girlfriend's house, the convenience store... everywhere. Shaun sees so many of these sights from the corner of his eye that he starts to not notice them at all... I mean, really... come on, right? Zombies? The fact that said lady-friend (Kate Ashfield's Liz) has just thrown him over, his responsible roommate (Peter Serafinowicz's Pete)hates the bum roommate (Nick Frost's hilarious Ed) and his seventeen year old coworkers not only give him the respect owed to Rodney Dangerfield, but they also equal him in rank. Therefore when the dead really do rise again, Shaun... simply isn't paying attention. The change is as subtle as a britcom and thrice as funny. Like Romero in the original Dawn of the Dead, writer/ director Edgar Wright sets up the concept of pre-apocalyptic suburban zombies (played much more for parody than overt social commentary). Seeing the before and after pics, it's not too surprising that our hero doesn't register any cosmic flip until...well, until someone tries to eat 'im! The film is a complete scream to begin with, featuring some smart and none too obvious jokes, and the quiet desperation of the English way even before the neighbors need tasers. Afterward... there isn't much of a change. Shaun's red ink spot spreading in his pocket is joined by a thousand others, in the form of blood stains. His girlfriend still won't talk to him, his room mates are still at each other's throats, and he still hates his job. Things are a little worse, though, he'll grant you! Most of the comedy is held together by Shaun himself (Simon Pegg who also co-wrote). Pegg is perfect for Shaun, neither a dashing figure or a complete lout either. He's an everyman thrown into bizarre situations that trump the legendary, and uses such a horrific backdrop to... make a few jokes. The best part of Shaun of the Dead is how incredibly self-aware it is! Such whacked moments as Ed's line "WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU BARBARA!" (directly taken from Night of the Living Dead), news references to 28 Days Later..., Shaun's electronics store being named after Dawn of the Dead star Ken Foree and the fish restaurant having the name "Fulci's" make this one flick worthy of its title. All that and a cameo from Bill Nighy that is wickedly hilarious. This line of humor continues in the positively goofy actions performed in the name of survival (or in Ed's case, in the name of complete idiocy). Shaun and his friends must blend in as Zombies, so Dianne (Lucy Davis, who played The Office's hottie "Dawn" [Of the Living]) gives them a quick acting course on how to pull it off. Shaun and Ed ward off the undead by throwing record albums at them, but refuse to throw anything they might want to listen to later (by aaron pruitt). Even the bloodiest scenes of terrifying dismemberment manage to be a laugh riot. What's more Shaun of the Dead has more sympathy and emotion in one or two (only vaguely less funny) scenes than I, Zombie had in its entire interminable running time. In short, that which Pegg and Wright set out to do... they succeed at! The difference between this spoof and that of an American Zombie farce is a lot like comparing the British and the American versions of The Office. But then again, Shaun of the Dead doesn't feature a prolonged and luscious nude scene from Linnea Quigley like Return of the Living Dead does either! A big open handed Benny Hill Salute goes to Shaun of the Dead, a Monster of a Zombie Farce. The subtlety is perfect and the in-your-face gore is legitimately cool as undead guts. Four Stars out of five for Shaun of the Dead, the zombie comedy that gets both the comedy and the zombie just right. Makes me wonder when we can expect a Ricky Gervais Vampire Flick! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm feeling a bit peckish. A Tustin, California franchise of "Fulci's" just opened up. I'm still a vegetarian and all, but I'm going to stagger on over and look at the menu anyway. The owner of the place just kills me.