SHAUN OF THE DEAD
(a film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: This film is like a crossbreeding of George
Romero and Mike Leigh. Oblivious lower-middle-class
Londoners slowly become aware that the dead are
returning at trying to eat the living. This satire
laughs at the tropes of the zombie movie, but even
more at the foibles of English life today. The first
half is very funny and the second half is at least
witty. Rating: low +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
Shaun and his friends from a run-down part of London live from one
dull night at the pub to the next. Shaun clerks in a store during
the day basically to get money for ale and peanuts in the evening.
Shaun's girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is tired of their
relationship and of going to the pub each night with the same
friends. It looks like he will lose her and that he is a man who
has no future anyway, so he does not notice when the civilization
loses its future. What happens is pretty much what happened in
George Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, the dead start to come
back. The cause may be a returning space probe or frankenfood or
maybe something else, but the dead start coming back to life to
and eating the living.
The problem is that with the self-absorbed people of Shaun's
circle of friends and with the number of drunks usually on the
street, having flesh-eating zombies is too subtle a change to show
up on Shaun's radar screen. Oh, sure, the television is talking
about some sort of nasty disaster going on, but the telly is just
sort of background noise to Shaun. He has too many other problems
of his own to figure out what the man on the telly is on about.
People staggering in the street? Well, welcome to London. But
that gag can last only so long. The film stays funny even after
Shaun and his pal and housemate Ed (Nick Frost) realize that this
crisis really could be serious enough to affect them. Where the
film really damps down is in the final third. The film references
are always fun. And in a sort of scene that has been worn out,
like the killing of zombies, this film brings new humor. A scene
of Shaun and Ed in their backyard using familiar objects to fight
a pair of approaching zombies is new and funny and also
characterizes Ed and Shaun.
Unlike in most zombie films, the characters are actually developed
and the dialog is good and telling. We do get to know the main
characters. This is not an accident. Most of the actors and much
of the production crew worked together in the British television
comedy series "Spaced" and in SHAUN OF THE DEAD they continue the
30-something dialog and humor of that show. Simon Pegg again
stars and co-writes. Edgar Wright again directs and this time
co-writes. Several others actors are in common. (Perhaps with
the popularity of this film, that series will become available in
the United States.) There is, however, one welcome addition to
the cast. Since some people saw Bill Nighy in LOVE ACTUALLY they
have been dying to know where they could see more of this actor.
Here he plays Philip, Shaun's stepfather. As soon as you see him
you know in this movie he is destined to die and become a zombie.
How could anybody put Nighy in a zombie film and not let him play
a zombie?
This film brings to mind another odd take on Romero's zombie
premise. In the 2004 French film LES REVENANTS directed and co-
written by Robin Campillo the dead return as zombies who for once
are benign. That film takes a serious look at the interpersonal
and social effects of having the dead come back to life. Actually
not all of the cleverness of SHAUN OF THE DEAD should be
attributed to this production. The idea that many of the living
are already zombie-like and might as well be dead really goes back
to DAWN OF THE DEAD which itself had quite a bit of humor. This
comedy also is reminiscent of the wickedly funny short DAWN OF THE
NIGHT OF THE DEAD: THE MUSICAL.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a well-written satire taking the dead horror
sub-genre of zombie films and, well, bringing it back to life. I
rate it a low +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Copyright 2004 Mark R. Leeper
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38722 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1323954 X-RT-TitleID: 1136734 X-RT-AuthorID: 1309 X-RT-RatingText: 7/10
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