I cheated this Horrorfest and used my local big chain movie theater to help pad my totals for the month. I have never seen Shaun of the Dead on the bigscreen the way God and some folks properly intended, and thus I ventured out on a Thursday to view a movie I’ve owned first on DVD, now Blu-ray, and which I’ve seen numerous times. I’m pretty sure I’ve written reviews for this movie at least a few times, too. Once for a now dead message board that I had a love hate relationship with.
Edgar Wright has done better and worse movies than this one, yet Shaun is probably my favorite one of his. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are fantastic together, operating on the same levels as Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, and others of course. I love how the two of them play off each other so well, and without this movie wouldn’t be half as funny or entertaining. This is definitely a zombie romcom, or a romcom with zombies, or a zomcom! Whatever. It wasn’t the first to have comedy jokes of course, however I think it might be the best one or at least up there.
The rest of the cast is fantastic, too. Kate Ashfield is the girlfriend, Liz, who Shaun takes for granted and who Ed constantly annoys. Lucy Davis and Dylan Moran are the couple who live with Liz and who provide plenty of conflict later on. Penelope Wilton plays Shaun’s mum, who is super nice and puts up with him hating his step-dad, Philip (Bill Nighy), which is a good joke in itself. All of them kind of represent different types of people who one could be in a zombie crisis, both good and bad.
I love a lot of the one liners, particularly the “You’ve got red on you” one that is still very funny. This movie also has way more gore than I remember, particularly during the scene where Shaun and Ed kill some ghouls in their backyard. This is probably the most British zombie movie ever made (well that and 28 Days Later) and is definitely top tier as far as I’m concerned. I loved all the nods to past and present zombie movies, and the conclusion is very satisfying. Check this one out for sure, and don’t forget to enjoy a good pint while doing so.
Down The Rabbit Hole 
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