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Review

Danger After Dark:
If the genre description hybrid “rom com” (romantic comedy) was too much for you to embrace, then good luck fitting “rom zom com” (romantic zombie comedy) into your cinematic lexicon — but perhaps you should make the effort, since the film being described by this abbreviation, Shaun of the Dead is, rather improbably, the best horror film of 2004. “Improbably,” only because a romantic comedy made by the creators of the (admittedly worthwhile) British television comedy “Spaced” would not have seemed like a logical candidate for the title, but such is the charm of Shaun, that rare genre hybrid which manages to be both legitimately funny and scary. Indeed, one would be hard pressed to think of another horror-comedy in which the two genres not only complimented each other so perfectly, but even managed to exist as wholly functional, complete genres throughout the running time: Shaun isn’t a horror movie with occasional bursts of humor, nor is it a slapstick farce that utilizes horror genre iconography solely for cheap laughs — the film is fully a horror movie, just as it also fully a romantic comedy, and the hybrid works beautifully.

The film follows late-20s slacker and appliance store employee Shaun and his lethargic roommate Ed on the day when the undead have suddenly decided to rise up and overtake North London. Meanwhile, Shaun is coping with the breakup of his relationship with girlfriend Liz, and he decides to prove himself by rescuing his beloved, along with her irritating roommates Dianne and David (and Shaun’s mum), and taking them to the safest hideout — which just so happens to be Shaun and Ed’s favorite pub, the Winchester.

Most horror-comedies are merely crass spoofs with dollops of comedic gore and little inherent respect for the horror genre, but Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright and his writing partner Simon Pegg (who also stars as the eponymous hero) obviously have a love for the zombie films that served as their inspiration, and the affection comes through, lending a genuine wit to even the film’s boldest homages (the Dawn of the Dead music cues and the Night of the Living Dead dialogue quote, to name the two most obvious) — Dead series helmer George A. Romero obviously agreed, for he cited Shaun as his favorite zombie effort outside of his own work, and even invited Wright and Pegg to cameo as flesh-eating corpses in his fourth Dead entry, Land of the Dead. Some have complained that the film’s third-act confinement to the Winchester is comparatively generic, but by that point, one has embraced the characters too much to quibble — and even this section of the film contains some of the movie’s best gags (the Queen routine) and grue (a rather Day of the Dead-esque disembowelment). Highest recommendation — and your horror nerd friends who try to tell you the film is overrated are clueless clods, okay?

TLA Catalog:
Irreverent, hilarious and even a bit of a cheeky romance, Shaun of the Dead (which, by the way, lives up to that great title) is one of the funniest and most enjoyable horror spoofs since Young Frankenstein. Using zombie films as its source of inspiration, especially the classic George Romero film Dawn of the Dead (these zombies don't run as in Dawn's 2004 remake, thank you very much), director/cowriter Wright and star/cowriter Pegg have taken a page from Mel Brooks and deliver inspired lunacy as they skewer a genre they clearly love. Pegg is deadpan perfection as Shaun, a 29-year-old North London store clerk (maybe he knows Ash from S-mart) who is breaking up with his long-suffering girlfriend Liz (Ashfield), due in some small part to his friendship with longtime best pal and perennial slacker Ed (the scene-stealing Frost), not to mention Shaun's penchant for drinking in the same pub night after night. What should be a day of angst-ridden ennui turns into a fight for survival when the living dead begin to walk the earth. After all, who has time to feel sorry for yourself when there are zombie heads to bash? One of the many joys of this smart, funny film are the characters, played to the hilt by its talented cast. Everyone knows someone like Shaun or Ed ... hell, most people are either Shaun or Ed. A slight exaggeration, perhaps, but it goes a long way in describing the appealing familiarity of these working-class zombie fighters. And fight zombies they do — Shaun of the Dead is a terrific mix of blood, gore, jokes and laughs.

 -- David Bleiler