Shaun of the Dead - Killing Zombies 12 inches (vinyl) at a time.
I think this is probably the best Zombie film there has been.
The Zombie genre is obviously ripe for spoofing, and lets be honest, most of the best Zombie movies have managed to send themselves up quite successfully. Whilst Shaun Of The Dead succeeds as an out and out spoof of the genre, it also works beautifully as a Zombie movie in its own right with enough subtlety and invention to rise to the top of the pile. Obviously its humour is where it trumps its rivals, not only in terms of horror spoofs, but it is probably the funniest comedy film made in the last few years. This helped the film gain appreciation of a wide audience, mainstream and die hard Zombie fans alike very much appreciated the subtle references to classic Zombie flicks.
After the success of Shaun of The Dead the same team went on to reinvent the cop buddy movie with their superb spoof Hot Fuzz. What will they do next?

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1046 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-09-06
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's no disparagement to describe Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s zombie-rom-com Shaun of the Dead as playing like an extended episode of Spaced. Not only does the movie have the rather modest scope of a TV production, it also boasts the snappy editing, smart camera moves, and deliciously post-modern dialogue familiar from the sitcom, as well as using many of the same cast: Pegg’s Shaun and Nick Frost’s Ed are doppelgangers of their Spaced characters, while Jessica Stevenson and Peter Serafinowicz appear in smaller roles. Unlike the TV series, it’s less important for the audience to be in on the movie in-jokes, though it won’t hurt if you know George Romero’s famous Dawn of the Dead trilogy, which is liberally plundered for zombie behaviour and mythology.

Shaun is a loser, stuck in a dead-end job and held back by his slacker pal Ed. Girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is exasperated by his lack of ambition and unceremoniously dumps him. As a result, Shaun misses out on what is apparently the end of the world. In a series of beautifully choreographed and edited scenes, including hilarious tracking shots to and from the local shop, he spectacularly fails to notice the death toll and subsequent zombie plague. Only when one appears in their back garden do Shaun and Ed take notice, hurling sundry kitchen appliances at the undead before breaking out the cricket bat. The catastrophe proves to be the catalyst for Shaun to take charge of his life, sort out his relations with his dotty mum (Penelope Wilton) and distant stepdad (Bill Nighy), and fight to win back his ex-girlfriend. Lucy Davis from The Office and Dylan Moran of Black Books fame head the excellent supporting cast. --Mark Walker

Special Features

• Missing Bits: extended bits, out-takes, The Man Who Would Be Shaun, Funky Pete, plot holes
• Raw Meat: diaries from Simon, Lucy and Joe; Edgar and Simon's flip chart; SFX before and after; Make-up tests; Epic adventure featurette
• TV Bits: T4 with Coldplay; Fun Dead; Trisha--Your Nine Lives Are Up; Trisha--I Married A Monster; Jeremy Thompson interview
• Trails of the Dead: trailers
• Zombie Gallery: photo gallery, 2000AD strip, poster designs
• Audio Bits: Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright; Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Kate Ashfield and Lucy Davis; Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton; the zombies

Synopsis
Pub regular Shaun certainly needs a drink. He's fallen out with his Mum and his girlfriend's dumped him. Determined to get his sad life back on track, he decides to pull himself together only to be confronted with an unexpected obstacle, an unrelenting swarm of suburban living corpses. Who'd've expected that down the boozer, eh, except perhaps after one too many shandies! SPACED's Simon Pegg plays Shaun with relish, swinging his cricket bat at the invading cadaverous hoardes, knocking them for six. With an array of celebrity cameos and featuring some contemporary comedy names, this is a rare beast, a rom-com zombie spoof.

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Customer Reviews

Hand down, the best film ever made of its genre
SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a revelation. It's funny and creepy and witty and innovative. It also proves it doesn't take a big budget to create a masterpiece. The jokes are never obvious, but always funny... laugh out loud funny... and the gore isn't intended as a replacement for plot (as it is in so many horror films).

There is simply nothing bad about SOTD... it can't be improved upon. I've seen it dozens of times now and find something new to appreciate each time. Definitely in my top-ten favorite films of all time.

It is, hands down, the best film ever made of its genre.

One of the funniest films I've seen for a long time
The banality of Shaun and Ed's lives is the usual sort: they have no specific ambitions - they're just sleep-walking towards middle age, keeping themselves entertained down the pub and messing about with their computer games. They are quite content in their comfortable rut. When pushed on the subject, Shaun dallies with the idea of doing something decisive in some vague future, to achieve oh ..., something, but not just yet - in a year or two, perhaps. It's driving Shaun's girlfriend mad. He blows his last chance with her and she dumps him. He's very unhappy about it and spends the evening drowning his sorrows with Ed. When they leave the pub, they're amused to see a couple who seem to be 'devouring' each other. Then a man who appears to be drunk joins in with the chorus of the song they're singing, with an incoherent bellow. When Shaun wakes with a hangover the following day he doesn't notice all the odd things happening around him as he stumbles down to the shop. There are people lurching about with gimpy legs and floppy heads. There's blood. Shaun's oblivious to all the signs. And his failure to observe his peril isn't entirely the result of his hangover. The fact is, they don't look very different from what he normally sees, apart from the blood and the shambolic gait. The vacuous, disconnected look isn't out of the ordinary - though he might've noticed the eyes look a bit peculiar if he was paying attention. No wonder it takes a while to register that something's wrong. When the boys do notice the growing population of hungry dead, they snap into action and, finally, shut the front door. After that, the real fun begins. They've been catapulted out of their comfortable rut. Things are serious. They need a plan. The plan is agreed and they're off ..... not to save the whole world, but at least some of the bits they care about.

It's very very funny and I enjoyed it enormously. It's a zombie film and I liked it in spite of the fact that I don't usually like zombie films. Of course, the story is daft. But the acting is excellent. The comedy element is comical, the horror element is horrible and there are a few very touching scenes. The combination, in my opinion, is extremely entertaining. It still makes me laugh even though I've watched it several times. I recommend the film.

Absolutely stuffed with extras!
I'm a big fan of the George A.Romero zombie trilogy, and also of the Spaced TV series, so a comedy parody of Romero by the creators of Spaced pretty much gets a couple of stars head start before I have even seen it.

I didn't see the film in the cinema, so it was all new to me. Given British TV's habit of spawning naff films I was a bit wary, but needn't have worried. The first part of the film is really just like a big screen version of Spaced with only a few little hints in the background of the trouble brewing and lots of big laughs. The film then moves into the slightly strange territory which Spaced sometimes inhabited when the main characters start to realise that there are really Zombies on the move. When the action really starts the overt comedy is reined in a bit to let the pace pick up, which is about right: by then you are more interested in what happens next than in where the next joke is coming from.

Simon Pegg makes the transition from small to large screen well, and more surprisingly Dylan Moran does too. Much as Black Books is brilliant, Moran is still basically acting out his stand-up persona. here he is much more rounded character.

Fans of recent British TV comedy will have fun spotting all the actors from The Office, League of Gentlemen and Black Books turning up in roles ranging from major to blink-and-you-miss-it.

I can't really comment on the picture quality as my TV is on the way out, but the use of surround sound is very effective on this disc. During the seige scenes there is a permanent presence of zombie moans and scratching coming from all around to add to the atmosphere.

So, the film is a hit, but what about the disc? Its as good as you would expect from writers and directors who are big fans of the DVD medium, and one of the most loaded single discs you are likely to come across. The extras include 4 full-length commentaries, video diaries from several actors, outtakes and extended scenes as well as the now traditional photo galleries, making-of, TV spots and trailers.

Some of the less conventional extras are a run through of the original story idea on a flip chart, plot holes explained in comic strips with actor voiceovers, and one scene acted in the styles of Sean Connery and Michael Caine in The Man Who Would Be King. The flip chart extra is especially interesting as it pre-dates the filming, and even the full script-writing. Some of the original plot ideas or back story details didn't make it to the film, but its impressive how many details from the original conceptual stage made it all the way through, which says something about the completeness of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's original vision.

The thoroughness of the extras is exemplified in what the menu calls the "TV Bits". At various points in the film the characters watch a bit of television, and even though only a few seconds might appear in the film they actually made TV segments of several minutes which are included in full on the disc. And there are some 2000AD comic strips, poster designs, and loads more. There are even some extra extras, not listed on the box, which are tucked away in the sub-title options - a storyboard comparison and the Zomb-o-meter. The zomb-o-meter is a trivia track which lists everything from what the music is on the soundtrack and where a scene was filmed, to what films are being referenced and what game is being played on the Playstation. (Just like the feature on the DVD of the 2nd series of Spaced but even more informative.)

I am already more than satisfied with this film and disc, and I haven't had time to listen to the commentaries yet. Pegg already proved on the Spaced DVDs that he can do an essential talk track - essential to point out all the film references if nothing else - and he features on two of the commentary tracks: one with co-writer and director Edgar Wright, and the other with the main actors. The third commentary is my Shaun's parents (Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton) and the last track is by actors who played Zombies.

In a recent interview Simon Pegg mentioned that George A. Romero himself liked the film, and if its good enough for him its certainly good enough for me. Roll on the sequel!