10.12.04
Movie Review: Shaun of the Dead

But first, an aside: After the success of the remake of Dawn of the Dead earlier this year, they finally dug up some money for George Romero to make his fourth Living Dead movie. It is a victory tinged with melancholy. No longer will I be able to use it as an example when I complain about bad movies, i.e.: “Oh sure, they can make 5 sequels to Children of the Corn, but they can’t find any money for George Romero to make another Living Dead Movie.” Or: “They actually allocated money for a marketing budget for Stealing Harvard, but they can’t find a few million dollars for George Romero…” Look for Land of the Dead coming to a theater near you in 2005.

If, today, the dead started walking and eating the living… how long would it take people to notice that anything was amiss? In a world dominated by television, dead-end retail jobs, cell phones and tabloid headlines, it takes a few days for Shaun and his working-class friends to realize that something has gone wrong. For awhile it just looks like there are more drunks and morons around than usual. The retail-sales loser hero (Simon Pegg) and his obnoxious friend Ed (Nick Frost) finally put two and two together set out to heroically rescue Shaun’s mother and girlfriend from the attacking zombies. Gore and hilarity ensue.

It’s very funny, in a British sort of way. Which is way better than sucking in a British sort of way. Like 28 Days Later did. So, we can consider the whole British dead-arising-and-eating-the-living genre redeemed.