Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Well my friend Blaine let me borrow his copies of Paul and The World's End, and so I planned to use this oppertunity to go through the entire Three Flavous Cornetto trilogy. That was a few months ago, and I've been busy and more or less forgot that I even had the films in my possession. But he recently reminded me that I had Paul and The World's End, so I quickly went through the trilogy and Paul before I hung out with him next and returned those movies. So let's finally go through this trilogy (and Paul) starting with, what else? Shaun of the Dead.

Plot: Shaun is a electronics shop employee who seem to have no direction in his life. He pretty much just goes to work and hangs with his best friend Ed, while taking his girlfriend Lilly to his favorite pub, The Winchester every night. But thing start to change when people in the neighborhood turn into zombies. So Shaun and Ed come up with a plan to take Lilly, Shaun's mom and step-dad, and Lilly's roommates David and Dianne and bring them to the Winchester for safety.

This film delivers very well in being both a comedy and a horror. Most of the jokes are pretty funny, and the actors do an excellent job delivering a lot of them. And it leads to some pretty memorable scenes and lines that I will often think about when I think of this movie. But it also follows very through in being a horror. I mean they don't make it really cheesy just because it's also a comedy, they give us the blood, gore, and the drama of being in a zombie apocalypse. In fact watching it again, I kind of found this movie to have more drama then there was any gore or jokes. Which is good because it really helps with what is happening with the characters, especially Shaun who is trying to grow from who he was before all of this happened and is trying to do something about it while dealing with his relationship with his best friend, his girlfriend, her roommates, his mother, and his stepfather. So you're rooting for him and the people he cares about, like you should in a movie that does give us some very intense and serious scenes about surviving. Now I've heard some people debate that this movie goes a little too far with the drama; that it becomes too intense or that it takes itself too seriously. And...yeah I can see where they're coming from. The third act of the movie - while still giving us some good jokes here and there - does give us some very dark and intense moments with the characters. And while I don't know if I would call it too far, the comedy does start to lack as the climax goes on. But I think even with that said, Shaun of the Dead can work for people who aren't fans of horror films in roughly the same way the Scream films work for people who aren't a fan of slasher films in that you may not be a fan of the genre, but the comedy helps you to enjoy it anyway to some degree.

And that's my review for Shaun of the Dead. It succeeds as both a comedy and a horror for people who like either one or both. The third act can be argued as being more horror than comedy, which might not be for everyone. If you don't like horror films but might be okay with this one because of its humor, give it a try. If you're fine with both but have never seen this movie before, it's an enjoyable film that I would recommend.

Rating: 90%