Shaun Of The Dead

UK Release Date. 9 April 2004

Certification. 15

Running Time. 1 hour 29 mins

Director. Edgar Wright
Cast. Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, Simon Pegg, Peter Serafinowicz, Jessica Stevenson, Penelope Wilton.
Rating. 64%

Review.

Following directorial duties on two seasons of the Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson comedy series, Spaced, Edgar Wright was propelled into the spotlight with the release of Shaun Of The Dead. 

Shaun Of The Dead suffers significantly from over-exposure on mainstream television, and as a result, it is all too easy to forget the freshness of the film at the time of release. Sure, we British had a solid reputation for producing charming and heartwarming Richard Curtis-penned comedies like Four Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually, but here was a British film that was bold, confident and daring. Dare I say, gallus?

Faced with a zombie apocalypse, a small group of friends, containing the titular Shaun (Simon Pegg) and his former girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield) have to find a way to survive. A simple plot that is the basis for any number of zombie B-movies. And by playing the horror element completely straight Shaun Of The Dead blends the apocalyptic terror of George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead and Dawn Of The Dead with the conventions of a romantic comedy, extracting every last drop of comedy from the storyline. Shaun Of The Dead is funny. Very funny.

Whilst far from the finished article, Shaun Of The Dead - the first instalment of the so-called 'Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy' - does contain much of the director's trademark style, tone and pacing. A comic-book approach allows for razor-sharp dialogue amidst physical comedy and gross-out horror. Wright's kinetic editing rhythm, employing whip camera pans, breakneck zooms and long cuts are apparent in Shaun Of The Dead and further refined in his later films, Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Baby Driver and Last Night In Soho.

In Shaun Of The Dead Edgar Wright creates an enduring and entertaining film that respectfully pays homage to the cinema that inspired it whilst satirising the genre with an adventurous sense of fun.