Shaun of the Dead
LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
If ever a movie could claim to be one of a kind, this would be it. If anyone can think of another zombie romantic comedy, or zom rom com, please let me know! Shaun of the Dead does what every good spoof should do, and yet it is more than a spoof. A spoof makes good-natured fun of its source material. Airplane was an amazing spoof of a non-amazing movie, Airport. Shaun of the Dead is a spoof of the zombie genre on one level, but it is also its own unique zombie film that turns conventions on their head.
The film centers on Shaun, a 29-year-old clearly in the midst of his quarter-life crisis. He cares deeply for his roommate Ed, but Ed is a total loser in the eyes of the business world. He also loves his girlfriend, Liz, but can’t seem to rise to the challenge of actually supporting her . . . or even taking her to a restaurant that is NOT the Winchester?Shaun and Ed’s pub of choice. So, before any of the carnage begins, Ed finds himself very dumped by Liz.
The rest of the film is simply the story of Shaun and Liz’s reconciliation . . . oh, yeah, and zombie Armageddon happens in the midst of all of this. Could ever a tagline for a film be as perfect as this: “A romantic comedy. With Zombies.� ? The tagline lets you know that you are going to need to go into this film looking to have fun, and it also delivers exactly what it describes!
Great care and thought went into the making of this film. Clearly Edgar Wright, the film’s writer and director, has great respect for the zombie genre. He also has an eye for telling a story through the camera. One scene that demonstrates the care put into the filming involves a long tracking shot. Shaun leaves his flat, walks across the street, hands change to a beggar, enters a shop, buys his morning drink, and pays the shop owner. This is all captured in one long, complicated take. But then Wright then one-ups himself in the story’s next morning, by reproducing the shot, only this time the world has simply been overrun by zombies, with Shaun entirely oblivious to the fact. He passes the same beggar, with whom he never makes eye contact to notice his now-undead state. He opens the same refrigerator case to get the same drink out, only this time he slips, on what we can only assume to be blood, and never even looks down. Shaun makes it all the way back home without even once noticing the dozens of zombies roaming the streets! The scene was hard to film, no question, but so effective in giving us a glimpse into Shaun’s character, as well as giving us a glimpse into the kind of humor we should expect for the rest of the film.
As noted above, the film also takes the staple requirements of the zombie genre and turns them on their heads. What a great method of storytelling! Many zombie movies have a tough-thinking hero who leads a small band of survivors to (apparent) safety. In Shaun, that hero exists, but is only rising to the occasion in order to impress and win back his girlfriend! All zombie movies of note have a very bleak, inevitable feel to them. Humanity is basically doomed, and the zombies simply can’t be stopped. Shaun is able to lead us into this deep and dreadful feeling even amidst the laughs. Several characters that the viewer has come to care about are “turned� or eaten, and Shaun always manages to find the balance between the mandatory zombie-feasting, and the lightning wit.
This is a film that will be remembered for its wit. Wit, according to Merriam Webster, can be defined this way: “the ability to relate seemingly disparate things so as to illuminate or amuse.� What Shaun of the Dead does is to relate a real guy’s love life and family issues to a zombie-Armageddon storyline in a way that amuses . . . uproariously so!
LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
If ever a movie could claim to be one of a kind, this would be it. If anyone can think of another zombie romantic comedy, or zom rom com, please let me know! Shaun of the Dead does what every good spoof should do, and yet it is more than a spoof. A spoof makes good-natured fun of its source material. Airplane was an amazing spoof of a non-amazing movie, Airport. Shaun of the Dead is a spoof of the zombie genre on one level, but it is also its own unique zombie film that turns conventions on their head.
The film centers on Shaun, a 29-year-old clearly in the midst of his quarter-life crisis. He cares deeply for his roommate Ed, but Ed is a total loser in the eyes of the business world. He also loves his girlfriend, Liz, but can’t seem to rise to the challenge of actually supporting her . . . or even taking her to a restaurant that is NOT the Winchester?Shaun and Ed’s pub of choice. So, before any of the carnage begins, Ed finds himself very dumped by Liz.
The rest of the film is simply the story of Shaun and Liz’s reconciliation . . . oh, yeah, and zombie Armageddon happens in the midst of all of this. Could ever a tagline for a film be as perfect as this: “A romantic comedy. With Zombies.� ? The tagline lets you know that you are going to need to go into this film looking to have fun, and it also delivers exactly what it describes!
Great care and thought went into the making of this film. Clearly Edgar Wright, the film’s writer and director, has great respect for the zombie genre. He also has an eye for telling a story through the camera. One scene that demonstrates the care put into the filming involves a long tracking shot. Shaun leaves his flat, walks across the street, hands change to a beggar, enters a shop, buys his morning drink, and pays the shop owner. This is all captured in one long, complicated take. But then Wright then one-ups himself in the story’s next morning, by reproducing the shot, only this time the world has simply been overrun by zombies, with Shaun entirely oblivious to the fact. He passes the same beggar, with whom he never makes eye contact to notice his now-undead state. He opens the same refrigerator case to get the same drink out, only this time he slips, on what we can only assume to be blood, and never even looks down. Shaun makes it all the way back home without even once noticing the dozens of zombies roaming the streets! The scene was hard to film, no question, but so effective in giving us a glimpse into Shaun’s character, as well as giving us a glimpse into the kind of humor we should expect for the rest of the film.
As noted above, the film also takes the staple requirements of the zombie genre and turns them on their heads. What a great method of storytelling! Many zombie movies have a tough-thinking hero who leads a small band of survivors to (apparent) safety. In Shaun, that hero exists, but is only rising to the occasion in order to impress and win back his girlfriend! All zombie movies of note have a very bleak, inevitable feel to them. Humanity is basically doomed, and the zombies simply can’t be stopped. Shaun is able to lead us into this deep and dreadful feeling even amidst the laughs. Several characters that the viewer has come to care about are “turned� or eaten, and Shaun always manages to find the balance between the mandatory zombie-feasting, and the lightning wit.This is a film that will be remembered for its wit. Wit, according to Merriam Webster, can be defined this way: “the ability to relate seemingly disparate things so as to illuminate or amuse.� What Shaun of the Dead does is to relate a real guy’s love life and family issues to a zombie-Armageddon storyline in a way that amuses . . . uproariously so!
LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
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