Inspired by an episode of the comedy show Spaced in which Simon Pegg's character plays Resident Evil 2 under the influence of speed and hallucinates he is fighting off zombies, Pegg took the idea a tad bit further in Shaun of the Dead. Shaun has a lot of personal problems with his girlfriend and family, and on top of that, the dead are coming to life, an event that he barely notices until half of Britain has been chowed upon and reanimated. Mixing romance, comedy and zombies (zom-rom-com), Pegg plays a character whose life is dull, routine and dreary - working in an electronics shop, preferring to spend time with Ed, his video games obsessed, lazy flatmate. The zombie uprising - when he finally notices it - is the making of Shaun. The film is laugh out loud funny in several scenes - such as the survivors wandering through the zombies, pretending to be the undead themselves. The cast of the film is excellent featuring stars such as Bill Nighy and Dylan Moran. The film pays constant homage to several zombie films throughout the movie. There is a gruesome disembowelling, limbs ripped off death which is redolent of a famous scene in Romero's Day of the Dead. Simon Pegg's performance as Shaun is wonderful as he finally takes control of his life (albeit due to a zombie outbreak) and does battle with the living dead. It is actually refreshing to have a non-apocalyptic zombie film where everything goes back to a semblance of normality. Shaun deserves this ending as does the zombie film genre. The film takes the mickey out of reasons for the dead reanimating used in different zombie movies, and turns genre convention on its head with a happy ending of sorts. This fits in with the film's light atmosphere.
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
