Shaun Of The Dead (2004)

Genre: Comedy, Horror

Director: Edgar Wright

Writers: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright

Staring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield

Rating: ★★★½

Shaun Of The Dead is a British comedy about two best friends encountering a zombie invasion in London. Where most zombie films focus on the undead, this film takes a different approach and is more like a sitcom focusing on ordinary life problems but with flesh eating zombies getting in the way. Best-buds, housemates, drinking partners and lazy morons Shaun and Ed (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost) aim to fight away the shuffling zombies roaming London rescue loved ones and go to the local pub, The Winchester for a nice pint.

The film opens with a list of mocking ironic hints at a zombie invasion, almost teasing you. While the real world has its problems so does the world of Shaun, spending all his time in the local pub with Ed and working in a poxy small retail store his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) leaves him. However Shaun will fight for her and try and get her back but first a trip to The Winchester with Ed and a few beers. Waking up after choking on his own dribble Shaun and Ed realise that Zombies are walking the streets of London. Ignoring advice and love for classic records they fight back in hope of saving Shaun's mum Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and getting back Liz. 

In true comedy style they bash and bump their way through the undead with a cricket bat and shovel all fuelled from a can of coke and a Corneto. Shaun of The Dead plays to the humorous British stereotypes with the characters of Shaun's mum Barbara and her husband Phil (Bill Nigly). In the face of death and hell the two stand firm in true British style by running bite wounds under a cold tap, putting on the kettle and making sandwiches. The play on the stereotypes brings laughs so credit to writers Edgar and Simon. 

Shaun of The Dead is a very different take on the somewhat exhausted genre of zombie films. It creates many laughs and that's down to the comedy duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who act very well as clueless morons. All in all this film gives you exactly what you expected, lots of laughs and comical idiotic ways of killing zombies. The best "zom-com" out there and possibly the only one with a soundtrack that includes Queen, a must watch film so don't miss out.