Jake Ludington

Run Time: 100min
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg
DVD Release: 2004
Watch Shaun of the Dead on Amazon
Shaun of the Dead is an intelligent spoof of the zombie film genre, and a real treat to watch. I was a bit leery of this low budget parody, because horror/comedy films tend to be pretty stupid, and usually fail to achieve the delicate balance of scares and laughter that is required for this sort of film to succeed. As it turns out, this film is a welcome exception. Edgar Wright, the director and lead actor Simon Pegg (who collaborated to write the screenplay), recognize their influences – particularly George Romero – and play on them brilliantly. If you’ve seen any of Romero’s work, you’ll recognize that a few of his scenes and some of his philosophy (the notion that people don’t have to return from the dead to become zombies) are present. This is a short film, full of tight, well-scripted scenes, scary at times and a laugh throughout. The DVD edition features extended and deleted scenes, outtakes, a variety of making-of featurettes, and a zombie trivia feature. [Mathew Brady]