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By Erin Tobin
By Erin Tobin
Most movies about the walking dead revolve around looking for brains.
“Shaun of the Dead” actually has some.
English writers Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg treated fans of the genre to a story that isn’t exactly an original, but is also not quite a spoof.
Instead it is a new spin on a plot that has been around for a long time.
Pegg plays the main character of this story, Shaun, quite well. He captures Shaun’s hopelessness in his day-to-day life and his excitement over being given a challenge.
Shaun is the average, 29-year-old, middle-class English guy. He is the senior, or rather oldest, salesman at the electronics store and to get to work he has to ride a bus full of annoying and ill people.
Then one day something horrible happens and Shaun is faced with tragedy.
Liz, (Kate Ashfield), Shaun’s girlfriend of three years suddenly breaks up with him. He drowns his sorrows with his roommate Ed over more than one pint. The next morning, even though it takes a while, he awakens to a very different world.
As the newscaster explains how to “kill” the undead outside, Shaun realizes he has been given the perfect opportunity to get his girlfriend back. So Shaun gathers up a less-than-crackerjack team of his mom, his roommate, Liz and her two friends and sets off to hole up at the local pub with a pint and wait for the whole thing to blow over.
The team is accompanied by a clever plot that would keep any zombie movie fan laughing. It should be made clear that this is not a horror movie. “Shaun of the Dead” is actually exactly what the tagline says it is… “a romantic comedy, with zombies.” This makes sense, since the zombies are pretty silly villains. After all, they don’t move fast, you can spot them out of a crowd and they have to get a hold of you before they can do anything to you.
Plus, they are always losing body parts.
Those expecting comedy reminiscent of the British comedy group Monty Python may be disappointed or gleeful (whatever the case may be) at the lack of it, but anyone going to see this movie should be prepared that there isn’t exactly the comedy American’s might come to expect.
Instead the comedy is much more dialogue based and includes the dry humor British movies are known for. “Shaun of the Dead” makes the audience think a bit for the laughs, but when the pieces come together the result is funny.
“Shaun of the Dead” is there for anyone who needs something different at the movie theater, but the audience has to keep their brains turned on.