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Media Critics Magazine? |
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Media Critics Magazine was launched on March 1st 2005!
Media Critics Magazine (MCM) is an internet publication for keeping up to date on Today's music, movies and books. We will be publishing daily reviews on different genres.
We are looking for regular Reviewers/writers in all categories (Music, Books Movies). If you think Media Critics will benefit from your editorial, please contact us at work@infoedit.net.
Although we are an unpaid publication - isn't it fun just to get published!
If you have any queries or questions contact us at critics@infoedit.net
We would love to hear from you.
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Buy DVD: Click here
Directed by
Edgar Wright
Written by
Edgar Wright
Simon Pegg
Cast
Simon Pegg .... Shaun
Kate Ashfield .... Liz
Nick Frost .... Ed
Lucy Davis .... Dianne
Dylan Moran .... David
Nicola Cunningham .... Mary
Penelope Wilton .... Barbara
Bill Highy .... Philip
R
99 mins
Right now, there are half a dozen people screaming at their screens
"This isn't direct to video! This was in theatres!" Which is
technically true. If you lived anywhere near a city that had
over, say, one million people, or had a particularly active arts
community, you might have caught "Shaun of the Dead" in theatres.
For the rest of us, the roughly eighty percent of the country who
didn't manage to see "Shaun of the Dead" in the dozen theatres it was
shown in nationwide, it's as direct to video as it's going to get.
So to borrow the parlance, shut it, you wankers, and let's get it on.
So what we have here is the story of Shaun, a pushing-thirtysomething
whose life is going nowhere, and not very fast, either. He lives
with old college buddies in a small house in the middle of London,
works a truly awful job in electronics retail, is on the outs with his
girlfriend, and is being horrifically dominated by his stepfather.
Of course, the whole thing changes after the zombies hit.
"Shaun of the Dead" is packed to the gills with fantastic homages,
especially to its obvious namesake. Check out the opening
sequence, before even the title crawl. You'll hear music
authentic to the Romero "Dead" saga. Shaun works for Foree
Electric--Ken Foree was one of the original stars of "Dawn of the Dead"
and he even reappeared in the theatrical rerelease. The fish
restaurant is "Fulci's", based on Lucio Fulci, one of George Romero's
inevitable decendants. There's even a "We're coming to get you,
Barbara" sequence at the thirty seven minute sequence.
Even better is the avant title sequence. None of the people you
see here are vicious flesh eating ghouls, yet after a fashion, they're
all zombies. They even groan authentically, but the only thing
separating them from actual flesh eaters is their appetites.
The plot is actually far more interesting than you give it credit
for. Romero's movies involved joining characters in the midst of
Zombie Apocalypse, but "Shaun of the Dead" goes in a new and
interesting direction. "Shaun of the Dead" actually begins just
before the Zombie Apocalypse, allowing you an interesting look at how
things progress when they only just start. Fewer and fewer people
show up for work. The streets get strangely deserted. Bloody
handprints appear randomly throughout town.
It's also very interesting to take a character like Shaun, who isn't
the sharpest tool in the shed, and drop him into the midst of Zombie
Apocalypse. He has no idea what has happened, and the zombies
don't move fast enough to attack him. Thus, he can literally
wander the streets, going about his normal non-work day activities and
not even notice that something has gone wrong until this brilliant
sequence at the thirty minute mark.
"Shaun of the Dead" also provides an excellent study in what not to do
in the midst of Zombie Apocalypse. If you can't identify at least
three major bungles, then you're not paying close enough attention.
The ending is a laugh riot, as zombies slowly become integrated into
what's left of society following "Z-Day". Television details in
strange and amusing ways how the zombies are becoming part of
things--notice as they push shopping carts, compete for prizes of raw
meat on TV game shows, and are the subjects of a benefit rock concert
and talk show fodder.
Check out also the brief stab at "28 Days Later."
The special features include Simon Pegg's video diary, casting film, a
storyboard film sequence, special effects comparisons, featurettes on
makeup and a brief featurette on the plotline. Plus, we get a
photo gallery, poster designs, an advertising campaign featurette, an
original theatrical trailer, deleted scenes, extended scenes, a
featurette called "plot holes" in which some important questions are
answered, in comic book form. As if this weren't enough, we also
get a series of little featurettes called "TV Bits."
Truly, "Shaun of the Dead" is a film that didn't skimp in the least on special features.
All in all, "Shaun of the Dead" is by turns the funniest and most
suspenseful horror comedy to be released in some time. A quality
comedy and a killer zombie flick makes "Shaun of the Dead" a movie
worth your time to find.
Steve's columns are now sponsored by Horrormovies.com
(http://www.horrormovies.com/?ref=12). You can get a solid deal
on "Shaun of the Dead" over there, and visiting my sponsor allows me to
keep bringing you timely and solid data on the newest stuff on the
video store shelves.
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