the JEWSIAN FUSION INTRUSION

How's that for a slice of fried gold?

June 7, 2005
Though a good number of people are turned-off by the usually dry, ironic sarcasm of British comedy, it looks like our tea-drinking, fag-smoking brothers are pretty good at zombie comedies.

Let's get this part straight: This is not really a spoof, though it may seem otherwise. They're not poking fun at the genre of zombie flicks (of which I am quite fond of); they're simply... creating a new spin on it. I've noticed that there are parts that are truly meant to scare you... Well, not so much in the "AHH! THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE CLOSET!" way as in the ... loud-noises-make-you-jump-but-only-if-you've-got-the-volume-on-really-loud way.

It was written by Simon Pegg (also playing Shaun) and Edgar Wright (also director). The script is quite fresh. There's a lot of really creative ideas, and although the actual dialogue jokes are only chuckle-worthy, most of the comedy comes from the action. I do recommend that most people watch it with subtitles or captions, though. British slang can be hard to pick up and the accent can also get in the way of comprehension, so you may be left with a few occasions where you want to scream, "SPEAK ENGLISH, BITCHES," before you realize the irony of the statement.

The directing was pretty interesting, actually. Wright does a lot of things to make usually normal, mundane scenes more dramatic, and I noticed a few scenes that were done completely with one continuous shot, no cuts. Must've been tough, too, considering the length and all the movement required.

The movie is pretty light considering the fact that these characters are about to have their flesh devoured by their undead neighbors. But I didn't find it to be incredibly laugh-out-loud funny. However, this doesn't mean it wasn't interesting or worth watching. It definitely had its moments, and packed in a lot of references to past zombie movies. And hey, George Romero was so impressed by it that he cast the guys as zombie extras in his latest flick Land of the Dead. It's quite clever and the sheer amusement of seeing how these characters react to the insanity amongst them is reason enough to see it.

Overall: Crazy composition of certain scenes that go "FWOOSH" and leave you frightened and confused; Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" makes for good zombie-beating musical accompaniment; Harry Potter guys are useless, annoying bitches; quite creative; fat guy is vulgar, but funny; zombies are really slow fuckers (despite what Dawn of the Dead has taught us); the human race can and will, if given the chance, exploit the zombie race for purposes of entertainment. (And I don't just mean the movie itself.)

Blimey! Shaun of the Dead had been awarded three and a half out of five snorts of coke.