What's not to like about Shaun of the Dead? There are people speaking with British accents living a dreary existence - something that always cheers me up - zombies, best friends sticking together through thick and thin, zombies, gore, action, and zombies. Did I mention the zombies?
I like movies that don't take themselves too seriously. Especially horror movies, or in this case, comedy-horror movies. So often, you watch a horror movie and lose interest in it when it starts to get too serious. For some reason The Haunting comes to mind. It might have been a scary movie, but the tone was wrong somehow. Another thing that also sidetracks a horror flick is gore. Don't get me wrong, a good bit of bloodshed can be fun, but if not used wisely, it can seriously derail the tension in a movie. Case in point: when David gets eaten by the zombies. That scene was obviously placed in there for shock value and, of course, to dispose of a big wanker in an appropriately awful way. But the tension that was being built up in that scene was gone the instant he was disemboweled and eaten.
Favorite part of this movie was the juxtaposition of the two scenes in which Shaun goes to the corner store. The first time he goes to the store, he walks along casually. The music seems a little eerie for a walk to the store. The zombies haven't made an appearance yet, but you know that they will at any moment. Shaun walks into the store and a man stares blankly at the refrigerator case. Is he a zombie? Shaun grabs a beverage, walks over and pays. He makes it back to his flat without incident. The second time he goes to the store, the street is in disarray. Shaun is oblivious to his surroundings as he walks along. He gets to the store, opens the refrigerator case, which has bloody handprints on it. He goes to pay and doesn't see the shopkeeper. He simply leaves and goes back home. It makes you wonder who really is the zombie. Is it someone who has minimal brain function, a shuffling walk, limited vocabulary, and a hankering for human flesh, or is it someone who walks through life totally oblivious to the world around him?
Finally, for some reason I forgot to play my favorite game while watching horror movies - and sometimes mystery/suspense films. That game is "Who Dies Next," where you try to guess who the next person is to die in the movie. Does anyone else play that game?
at June 21, 2006 10:20 PM