cup-o-robots

Errrrrrrrr. Zombies are just plain fun. Back in high school, a dude named Rory introduced me to the world of George A. Romero and shared with me the philosophy of the zombie. True zombies can only be defeated by destroying its head, in particular the brains. These zombies also do not speak or have any special abilities, they just walk and move around, trying to find flesh to eat. They also have a weird sort of subconcious, which allows them to act out activities they used to do when they were alive (like going to the mall, as in the hands-down best zombie movie ever, Romero’s Dawn of the Dead - which by the way, was shot in Monroeville Mall, for all you Pittsburgh folk or fellow CMU peoples). All these “principles” which made the classic zombie movies so great are also well practiced in Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, starring Simon Pegg. But there is so much more. While it is a jam-packed homage to all the great zombie or undead lore - Romero’s Dead films, H.P. Lovecraft stories, Raimi’s Evil Dead films, Jackson’s Dead Alive/Braindead, and the other UK undead flick Boyle’s 28 Days Later (which I think can barely be classifed as a zombie movie, but whatever) - the movie stands really well on its own, and it’s not just a wet-dream for horror film buffs. It has a pretty good balance of horror and comedy - though I would go further in saying its really American horror with British comedy, if that makes any sense, hehe. It’s a fun film, with some moments of hardcore drama, and it’s not so big in scope like Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, which is cool and works better for the flow of the film. Ebert mentioned in his review on Shaun of the Dead, that the earliest zombie films play out like modern video games, where zombies were just targets for people to hit, and this is really exploited and become funny, though also scary, moments in the film.

Plus, it’s just a lot of fun to watch the film and find the little details of stuff that inspired Wright’s and Pegg’s little creation. (The two also work on the cult TV series, Spaced, which I’m currently on the look for.) Stuff like the TV news mentioning a meteorite crash (a la Romero’s films), the Dawn of the Dead music inspiration, the Timesplitters 2 video game, the Battle Royale poster in the house (which you can buy at this site, if it’s in stock and you’re in Europe), and so on. The ending is also pretty darn good, and is probably my favorite part of the movie. What I really like about zombie flicks, is that you really don’t know how its gonna end. You wonder, can the zombie virus really go away? There is also a funny reference to 28 Days Later at the end. While it definitely has a strong focus on the zombie fan crowd, I think its a movie the general audience will be able to enjoy. C’mon, just read the film’s tagline: “A romantic comedy. With zombies.” You can’t beat that, dude.