Shaun of the Dead

--Reviewed by Lindy Loo

Plotline: Shaun and his best friend Ed confront a zombie-takeover as Shaun tries to reconcile with his girlfriend and get his life back together.

Scariness factor: Not scary at all. That being said, it is a comedy, so I don't suppose it was supposed to be particularly scary.

Originality: The plotline was no different than any other zombie movie--zombies attack, a group of people gets holed up somewhere, said group of people has to keep from getting eaten but slowly gets picked off. The difference is that this was making fun of zombie movies, so it had that going for it. It had a fairly keen sense of what is typically silly in zombie movies (i.e. the ridiculously slow movement of zombies that nonetheless somehow manages to overtake perfectly healthy and capable human beings) and did a nice job poking fun at these things.

Other Complaints: Not many. The movie was a bit slow at the beginning and a bit slow at the end where it kind of serioused-up and lost its sense of humor. But other than that, I found myself laughing quite a bit throughout.

Other High Points: This movie was really quite funny, despite the slow moments at the beginning and the end. The commentary on the zombieness of daily human existence in comparison to the zombieness of the attacking zombies was dead-on. And Ed (Nick Frost) offered up so many laughs I can't even count. It also had an acute awareness of the genre it was making fun of--the zombies move so slow that Ed and Shaun are actually able to pick through records and decide which ones to throw at said zombies with much contemplation. And everyone in the movie is the lousiest aim and shot... for once.

Grade: A-