Talk about "Shaun of the Dead" here:
Review by: Breanne Derby
Too Bizarre to Rate
Plot Summary
"Shaun of the Dead" is something of a different twist on every zombie movie ever made. It takes things from a bit of a less serious standpoint than the average zombie movie, though it's not particularly mocking in its mannerisms. The main character is a working-class fellow named Shaun, who is accompanied throughout his life by his lazy roommate, his mother, his unsatisfied girlfriend, her roommate, and her roommate's boyfriend. Their town (and seemingly the world) is slowly taken over by zombies, though for a good deal of time they're completely oblivious to it because most people go about their days in very zombie-like ways anyways. Eventually, however, it becomes pretty obvious what's going on, and they begin to notice a change. Once the zombies have possessed the vast majority of the population, the group chooses to take refuge in a local bar where they spend most evenings, in order to avoid being bitten by the flesh-eating zombies. Once bitten by a zombie, one becomes a zombie, it's the typical zombie deal, and I'm sure by now you know the drill.
Review
It was nice to watch a film about zombies that wasn't completely the same as every other zombie movie I've ever seen. Personally, things usually end up the same over and over again and I feel like I'm watching a movie I've seen a thousand times before. "Shaun of the Dead" is not your typical zombie movie.
The film started out in a very confusing way. I was completely baffled by the entire first scene and didn't really get much out of it. I felt like I had just been suddenly thrown into action and I didn't know what was going on. The way the characters were individually introduced was excellent, but I didn't understand the dialogue that was taking place while they were being introduced because I was learning who the new characters were. I spent the entire first scene feeling disoriented, and I was afraid that I was going to feel that way throughout the whole movie, though after the first scene I became steadily more accustomed to the style in which it was made.
Things really did pick up from the first scene, and this film actually made me laugh. It found a way to insert humor in a zombie-ridden world, without making a complete mockery of the business of the zombies. There were parts that were genuinely funny, but throughout the duration of the film, my most common thought was simply "what the heck?" It had quite a few good short sketches and one-lines that I found to be hilarious, but all in all it was just very bizarre.
I really loved the idea of the people who are being slowly surrounded by zombies not noticing. Shaun walked about his normal life for at least two days before noticing that any of the people he dealt with on a daily basis had been devoured by zombies and replaced with mindless lunatics in search of flesh to feast upon. It really said something about the way our society works, and how most people go about their days.
One large downfall was that the film came to something of a screeching halt toward the end. One minute the action was going, and the next it was over and done with, and the end was incredibly near. I was thrown off quite a lot by the sudden solution to all of the problems, and it was as if the writer of the screenplay simply got bored and was looking for a quick fix. Though the end came somewhat abruptly, there were very funny parts in the "conclusion" of the story, and I'm glad they were there.
Conclusion
Personally, I would definitely watch this movie again just because I would want to figure out what was going on. I understood the plot perfectly fine, but the movie was still incredibly bizarre. I would like to know what was going through the minds of the cast and crew and writers as they were making this film. I imagine someday that I'll ask someone if they've ever seen it and they won't have, and I'll encourage them to see it and then we'll rent it and they will be just as confused and baffled by it's strangeness as I am right now. I really liked watching this film, it was a lot of fun, and though it was supremely weird, I will definitely watch it again just because of how weird it is.
Too Bizarre to Rate