"Dawn of the Dead" meets "Big Train". Shaun of the Dead is so full of clever ideas you could put some glasses, a fake beard and some pink lingerie on it and say it's an Oxford professor. It only shows why the british comedy is the best in the world and why european cinema is able to do so many great things... How many horror movies could provide such a suprising ending as THAT?

Well, let us have some thoughts and opinions about it (and that includes the review you promised, Pavel )!



Don't stop me now :wink: :twisted:

On my broke keyboard (using the onscreen board) at the moment so; I'm free tomorrow morning from ten onwards. Expect a serious load of bollocks from me...as this is one of the best multi-genre films ever.

Oh and it's the only Rom, Zom, Com; I've ever heard of.

I'm watching it tonite again actually...Honestly lost count of how many times; got it just before Christmas so...30 days. It's bound to be close to the 25 mark because I know I watched it three times one day. Sad I know, .

"WARNING, THIS POST WILL INCLUDE SPOILERS AND YOU ALL NEED TO WATCH THIS FILM SO LOOK AWAY NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT."

Right were to start...how about my love of Spaced, it was a nice look at a sitcom about parodies. It took the serious mic out of a lot of things. Transfer this over to the big screen...I would have considered it dodgy.

Or not...from the first few seconds when I was patiently transfixed by The Specials - Ghost Town it looked like a cracker.

Edgar Wright's direction techniques are astounding, quick cuts between characters and also some nice visuals bring some brilliant energy to the film; also as it was shot using digital cameras it has a raw look to it, a bit like 28 Days Later and The Football Factory. Anyhow, from the off the conversational and nearly utterly incoherent talk of Shawn with Liz (and friends) is borderline hilarious...I mean the quick chat between each other, and of course the whole "It's not that I don't like you Ed/David/Dianne" is priceless. It seems to go no where but is very clever character development.

As the film progresses we see more and more visual jokes such as the commuters standing at the bus stop and Shawn's utter bewilderment at the guy trying to eat one of the pigeons...I suppose this would lead me into the story (I apologise if this review is slightly haphazard, it's just that I could write for hours on Shawn of the Dead.) The plot, it nothing short of excellent. A completely normal bloke, like you or me (or worse )...is stuck in a rut; completely fenced in by a job he doesn't want; with a father he doesn't want and only ventures down the pub with his friends and girlfriend. I think the point is that he isn't very aware of the outside world...so when people start collapsing he just carrys on as normal with just a hint of curiousity.

Add to this some great characters, obviously Shawn...a character I feel I can relate to a lot rather than most heroes in films. He's an average guy put in unusual circumstances. Like David so elequently put it; "A man who's idea of a romantic night-spot and an impenetrable fortress are the same thing." He cracks, basically. Simon Pegg is the star of this, by miles he has created one of the best characters on-screen in a long time. Casting of Shawn's friends and acquaintences is spot on as well. Slobbish; yet loyal, friend Ed (played by Spaced favorite Nick Frost); girlfriend Liz, (Kate Ashfield) and her friends Dianne (Lucy Davis of The Office fame) and David (A wonderfully nervous Dylan Moran). personally the interactions between the characters is astounding. David and Shawn's constant heading off against each other is so absorbing it is scary. They are constantly at each other's throats over Liz, (which we don't get until nearer the end really...) who as mentioned earlier dumped Shawn.

The entire film runs smoother than baby oil over ice; with the intricate character development, mixed in with some seriously emotional material. For instance, I was shocked with the way that Edgar Wright dealt with Shawn's mum's death. It was so deep and disheartening; I felt so bad that Shawn had had so much *BLEEP* happen to him in just one day. Coupling that with the facts of his step-fathers death (at which time Shawn finally excepted him), girlfriend breaking up with him and his flatmate turning into a zombie.

I'll just finish by saying that the film delivers some great comedy moments; such as the various lines in the movie, far to numerous to count...some of the best are by far; beating up John the bartender to the tune of Queen; Shawn walking down the street without noticing the zombies or chaos; Ed's "It's not the end of the world speech."; Shawn getting hit by the dart from Dianne...the list goes on. I think I just stop there as I'll write on forever; I will add however that I know this will not be everyone's cup of tea; I wouldn't expect it to be. But I throughly recommend it.

How's that for a for a slice of fried gold for you Luigi?

I love this British film, it is really well played out. Had me in tears of laughter. :mrgreen:

One of the best films of last year. Hands down.

But don't think it's the context that hooks the American viewers- did you know that people from different places speak in different ways?!?!?!?!?! [/sarcasm]

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I know what you mean...(This is not an American vs British humour jibe by the way) American humour is different from ours; just like the French laugh at different things from us etc...and so on and so forth.

We Brit's are very sarcastic in our serious humour; usually politically, but mainly towards anything. i.e. I'll assume some of you have watched Spaced, Red Dwarf, They Think It's All Over or Have I Got News For You...I love those shows and many more because they take the piss; but in a very serious way. If I was to say what I thought was the difference between American humour and British humour...I would say that we have a tendency to deliver jokes in a more serious manner. Just comparing Scary Movie and Shawn Of The Dead. Both are good films that I enjoy watching. Both are smart; but in different ways.

Scary Movie is a great parody of other films in it's "genre" just like Airplane and Naked Gun etc...It's big obvious and doesn't rely on too much thought I admit from the viewer to recognise most of the main jokes. Do not get me wrong though, it is smart. The way it takes the mic out of those films is hilarious. i.e. I'm a big fan of The Matrix, and I nearly pissed myself the first time I watched the Matrix style fight...I didn't have to think about it, just laugh.

Shawn Of The Dead however; it's jokes are subtle more so than obvious. But both films have a mix of both, it's just that in Shawn (and most British humour of the same vein) the jokes are (dare I say) harder to spot? As an example; Shawn walking down the street once with everything normal; and then later on (during Z-Day) with everything in chaos and not even noticing it. I'll admit outright that it's not a laugh out loud moment, but it was so funny...yet it wasn't obvious. I felt myself thinking before laughing at it.

So I suppose my point would be that with American humour, the jokes are usually the crux of the comedy movie. They are big, bold and very often hilarious. Whereas with British humour; our comedy usually isn't the main feature in a comedy...it's usually tied into something else as an underlying element...such as the fact Shawn Of The Dead is a horror movie in a sense. Infact a lot of people (I'd say) would find it very humourless!

To cut it short, we tell jokes differently. I love both types, and both countries have a bit of both the serious and the obvious, but I prefer the serious sarcasim. Most likely because I'm British? Maybe Not.

Now that's some serious review Pavel, you haven't exacerbated things a bit!

I find this discussion about the differences between American and British humour quite interesting, actually. Whereas non-sense is a component common to both (and to every type oh humour, actually), it is displayed in quite different shades. To add a bit to this, I'd say, as a principle and agreeing to what you said Pavel, that, mainly (attention, mainly, not totally) British humour relies more on context or situation and, on the other hand, American humour worries much more about the pun . Take Monty Python, for instance: if they were looking for puns, they wouldn't be able to have that fluid sequence of sketches. Another thing I think is taken as more important in British humour is physical humour, and I just have to say John Cleese to illustrate this.

But of course humour is humour, and if it's quality, then it's worth looking at and definitely laughing about!

Cheers!

Oh, just get around to what your saying, Americans will laugh at a fart joke, but if it has any word over two syllables, we won't get it! *by the way, I am American, and I really actually believe what I say. I'll tell a joke to some of my English friends, and they'll laugh their ass off, but when I say it to anybody that lives around here, they don't get it.*

monty python anyone..

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*violently raises hand*

- damn it, I've already mentioned Monty Python....

*violently raises hand again*

They're the masters, aren't they? :mrgreen: