Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Elevator Pitch: Shawn and his friend Ed share a house in North London. Ed is out of work and slobbs about, Shaun works in a discount electrical store, has no direction and because he can see no further than the local pub, the Winchester is dumped by his girfriend. They fail to notice that the city is being taken over by the undead until there are zombies chasing them (very slowly) around their garden. There-after it is a matter of survival as Shaun rescues his mother, his former girlfriend and her flatmates and, against the odds, they make it to the Winchester, where at least they have snacks and beer.

Content: No sex or nudity, but a lot of swearing, inuendo and drinking. Shaun goes to work, and the population are pretty zombie like, but are not the undead yet. Then out in the streets people stagger along and the heroes drive about occasionally running people down. They receive instructions from an announcer on TV about how to deal with the zombies and arm themselves with a cricket bat and a spade. In the Winchester and around the zombies congregate and gradually pick them off.

A View: This film, although now 15 years old, is still a lot of fun. It was very well liked by the general public, although it did not make a fortune. Just as well that the production cost was minimal. If anything the best jokes are close to the beginning as the guys are so spaced that they don’t notice the world falling apart. For me just a bit too shouty towards the end, but well worth the cost of a download.

Additional Info: People participating as extras, the zombies, included Chris Martin of Cold Play and some relatives of the cast, as well as fans of Pegg’s TV show “Spaced”.