***Official SHAUN OF THE DEAD Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Travis W.]

I've been excited about Shaun of the Dead since the first trailer but haven't heard anything about it coming to the US in any form. I would have thought with the recent success of it's own Dawn of the Dead that Universal would plan some sort of tie-in. Is this film going to hit our theaters or go direct to DVD?

 

[Michael Boyd]

What is this film? I always see mention of it on the front page of AICN but can never find an explanation or synopsis in the articles.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a film starring a British comic actor called Simon Pegg, who is most famous for a series called SPACED. Pegg's a self-professed geek and his work is full of references to movies and videogames. SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a comedy film that lifts heavily - and reverently - from the Romero zombie movies. The basic premise is a bunch of slackers confronted by zombies in London. Running through this is a comedy / romantic thread about the boy trying to get the girl. They're calling it the world's first rom - zom - com.

Personally, I thought the film was enjoyable but actually more successful at the zombie parts than the comedy parts.
That said, production values are high and the film would have no difficulty in translating to an American audience. Fans of the Romero movies would lap it up and I'd be very surprised if it didn't sell to the States at some point.

 

[Mark McLeod]

Universal or the arthouse divison Focus picked up the US rights to this if I remember correctly.

Should see a US release atleast on DVD but I believe I heard it would get a theatrical release as well.

 

[BrianB]

Off to a preview of this tonight! Surpised at how much positive attention & advertising this is getting, suprised in a good way.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

There are sneaks all over North America tonight. It opens next Friday, 9/24.

 

[MattGentry]

Great movie. I saw it about a month ago here in the States. It's extremely hilarious, as well as being one of the better zombie movies I've seen in a long, long while.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Remarkable film. Great solid comedy with some surprisingly effective horror at times.

Good all around for certain.

 

[Ronn.W]

It's been playing at my house for about a week now

 

[Justin_S]

Saw that this only opens in 600 theaters tomorrow. I thought that was odd, as they've been promoting the hell out of it, like it opens in much more. Either way, I've seen it, so not that big a deal I suppose.

 

[David*P]

I saw this movie Tuesday night at an advanced screening. I thought it was very well done. It was funny and creepy but in a B-movie sort of way...

...there was only one part that bugged me really bad and that was when Sean had to kill his mother because she had turned into a zombie. It gave me nightmares!

 

[Matt Stone]

Same here. We usually get stuff that opens in 500+ theaters, but not this. Hopefully we'll get it later down the road...I'd love to see it again before the DVD release.

 

[Craig Forsythe]

Went and saw it last night in a preview and loved it. It truely was a romantic comedy horror and one of the better movies I've seen this year. I highly recommend it as well worth your theatre bucks unless the only movies you like are "huge blockbuster mega-buck hits", as David mentioned it definately has the low budget feel. For a zombie flick, that shouldn't be a bad thing

I only caught one tip of the hat to other zombie movies Shaun "Alright, Ash called in sick today"
but I'm sure there were more I missed.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

I saw it at the Wellington Film Festival (with a surprise appearance by Edgar Wright, the director, who was pretty excited to be in the city where Braindead a.k.a. Dead Alive, the best romantic comedy zombie film ever - his words, not mine - was filmed)

Speaking as a non-zombie film fan (the only "zombie" films I've seen are NotLD, Braindead, and 28 Days Later) I really enjoyed the film. I never got any of the references, but it was clever and funny and exciting. Well worth seeing, and I will be picking it up on DVD - I'll probably get the UK release, because I can't be bothered waiting.

By the way - there's a line in the US trailer where tey're debating which albums to throw at the zombies, and tey decide to throw the Batman soundtrack. Is that in the US release of the movie? The version I saw had him deciding to throw Duran Duran or something like that.

 

[Nick Sievers]

I saw it last night, what a fun film. There are a ton of refrences to horror movies (I particulary liked the one towards the end about 28 Days Later) and quite a few laugh out loud moments. The scene where they beat the bartender with pool cues to Queen almost had me rolling.

I can't remember if they threw Duran Duran at them, Matthew. But they definitely threw the Batman soundtrack and a Dire Straits album at the zombies in the version I saw.

 

[Alex Spindler]

You should definitely wait till the end credits. They play a certain mall musack song during it that fans of Dawn of the Dead
will get a kick out of.

 

[Michael Reuben]

This thread is now designated the Official Discussion Thread for Shaun of the Dead. Please, post all comments, links to outside reviews, film and box office discussion items to this thread.

All HTF member film reviews of Shaun of the Dead should be posted to the Official Review Thread.

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

M.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Some other excellent nods:

"We're coming to get you Barbara"
I think their desire to avoid the Zed word was in reference to the word zombie being left out of the Dead trilogy.
One of the early radio broadcasts makes mention of a satellite or something, echoing Night of the Living Dead's apparent cause. I think a bunch of the news reports are also from NotLD, because they seem very familiar.


This movie is total genius.

 

[Nick Sievers]

Before going in I heard it was quite funny but I wasn't prepared for as many laugh out loud moments as there were. Bill Nighy was a real scene stealer, great casting.

I also thought Nick Frost was funnier in the first half of the movie.

"Ed doesn't have many friends"
"Can I get any of you c%*ts a drink?"

 

[Matt Stone]

That bit was hilarious, Nick. I also love when Ed answers his cell phone in the middle of the zombies outside the Winchester.

Definitely one of the funniest movies I've seen in a very long time.