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

[Michael Allred]

Having seen it earlier this year (via...."alternate" means) I can say it's one of the most entertaining movies of 2004. Easy.

Being a Queen fan makes it that much more of a romp as well. The use of "You're My Best Friend" at the end was genius.

I didn't know this was going to be a limited release and was looking forward to seeing it at the theater but no luck. Perhaps next week it'll go wide?

I wonder how US critics will take to it?

I also get a bit annoyed when I tell people about "Shaun" and they always say "Oh, isn't that a spoof of Dawn of the Dead?" Well, no not really.

 

[Matt Stone]

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shaun_of_the_dead/

Pretty well. 96 fresh reviews, 7 rotten ones.

 

[Michael Reuben]

Hilarious. Lucy Davis still does the best deadpan I've ever seen. And the moment where she briefly crosses paths with Martin Freeman ("Tim" on The Office) was a wonderful inside reference to zombies of a different sort.

M.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

Actually, that was a great moment for fans of modern British comedy shows, full stop.

Simon Pegg (Shaun) meets his "Spaced" co-star, Jessica Stevenson.
Dylan Moran (David) meets his "Black Books" co-star, Tamsin Greig.
And, as mentioned, Lucy Davis (Diane) meets her co-star from "The Office" .

 

[Todd Terwilliger]

Great flick. Saw it last night and enjoyed every bit of it, except for the first ten or so minutes of the screening that I missed. I'll definitely be off soon to see it again.

 

[Scott Weinberg]

Aha, I knew there was something flying over my head during that scene.

But now that I understand it, I dig it. Funny.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

If you've never seen any of those shows, I strongly recommend them. Some of the best comedy coming out of Britain in recent years. Black Books in particular is an absolute favourite, and Spaced was the show Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright worked on before Shaun. And you should see the oriignal Office before the US remake hits your screens.

 

[Robert Anthony]

Other nods I caught:

Shaun works at Foree Electronics. Ken Foree was, of course, in the original "Dawn of the Dead."

The last news report on the TV before Shaun goes out to play video games states that the "Rumor that the virus was caused by rage infected monkeys was proven false"

I thought David's death was a very direct nod to Joe Pilato's death in Day of the Dead.

I completely missed the "ash called in sick" nod. Good catch.

 

[Matt Stone]

Yah, I noticed that the second time I saw it. Funny stuff.

 

[BrianB]

And is currently being shown on the cable station "Trio". Well worth setting a season pass on your Tivo for!

 

[RonOlszewski]

You know you're a horror geek when you're the only one in the joint laughing at the "We're coming to get you, Barbara!" line.

My friends were like "WTF is he laughing at?!"

 

[Michael Allred]

Though final box office numbers won't be out until tomorrow, apparently "Shaun" cracked the top 10 (at #8) with $3.2 million despite the fact it played in only 600 theaters.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/eo/2004...623810000.html

 

[Matt Stone]

Sweet! I hope it continues doing well.

 

[Jacob McCraw]

I loved this movie and forced my wife to watch it last night. She hates horror movies and got none of the references, but she laughed the whole way through and enjoyed it immensely. This film has tremendous crossover potential, and I hope it does very well.

 

[ChuckSolo]

I just saw this movie this afternoon and must say I really loved it. I own quite a few "zombie" genre films and have all the Romero films and this one ranks right up there. It will have an honored place in my collection when it hits DVD. The film is creepy, scary in places and definately funny. A must see for any zombie geek.

 

[Michael Allred]

Only 38 more theaters in it's second week? WTF is the studio thinking?

Did they ever stop to think that making sure the film isn't available in most markets that it will kill off interest and not capitalize on the buzz, positive reviews and ad campaign (which falsely says it's "playing everywhere")???? They keep waiting like this and something else will pop up and steal interest away. It's not playing in my area either.

IMO this is a potentially huge blunder on the studio's part and "Shaun" can only be hurt by it.

 

[Kristian]

That part bugged me, too. The tone of the movie was very light up until that point (well, as light as a movie with gory zombies can be), but then that scene took the movie to a dark place that I wasn't expecting it to go. Had that whole scene not been in there (or had it been handled a little better), I think the movie would've made my top 10. Maybe when I see the movie again (when it comes out on DVD) that scene won't feel so jarring.

 

[David_Blackwell]

I wish they opened this up in more theaters than 600. I really want to see this one. It looks like a funny film (and I loved the preview trailer).

 

[BrettB]

I liked this quite a bit. I'm not a zombie film guy at all so I was oblivious to any nods. It must be extra special for zombie film fans. Very funny.

Couple of questions. When you guys saw it were the surround channels extremely loud/active? We saw it at a brand new theater and I thought they might have actually had the sound screwed up.

Also, it looked like Ed (I think that's his name) had a spot behind his right or left ear where his hair was shaved. What was that about?

 

[Jason Adams]

I'm going to see it tonight. I'm not a horror buff by any standard, but I do enjoy British comedies.