September 29, 2009

Zombie movies are as American as apple pie and baseball. I spent most of my high school and college weekends at the midnight movie on Purdue’s campus where my choices were either Dawn of the Dead or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Zombies won almost every weekend. Since those days a plethora of zombie movies have made the rounds to theaters and DVD but none has ever tackled the genre like Shaun of the Dead.

Perhaps my fondness for this film rests in my ability to identify with the main character, Shaun (Simon Pegg), a guy who works in an electronics store with kids half his age. His relationship with Liz (Kate Ashfield) is troublesome at best and his only real joy in life is hanging out with his best bud and roommate, Ed (Nick Frost) either at the local pub or at home playing video games.

Without any warning or ill-conceived reason, the population start turning into zombies, feasting on the living and increasing in number with each new scene. Once Shaun and Ed discover what is happening they decide to try and save Liz, and Shaun’s parents and hold up at the pub until this undead storm blows over, but things start to fall apart when Shaun’s stepfather, Philip (Bill Nighy) gets bitten. The movie even gets a bit claustrophobic when the group finally makes it to the pub and barricade themselves inside. Of course my favorite scene in the entire film is when our characters impersonate zombies so they can walk among them undetected – a tactic I’ve wanted to see in zombie movies since the Dawn of the Dead days. After all, why don't zombies eat each other - is there some sort of honor code?

Filmmaking: 9
Shaun of the Dead works at several levels, both as a witty dialogue-driven comedy as well as a slightly horrific fright flick with some blood and guts and pretty awesome effects. There are loads of sight gags like Shaun making his way to the local mini-mart on two consecutive days, each day playing out almost identical despite the fact that day two the people we saw on day one are now all zombies, but Shaun doesn’t even notice. It’s a statement of how jaded and zombie-like the population has become with our daily routines that we no longer observe or care about the world around us. The script is perfect and the acting is excellent.

Visuals: 9
Shaun of the Dead looks very nice on Blu-ray with a 1080p, 2.35:1 transfer. Colors are lifelike, contrast is sharp and the black levels are dark with very little grain. Kudos for some great special effects, both visual and makeup, that really sell the horror element of this film without getting to extreme. Almost any shock value is almost instantly parleyed into a joke. The camera is put to great use, both for dramatic and comedic effect and even a few visual shockers.

Sound: 9
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix for Shaun of the Dead is exceptional with a perfectly blend of music, effects and dialogue, and some serious LFE that really got my subwoofer going at times. The city comes alive in full 3D audio with great sound placement and directional panning, and the dialogue track is mixed in at perfect level so you don’t miss a single hysterical line.

Value: 9
Universal packed this Blu-ray disc full of bonus content starting with four commentary tracks. Writer/Director Edgar Wright teams up with Simon Pegg for the first track that offers an entertaining and informative discussion of the film. This is followed up with a cast commentary featuring Pegg, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Kate Ashfield, and Lucy Davis. For whatever reason, Shaun’s parents played by Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton get their own commentary track. This was the least impressive of the four and they should have just joined the rest of the cast on track two. The final track features a group of zombies and other secondary characters offering their insight into the film. It’s not much better than the previous track. So essential, out of the four commentaries, two are worth your attention.

U-Control gives you instant access to plenty of PiP material including Storyboards and my personal favorite, the Zomb-o-Meter pop-up trivia track full of insider information and call outs to other pop-culture movies. Moving on to the more standard production features and bonuses we have Missing Bits that include hilarious outtakes and deleted scenes, Raw Meat that contains casting tapes and Pegg’s video diary and some insight into the special effects, and TV Bits that includes an interview with Cold Play. The Zombie Gallery is packed with posters art, storyboards, and exclusive photos. Throw in a couple of trailers BD-Live and D-Box support and you have a fantastic collection of extras for a fantastic movie.

Overall: 9.0
Shaun of the Dead is a parody film that works mostly because it is self-aware and even pokes fun at itself with plenty of wink, wink moments directed at fans of the horror genre, especially zombie movies. The flick is loaded with witty dialogue, amazing sight gags, and some wickedly cool special effects. It’s is a great movie that will appeal to horror and comedy fans alike and this Blu-ray release of Shaun of the Dead has never looked or sounded better.