Shaun Of The Dead is/was back in theatres for its 20th anniversary and I watched it.
For those not in the know, Shaun of the dead is a 20 year old movie that is playing in theatres again.
The film is a horror-comedy about a zombie outbreak that follows the titular Shaun, played by one of the films writers, Simon Pegg, as he leads a group of his friends, family, and ex-girlfriend to safety during the zombie uprising.
Co-written and directed by Edgar Wright the film is funny, flashy, and irreverent.
They say that CGI and comedy are the things that age quickest and easiest when it comes to film. This movie has little CGI but plenty of gags, most of which still hold up.
I was concerned going into this rewatch that I might find Shaun less funny because of the change in the culture and my own sensibilities. Shaun Of The Dead is totemic in terms of the rise of *shudder* geek culture in the early half of the 21st century. Now that we’ve gotten through the most of that and pumped the breaks on Marvel, Star Wars, and other sci-fi movies, (I write this knowing full well that my next review is going to be that of Alien: Romulus) I wondered if that the geeky-horror-post-modern-referential humour would miss. I’ll say this: it didn’t. There was actually a lot less of that sort of Big Bang Theory sensibility to the film as I had projected onto it in my remembering. All of the humour comes from character and situation. There’s an odd reference or two that if you know you know and if you don’t it still works.
The only joke that didn’t land with the audience with whom I watched the film was when Nick Frost says the N-Word, it’s not even really a joke, it’s just something that’s there and that everyone involved regrets keeping in.
I should also like to point out that they could have spelt Shaun’s name Shawn to look more like Dawn Of The Dead. Why didn’t they I wonder? Perhaps a quick google would solve this mystery but I’m someone who chooses the divine unknown in my life, by which I mean I am lazy.
It was such a joy to watch a comedy film in the cinema. Straight comedies are harder to find in the cinema these days, having been chopped up and made into limited series on Hulu or Netflix that barely have any jokes in them and blah, blah, blah. IT WAS NICE TO LAIGH IN THE CINEMA WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME.
Hopefully Shaun’s fantastic box office over the weekend will let studios know that people do love to go to the movies and laugh.
The runtime is 99 minutes (perfect)