i saw the trailer for shaun of the dead when i watched garden state in the theatres. the slogan of this film is “a romantic comedy, with zombies”. although i didn’t really see too much romance going on in the film, there was a lot of comedy and a lot of zombies. a parody of movies like dawn of the dead, shaun of the dead satires the conventions of zombie flicks while remaining fresh and funny.

simon pegg is hilarious as shaun, the unwitting hero of the film. you may remember him from hbo’s band of brothers. (thanks, imdb.com!) his lazy, good-for-nothing friend ed, is equally funny. the duo of buddies and the four other members of the cast form an unlikely group of heroes, fighting off the undead as they seek refuge at a local pub. the make-up and special effects for shaun of the dead were surprisingly realistic, but i suppose you don’t need much to make someone look like a zombie. i was also surprised at how much gore was in the film. people were getting torn apart and disemboweled. ew.

i absolutely love how the movie leads up to shaun’s discovery of the zombies, especially his and ed’s first encounter with a zombie girl in their backyard. hi-larious! the jokes kind of peter out nearing the end of the movie, when it gets a little sentimental and emotional. the feelings that shaun goes through about his step-father and mother seem misplaced in a comical horror flick, mixing too much emotion with too little comic relief at those particular moments.