Whoops!
(Got red on me.)
I got to see it on my birthday (the 17th), as a nice treat after delicious Indian food (extra spicy Vindaloo = burning yum). The movie phone website had it listed, but the theater didn’t have it on the big board or the buy your own ticket kiosk. My friend and I got our tickets for Borne Supremacy and went in and saw a theater with a sign saying 'Shaun 10:00pm". We swapped our tickets right away.
I expected to be entertained but not blown away by the quality of humor, drama, and shock moments. Many of those shock moments were perfect reconstructions of great scenes from other movies worked seemlessly in to what was going on in Shaun of the Dead. Most parody films fall flat by slavishly remaking desired scenes (with extra wacky!) and stringing them together, or going for too fuzzy a sense of the whole genre and ending up with nothing that you can remember, from it or the source material. Shaun of the Dead is a perfect example of how to twist a genre around to produce humor.
Saw ads for it all over London when I was there last year… and wanted to see it really badly since I absolutely LOVED seasons one and two of Spaced on DVD…
Of course, vacations being short, I never got around to seeing it… I just assumed I’d never get the chance to see it here in the States… and would have to order it on DVD when it was released in the U.K.
Looking forward to seeing it on the big screen!!!
There was a preview at our theater here in Houston last weekend, but we would not be deterred from our mission to see Sky Captain. We do plan to see Shaun this weekend however. I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time.
Speaking of Aussie/Kiwi zombie movies, has anyone here seen Undead?
I saw this at the Seattle film fest a few months ago. I thought it was good, but not great. Mostly it seemed padded: There’d be a good idea, then it would be repetitive for a while, then there’d be another good idea, then it would repeat, and so on. Basically, they really needed a ruthless editor to improve the structure and pacing. The last half hour is exceedingly strange, too.
I just saw Shaun of the Dead a few hours ago at the 22-screen AMC Eisenhower megalopolis (which is most assuredly not an art house movie theater). I eagerly anticipated this movie based on the glowing reviews in this thread and I was not disappointed. Being an American, I didn’t get a lot of the in jokes and I didn’t recognize any british actors except for Bill Nighy (from Love, Actually). Didn’t matter, because this movie just worked so well on so many different levels. For the most part, I don’t go to many horror movies because I’m not a fan of gore, but those instances didn’t go on forever. If I listed all of the bits that I enjoyed, I’d be here forever. I did enjoy the very last scene of the movie, I almost spit my soda out of my nose!
This is one more reason I’m glad I joined the SDMB and got steered to quality entertainment like this movie. More and more, I find myself drawn to foreign films that are made with talent and respect for the audience instead of being dissected by a committee intent on churning out “product” that is safe and predictable. Thanks for steering me to such a good movie!
I plan to see it this weekend.
I’m also watching Spaced on Trio. Holy crap that’s a funny-ass show. It’s gotten me way excited for the movie.
I KNEW I recognized the spectacled twit. Black from Blacks Books. (love to have those on dvd…region 1)
Anyway, any fan of Romero or Raimi must see this film. It’s great picking out the nods to the films that came before like “We’re coming to get you, Barbara!!!”
Reference to Rage infected monkeys
Ash calling in sick for work at the electronics store
The shopping mall muzak at the end of the credits
Anything I missed?
I have to disagree with the padding bit. I felt it flowed well all the way through.
What amazed me though was that this “comedy” was really able to bring me to the verge of tears with its dramatic scenes. I’ve never been choked up due to a zombie film before. The horror parts were sufficiently scary though nothing made me jump out of my seat. And the comedy was top notch. One of my five faves this year and I’ve liked quite a bit.
What KILLS me is that it is only playing in ONE LOUSY THEATRE in all of Nashville. What the heck is up with that? How is it supposed to make any money with such lousy distribution?
GREAT Movie! Anyone who hasn’t seen it should go make an effort to see it. I agree with the previous poster who mentioned Ghost Town by the Specials, definately a great addition to the soundtrack. Cinematography, plot, acting, everything was superb. I was expecting a parody, but got a really good zombie movie with a romantic twist.
That was supposed to say COMEDY twist, but eh… romantic works.
Quite impressed, BTW. I don’t think I’ve laughed out loud in a movie theatre (let alone that many times) in a while 
Being loyal to your best bud while still being clueless about your surroundings.
The first “dead” scene where
Shaun and his friend end up tossing reccords at the “drunk” woman and the red mouth creepy guy.
Also, the step dad’s “I ran it under the tap” was priceless.
I really liked the movie.
I especially liked how Shaun had a hard time realizing that the world was being overrun by zombies as most people, including in someways himself, are zombies. His relationship with his girlfriend is dead and he doesn’t even know it. It takes a zombie attack for him to learn the lesson to live life while you can, for tomorrow, you may be the living dead.
I loved the two trips to the shop. In the movie before the zombification Shaun walks out his front door and goes around the corner to get a coke, and he does it after the zombies are out but before he knows it. The way the two bits are the same and just a little different is hysterical.
Now THAT’S advertising. I’m in.
I saw it this weekend… I’m a big fan of Romero’s Dead trilogy, and really appreciated that Shaun’s creators were, too! It’s the best zombie movie I’ve seen in years, but it’s also just one of the funniest comedies I’ve seen in a long time. It had a lot of understated cleverness to it in addition to the obvious slapstick. But most of all, it had characters that I really liked and cared for, and you need that in order for both comedy and horror to work properly.
“How’s that for a slice of fried gold?”
EZ
We had the best movie experience with this. I’d heard some good things, but hadn’t seen a trailer or gotten details. Zombies, check. Comedy, check. I suggested to hubby we go see it. He’d never even heard of it. Perfect. I love going in with no particular expectations, and most especially, not having the good bits spoiled by trailers.
Simon Pegg is really likeable, which I think carries the whole movie. I don’t know any of the actors from Adam, but I just instantly loved him.
I think we were the only ones to appreciate several of the jokes. I can’t remember which ones, I’ve got mommy-brain, but I distinctly remember cackling loudly, when the audience was otherwise quiet or chuckled slightly.
Interesting tidbt: When we sat down, there was an elderly couple in front of us. I thought, “What the heck are you two doing here?” Then I said to myself, “Hey, Chris and I will be old someday, and we’ll still go to zombie flicks! They’re probably just cool.” Well, as soon as Shaun and Ed witness the thing that reveals they’re dealing with zombies (ya know, in the garden), those two hightailed it out of there as fast as they could. They must have gotten lost on their way to Mr. 3000 or something 
Mrs. Chastain and I caught this on Friday. Great, great movie.
I especially loved the little touches and references – like Foree Electric, where Shaun works (Ken Foree was in the original Dawn of the Dead) and the newscaster talking about theories of the dead invasion stemming from “rage-infected monkeys” (a la "28 Days Later).
You can really tell the creators of the movie truly love the Romero vision. I was very happily surprised.
[QUOTE=Chastain86]
I especially loved the little touches and references – like Foree Electric, where Shaun works (Ken Foree was in the original Dawn of the Dead) and the newscaster talking about theories of the dead invasion stemming from “rage-infected monkeys” (a la "28 Days Later).
QUOTE]
IIRC the news announcers says "the theory that problem came from rage-infected monkeys to be a load of ba-’ and was suddenly cut off.
I think he was gong to say bollocks.
I just saw it this weekend and I loved it. I just had one question though, what’s the name of the song from the beginning of the movie? I think it’s the same song that’s used at the beginning of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,
Ed : Purple Rain.
Shaun : No.
Ed : Stone Roses.
Shaun : Definitely not.
Ed : The Batman soundtrack?
Shaun : Throw it.
I can’t believe no-one yet mentioned that Dianne is in fact Lucy Davis, aka Dawn Tinsley, of “The Office!” And the “bizarro” Shawn (when they walked past the other group of survivors in the back alley) was none other than Tim (Martin Freeman)!!
And for that matter, in a non-speaking role Reece Shearsmith, of "League of Gentlemen (he was the opposite number of David, I believe). Should have done a “Papa Lazarou” on them zombies…
Are you thinking of the aforementioned Ghost Town by the Specials? Eerie-sounding Ska tune?
(It wasn’t used in Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels, but it was used in Snatch.)