Shaun of the Dead

It's hard to explain the "zombie" appeal. While vampires are sexy, immortal and generally slim (Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt? Vamp me up!), and werewolves are primal and hairy (always appealing), zombies are slow (or at least they should be), shambling, decaying corpses with little appeal and even less charm. However, that hasn't stopped them from, ahem, rising from the filmic dead in recent years and dominating horror films. However, while the Resident Evil films have been ass and asser, and the Dawn of the Dead remake was serviceable but not spectacular, the best zombie movies in recent years have been coming from Britain (28 Days Later, although, yeah, technically they were "infected," not zombies), and Shaun of the Dead is no exception. But Shaun of the Dead is so much more than just a "zombie" movie, being equal parts comedy and romance, and pulling all its elements together, and off, almost flawlessly. Shaun is a blue collar slacker (on the verge of loserdom), socially hamstrung by his best mate Ed (whose knack for brutal honesty and saying the wrong thing is bloody hilarious), in a rut at work (where he's disrespected) and on the rocks with his girlfriend, Liz. Of course, what do all loveable losers need to get their lives back on track? An attack of the living dead, obviously, and just as Shaun's world begins to collapse after Liz dumps him, the zombie apocalypse begins. Of course, being a self-absorbed bastard, it takes awhile for Shaun to realise it (which obviously lends to some of the film's best comedic moments) and get on with the saving of his friends and girlfriend. While Shaun of the Dead could have easily fallen into a Return of the Living Dead morass of poor comedy and worse horror, Shaun succeeds by making sure its comedy is actually funny (why are British people so fucking funny anyway?) and situational, and that its horror is always genuine, never cheesy. Extras include two commentary tracks (one from director Wright and Simon Pegg, who plays Shaun, and one with the entire cast), which are occasionally funny and interesting (they nicked the same opening music from Dawn), although not as hellarious as the film. There are also some brilliant comic-book style animated missing bits, filling in some of the movie's "plot holes" (like what happened to Shaun when he led the zombies away from the Winchester pub and how he survived and returned), a not very funny "interview" with Coldplay and a video diary, among others. In this day of reanimated corpses posing as "remakes," Shaun of the Dead stands as unquestionably one of the funniest, and best, zombie films ever made. (Alliance Atlantis)