I Loved "Shaun of the Dead"

Zombie movies give me nightmares, so it was with some reluctance that I watched “Shaun of the Dead” the other day. I have to tell you that this was one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I will certainly go to see “Hot Fuzz” made by the same people.

In “Shaun of the Dead”, the appearance of the living dead is a backdrop to the troubles of Shaun who is going nowhere in life and whose girlfriend is breaking up with him. He and his best mate Ed want nothing more than to hang out in their favorite pub. Shaun and Ed are too involved in their own lives to notice the looming zombie problem for much of the film. He skips through the news alerts on TV and is oblivious to the living dead he passes by on the street.

When Shaun and Ed realize that something is awry, Shaun says that he prefers not to use the “Zed-word”. Armed with a cricket bat and some other whacking instrument, Shaun and Ed set out to rescue Shaun’s girlfriend and mother and hole up at the pub. They don’t have the usual paralyzing terror of the living dead that you see in the genre, and they move about fairly freely due to the living dead people’s slowness and vulnerability to blows to the head.

I won’t reveal more lest I spoil the fun.

I enjoyed the movie, and I am less afraid of the “Zed-word” now.