Shaun of the Dead

Dylan Moran

David

"Shaun" (Simon Pegg) shares a house with his lazy old pal "Ed" (Nick Frost) living a life of mundanity. His girlfriend "Liz" (Kate Ashfield) is getting a bit fed up with his haplessness, and eventually decides that she is just too bored of their evenings in the local boozer. Suddenly, there start to appear reports on the television reports that there's some sort of plague going on. The two men are fairly oblivious to this until they discover strangers in their garden who seem impervious to shouts of abuse and latterly having things chucked at them. Quickly they repair indoors and realise that flesh-eating zombies have taken over the place. Quickly, the two men decide that they have to rescue "Liz" and her mum (Penelope Wilton) and try to find safety, ideally in their usual fortress-like watering hole - the "Winchester". Can they survive the throng of marauding creatures to gather everyone together? Then what? Can they live on crisps and beer for the rest of their lives? With panic setting in and tempers flaring, it's down to this intrepid bunch to stop from being munched upon and facing a fate worse than death. It's it's very normality that makes this work. Ordinary people, thinking on their feet, dealing with a catastrophe whilst simultaneously coping with the daft problems of day-to-day, turbulent, relationships. The writing is quickly paced and frequently quite witty, with engaging and cohesive efforts from the two at the top of the bill, but also from the briefly used Bill Nighy and the always reliable Wilton who has considerable skill when it comes to comedy timing and accompanying facial expressions. I can't say I've ever seen a collection of vinyl LPs used as an offence weapon before, and that sets the tone for the entertainingly spoofy daftness of the proceedings that isn't maybe the most original ninety minutes of cinema you'll ever have seen, but it stays the right side of slapstick and is good fun throughout.