Never Seen It! Sunday: Shaun of the Dead

Posted on the 26 June 2011 by Cinefilles @cinefilles
You know when you're talking to someone you think is like totally happening in a far out way and they ask if you've seen their favourite movie and you lie and say you seen "parts of it" because you don't want to seem like a total pop culture pariah? Yeah, we do too - and we hate ourselves for it! That's why we're vowing to watch at least one movie we've put off, ignored, rejected or just plain-out forgot about every week from now on. Join us as recount the popping of our cinematic cherries, complete with awkward, over-analytical details!
 Photo: impawards.com
SHAUN OF THE DEAD 
DATE RELEASED: September 24, 2004
DATE ACTUALLY WATCHED: June 24, 2011
WHY NOW?: Totally awful confession: I just got Netflix. Most people I've talked to hate it, saying that they have a shitty selection. And that's sort of true. But after week or so of watching Roswell, Community and all the John Waters movies they have, I'm sold. This was one of the only movies on my "List" that I hadn't actually watched before. And wasn't completely embarrassing. (Hey, it's not my fault that they really only seem to update their straight-to-DVD late 90s horror sequels!)

WHY NOT THEN?: I actually have no idea. Seeing as this is both a British slacker comedy and a zombie movie, you would have thought I would have been third in line (behind the Spaced fans) to see it. But for some reason, I never got around to it. Maybe my dad (a.k.a. my sole partner in awful/awesome horror/sci-fi movie gorging back in the day) wouldn't take me? Or perhaps I was just too wrapped up in Grade 9 scandals to care? Either way, this self-proclaimed Edgar Wright fan (So what if I've only seen Scott Pilgrim and Don't!?) is really embarrassed.
EXPECTATIONS:
  • Snappy, modern visuals and Wright-eous writing and editing.
  • Lots of creative, yet hilarious zombie killing. In the same vein as Zombieland. But without the gore. And Twinkies.  
  • Simon Pegg being slacker adorable.
  • Some scene where Pegg and Nick Frost make an undead dude even more dead by accidentally pushing them into a garden tool (?).You know, the one they showed in Scream 4?
  • Deadpan awkward Brit-com goodness.
  • A bunch of stars I now know but wouldn't have even been able to name when it actually came out.
  • Falling in lesbians with it, adding it to my inner "Must List" and keeping it there, indefinitely.
WHAT I ACTUALLY GOT...
  • Wright-eous everything.
  • Lots and LOTS of epic, unexpected zombie kills with everyday objects.
  • A whip smart commentary on Gen Y slacker-dom. (We've turned into zombies! Get it!?)
  • Bill Nighy! (I've been obsessed with since Bill Mack. )
  • What I think was an awesome Evil Dead reference: "Ash is sick today. So I'll be taking charge." (So says Shaun as at an S-Mart-esque electronics store staff meeting.)
  • Lots of other badass horror and sci-fi in-jokes. (I won't ruin them!)
  •  Pegg being slacker adorable AND having a dance party with Nick Frost to "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It")!
  • So much deadpan awkward Brit-com goodness. SO MUCH.
  • A modern, zombie-centric horror comedy that's even better than Zombieland. And I loved Zombieland. 
ONE NIGHT-IN STAND OR SECOND DATE POTENTIAL? Definite long-term potential. I may or may not be in lesbians. Don't tell Scott...