HallowScream - Shaun of the Dead (2004)

          Hey guys, Chuck here, and we're back with more HallowScream. Today's review is of the 2004 horror comedy Shaun of the Dead, directed by Edgar Wright and starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton. The movie is the first of Edgar Wright's Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy, also known as the Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy. The reason for the trilogy's name is two-fold: as a tribute to Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colours film trilogy, and each of Edgar Wright's three films in the Cornetto Trilogy has either one of three different flavors of Cornetto ice cream in it. But, enough explaining the point behind the name of the Cornetto Trilogy, let's get in to Shaun of the Dead. 

        So, the movie focuses on Shaun, a 29-year-old electronics salesman in the Crouch End area of London. Shaun is not having great luck, as his colleagues disrespect him, his girlfriend Liz broke up with him, and he doesn't get along with his stepfather Philip. Shaun's only solace comes from hanging out with his friends, including his best friend Ed, at a local pub, the Winchester. 

       One day, however, a zombie outbreak goes down in London, and Shaun and Ed barely notice, until they are forced to fend off a pair of zombies on Ed's garden. Shaun cooks up a plan: pick up his mother, Barbara, and Liz, and wait our the zombies at the Winchester. And, of course, what follows are a slew of hijinks, we see that Philip was bitten and ends up becoming a zombie, reconciling with Shaun beforehand, Liz and her flatmates David and Dianne are picked up, Shaun and his crew run into an old friend of Shaun's named Yvonne, who is leading a group of her own. Shaun and his group make it to the Winchester, which is surrounded by zombies, and after clearing them away, they come back, and a second attempt to clear them away unfortunately doesn't work. Why? Because Ed turned on the jukebox in the pub. What a dumbass.

       Barbara also was bit, David turns out to be in love with Liz, but the feeling isn't mutual. Barbara gives her approval to Shaun and Liz being together, and she dies, comes back as a zombie, and is killed by Shaun, who discovers the famous Winchester rifle actually works. Things go nuts when zombies pull David through a window and eat him alive, Dianne tries to save him and dies, and Ed is bitten by his zombified roommate Pete. Luckily, Yvonne shows up with the British Army, who eliminate the zombies and take Shaun and Liz to safety. Six months pass, life is back to normal, with the surviving zombies being used for labor and entertainment, while Shaun and Liz live together, keeping the now zombified Ed chained up as a pet.

        Shaun of the Dead is absolutely hilarious. Seeing how a small area of London handles a zombie outbreak is something we hadn't seen before this movie, and it was a ton of fun. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost as Shaun and Ed were hilarious, and Kate Ashfield as Liz was pretty fantastic. Both Bill Nighy and Martin Freeman would be featured in the movie, with the former playing Philip to absolutely hilarity. And, what's really fun is that both Bill Nighy and Martin Freeman, along with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, would become casting staples of the entire Cornetto Trilogy. Also, it was neat seeing Jessica Stevenson, who co-starred with Simon Pegg on the British sitcom Spaced, show up in this movie as Yvonne. 

       The writing by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright was hilarious, and Edgar Wright's directing was fantastic. There's a good reason I am a fan of this guy, and this movie cements that. I'm giving Shaun of the Dead a rating of 5/5. And, next time, we'll be diving back into gaming for HallowScream when we take a look at Batman: Arkham Knight.