Quick Rating:  ***

 
It's almost impossible (or at least rare) that both comedy and horror work together (intentionally) in a movie.  For the first half to 2/3s of Shaun of the Dead, the two co-exist beautifully.  I was laughing out loud at this zombie flick for a good hour.  But then something happens.  It attempts to be more serious and drama-driven.  And that doesn't work.  It slows down the whole film, forcing us to care about the arguments between main characters, forcing us to feel scared for them.  But we've spent so much time laughing at them, and expecting the next laugh that it leaves you empty and unfulfilled as the film dredges on to its predictable conclusion.
 
Shaun is a 29 year old in a dead end job with no ambition, a nagging step-dad, and an underappreciated girlfriend.  The only solace he has is his overweight, flatulent, video-game obsessed flatmate, who no one else cares for.  Slowly his world deteriorates around him, as in the background, the real world is deteriorating too, as the dead are coming back to life, hungry for flesh.  After failing his job, his girlfriend, his family and himself, he eventually is able to catch enough of the news to realize that everyone is becoming zombies - time for a plan.  He and his flatmate, armed with a shovel and a cricket bat, decide to save Shaun's mum, and then his (ex) girlfriend, and then hole up in their favorite pub, and wait for the whole thing to blow over.  Hey, at least it's a plan.
 
I thought the intros to the various characters were all very funny and interesting.  And as we get to know Shaun more, we can also laugh at him (and our own shortcomings) more.  His obliviousness as he continues on his daily routine to work, while the whole neighborhood has been taken over by zombies is hilarious.  And the way he and Ed (the flatmate) try to take out the zombies is also hilarious.  But then, as the situation becomes darker, so does the movie, and it really loses its steam.  I really really enjoyed the first half, and wish it could have kept that up for its entire length, instead of attempting to be a suspenceful drama and a love story.
 


 
 

Quality: 6.0  Visuals: 6.0  Intensity: 6.0  Gore: 4.0  Laughability: 6.5 
OVERALL RATING: 5.7