SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Shaun is a thirty-something slacker with a slightly disastrous life: his job is not exciting; he has some problems at home with his mother and, above all, with his strict stepfather; he neglects his girlfriend Liz to go and get drunk at the neighborhood pub, the Winchester, with his only friend and roommate Ed (even lazier than him). In short... not a nice life perspective! Things are about to get a decisive shake-up from the moment Shaun is left by Liz. For him, it's time to get his life in order, but a new obstacle is about to loom: the dead are quickly coming back to life and start threatening the peace of the living to quench their thirst for blood. Shaun, armed with a cricket bat and helped by his friend Ed, will have to save his mother and his ex-girlfriend to a safe and familiar place: the Winchester will be the ideal spot! "I think 'Shaun of the dead' is a real blast, I really liked it!" are the words of George A. Romero, the father of all zombie movies, who commented on 'Shaun of the Dead'. But this work has not only received the approval of the director of 'Night of the Living Dead' but also from other authors such as Quentin Tarantino, Peter Jackson, and Stephen King. These could seem just rumors, thrown there only to give good publicity to the film, but this is not the case with 'Shaun of the dead' which managed in a short time to entertain and be appreciated by all horror fans immediately earning the nickname of 'cult'. 'Shaun of the dead' is a British horror comedy (Simon Pegg describes it thus: "It's not a comedy about zombies, but a film about zombies and a comedy") from 2004 (arrived in Italy strangely only for home video commerce), the result of the collaboration of the minds of Edgar Wright (in direction and screenplay) and Simon Pegg (in the cast and, also himself, in the screenplay). The entire project, revealed in an interview by director Edgar Wright, was born during the filming of an episode of the British sitcom 'Spaced' (more precisely during the filming of the episode in which a demonic being besieges a house), always realized by the duo Wright – Pegg, when he realized he shared with Pegg a passion for Romero's zombie horror films; at that point, the idea came to both of them to try their hand at a horror project along the lines of Romero's films. Thus was born 'Shaun of the dead' (re-titled for the Italian market with the embarrassing, inappropriate title 'L'alba dei morti dementi'), a film that without any doubt turns out to be one of the freshest and most carefree works made in recent years. There is not a single thing that is out of place, everything is absolutely perfect and well thought out because it has succeeded in bringing to life a perfect example of horror-comedy since there are bloody and gruesome scenes worthy of any self-respecting zombie movie and highly ironic scenes that can only induce laughter in the viewer. That Romero serves as an inspiring muse is obvious (a group of survivors besieged inside a small closed place, disembowelments and dismemberments characteristic of his films) but the astonishing result is that Wright does not make a simple imitation work but rather a film that enjoys, nevertheless, its own identity and personality managing to be even original. The minutes during the viewing of the film pass quickly thanks to continuous sequences rich in irony (an irony that never descends into the demencial) and savory situations typical of an excellent b-movie; but much of the merit of the fluidity of the film goes to the excellent and very likable performances of Simon Pegg (in the role of the protagonist Shaun) and Nick Frost (the inseparable and impolite friend Ed) capable of moving with great ease in front of the camera and of characterizing in the best way possible their characters constantly over the top. But beyond the brilliant performances of Pegg and Frost, the rest of the cast, in which also features a good Bill Nighy (the Davy Jones of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series), manages to be perfectly in part and not to disappoint. The direction of Edgar Wright (director of the fake trailer 'Don't' included in the 'Grindhouse' project) is flawless and turns out to be quite careful and dynamic in the construction of the scenes. Good, although not too many, the bloody scenes that dig quite deeply into the splatter (which will find its climax in a tasty dismemberment at the end) and well-chosen turns out to be also the remarkable soundtrack. In conclusion 'L'alba dei morti dementi' is an absolutely brilliant film, one of the best horrors of recent years as well as one of the most carefree, tasty and successful films that have ever been made on the theme of the 'zombie' (better to use the term 'living dead' because using the word with the Z is ridiculous). A film absolutely to see and re-see... especially if you have ever wondered if dogs can look up. The rating has been rounded up.