Shaun of the Dead released!

[Damini]

Went. Saw it. Absolutely loved it.

The acting was amazing, Simon Pegg really managed to do the whole range, although quite often great comedy actors are also fantastic straight actors too. I thought the touches of light and dark worked really well with the film, managed to lift it out of parody and into a film in it's own right. Loved the nods to the classics from the zombie genre - anyone else catch "We're coming to get you Barbara"?

Definately going to own this one on DVD. I might even go and see it again in the cinema. Absolutely blinding.

 

[Jonny_Darko]

The acting was amazing, Simon Pegg really managed to do the whole range

That bit in the pub when he'd been crying nearly broke my heart :/

 

[Damini]

Must admit, this film made me do the high pitched squeel where your hands involuntarily wave at some of the jumps, it made me laugh out loud quite often (and I'm usually one of those amused smile rather than guffaw people), and it did make me cry. Which is quite impressive in my book.

 

[mank!]

I'm going to see it tomorrow, but it got a pretty poor review in The Times yesterday and it's put me off a bit. Reading some of the latest comments on this thread have made me a bit more optimistic though

 

[ReActor]

I dunno, I was a little bit disappointed. Before I saw it (today) I read everywhere that it's really funny, but I thought it was a tiny bit lacking. Guess I was expecting more spoof-style humour.

The acting performances were brilliant and the direction was superb, but I just thought the script fell a little bit short. It is a good film, it's just been a little too hyped.

Also, although a couple of people in this thread said the whole audience was laughing, oddly it was the complete opposite when I saw it - me and the three friends I was with were laughing, and everyone else in the cinema was totally silent. Strange...

 

[leggy]

Well I saw it last night and thought it was great. I don't like spaced so I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. I agree with Damini on the comedy/serious note though, it added another dimension to the film almost.

On a side note, Jessica Stevenson (Daisy in spaced) has lost a lot of weight and looks pretty foxy now.

 

[Whipped]

Was really, really happy when I went to the cinema on Monday and found that it was showing. I thought it was due out this Friday

Can't wait for the DVD, better have a commentary as there are a lot of little references in there that most people won't know. For instance, the phrase "Fried Gold" that is used in several places in the film is a pharse they came up with in series II of Spaced. Something you'd only know if you've watched Spaced with the commentary on.

I enjoyed the whole film emensly (sp?). Too many good bits to reminise over here

Although I hope everyone noticed Tyre's cameo as a Zombie, still dressed in his bike gear

 

[Jonny_Darko]

Yeah he was still dancing too!

 

[ECA]

Soooo many injokes ~_~


Decent film, not hilarious.

 

[mank!]

I saw it yesterday and I was quite disappointed. It felt as if the film was one big in-joke that I didn't get, which may come from the fact I have no idea what Spaced is about, let alone having seen it. There were some pretty funny parts which amused me greatly, the acting was good but I felt the script was poor and it struggled to decide what exactly it wanted to be, whether it was a comedy, a drama or a horror - it left me with a feeling that it was just a giant mishmash of genres that didn't really work. I don't think I'd want to see it again.

Spoiler

I felt they ruined it in parts by trying to be too serious and too dramatic, i.e. killing Shaun's mum, Dylan Moran's character 'escaping' etc. All of it was done very well, but I can't help but feel they should have stuck to keeping it a pure comedy with a little horror. The trailer made it look hilarious, but most of the funny bits were in the trailer.

I thought Lucy Davis was very good in it too, I hated her character in The Office but I thought she was very good in this.

Oh, and The Smiths appearance made the film for me!

 

[ECA]

Does a film have to be pigeon holed in a genre to make sense to you mank?

 

[mank!]

No, but it does help the script writers when they know what they want to write.

 

[Damini]

They did. A zombie film that didn't take itself too seriously, around characters that are inherently British. If it had just stuck to parodying zombie films, it would have wandered perilously close to the realm of films like Space Balls, Hot Shots and so on, just with a higher tendency to say "wanker". The patches of dark made it a fully fledged film with fully fledged characters in my opinion. It wasn't a parody, it was a homage to the genre using very british comedy.

 

[ReActor]

Again I want to emphasise that I did enjoy this film and it made me laugh. I just feel the need to back mank up a bit because he's kind of right about 'Shaun...' being somewhat mixed up.

They did. A zombie film that didn't take itself too seriously, around characters that are inherently British. If it had just stuck to parodying zombie films, it would have wandered perilously close to the realm of films like Space Balls, Hot Shots and so on, just with a higher tendency to say "wanker". The patches of dark made it a fully fledged film with fully fledged characters in my opinion. It wasn't a parody, it was a homage to the genre using very british comedy.

I can't really argue with that, except to say that it wouldn't have to be a parody to be a comedy horror. If anyone parodied zombie films it was George Romero himself, in the original '... Of The Dead' series (Zombies being hit in the face with custard pies for chrissakes). It's films like 28 Days Later and the Dawn of The Dead remake that have taken zombies seriously.

Example of a comedy horror that isn't a parody: any of the Evil Dead films. Maybe it was a tall order but I was expecting something more like that. I guess the slightly weird and confusing emotional tone of 'Shaun...' is quite close to Romero's style (where you find yourself thinking 'am I sposed to be scared or laughing right now?' or 'this is scary but I'm not sure why'), and maybe that's what Simon Pegg was going for.

 

[mank!]

That's what I was getting at Reactor, thanks. It was a case of not being sure whether to laugh, feel sad or be scared. The way the emotions swung full circle from the viewer not having any empathy towards the characters then needing to feel sad when some characters were written out was what left me confused. If that makes sense.

 

[Conchabar]

Best english comedy film since monty python imho laughs through out xD

 

[Mobius]

Saw it, great film. So many hilarious parts.

"Argh, he's got an arm missing!"

"I love you man..."
"gay!"



I want to see it again.

 

[Astfgl]

"Dire Straits?"
"Chuck it!"

 

[Mobius]

Lol.

Was just about to go and watch it again and it started pissing (and hailing) down so I changed my mind.

"You've got red on you"

 

[Mobius]

Does anyone know the song at the beginning of the film? Its quite famous..kind of eerie. It goes like "dun..dudududu duun..dudu..dundndndn"
Well its hard to explain. Then its like oww..owowow kind of like a wolf howling.

 

[Doh_boy]

Ghost town - The Specials?

The only problem being is that the wolf howl you're hearing should be a policecar siren. :s

 

[Mobius]

Yeah thats it, thanks.

 

[Mobius]

Right, I just got it and the background tune is it, but then some jamaican bloke starts singing. Is there like a version or remix without the vocals?

 

[Jonny_Darko]

That the main theme? For some reason I got the idea it was from a 70s kids TV show that I guessed must have been juuuuust before my time.

 

[mank!]

Right, I just got it and the background tune is it, but then some jamaican bloke starts singing. Is there like a version or remix without the vocals?

The vocals make that song :/