Shaun of the Dead, 2004

Reaction Paper to  “Shaun of the Dead” , Edgar Wright, UK

This film has all the elements of post-modernism,  released in 2004.   This was a fun movie for me because it contained two things I enjoy  horror and comedy.    Instead of having a  protagonist, good looking hero,  you have an everyday salesman , Shaun, who pretty much isn’t going anywhere in life.

In a traditional horror  zombie-genre film, you would have utter chaos and fear resulting to a zombie invasion, but this film took it and twisted it,  where the characters don’t really react to it or  should I say are unconcerned of the invasion.    Where Shaun  would be traditionally a hero, he is also seen as the anti-hero because he doesn’t want to take responsibility.

I like the use of the cinematography using a hand held approach, making it seem like we are right there along with Shaun during the action.  The character Barbara is seen as helpless female ,  where often in some other horror films such as  Halloween, Jaime Lee Curtis is a bad ass fighting character.    It had all the conventions of zombie genre , blood, knives, murders,  but included a bit of a romance and of course humor.   Many times the words  “Survival” was used throughout the film, this is indeed what Zombie movies are about the ultimate survival,  the humor involved in this film such as deciding what record to hit the zombies with, makes the film.    George Romero who directed Night of the Living Dead,   was a fan of this movie, which I found fascinating.

I thought the special effects makeup was pretty fascinating in this film,  this is a film for the favorites list for sure.

 

Jason Hanscom

 

 

Advertisements