# Rate Shaun of the Dead



## Krug (Sep 26, 2004)

So what did you think of this Brit zombie flick?


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## DonAdam (Sep 26, 2004)

I gave it a 9.

Hilarious movie, very well made.


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## jonesy (Sep 26, 2004)

It's a perrrfect ten.

As in the good old SNL sketch 'The Amazing Alexander':
"It was much better than Cats. I'm going to see it again and again."


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## Viking Bastard (Sep 26, 2004)

A nine. Just because I never give a ten.


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## barsoomcore (Sep 28, 2004)

What an awesome movie! Holy crap. I mean, that rocked hard on toast. Sheer, sheer brilliance, I don't even know where to start. The great writing, the performances, the unobtrusive camera work, all of it was great, just great.

Honestly, that was a perfect movie. Maybe the best film of the year. Certainly right up there with _Kill Bill_.

The world has sure changed a lot since 1978, hasn't it? I'm too excited to really comment coherently on this baby, but I am wearing my "Aim For The Head" lapel pin that the theatres were giving away.

Did anyone else stay to the end of the credits? Hear the old _Dawn of the Dead_ closing music? Nice touch, thought I.


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## Tarrasque Wrangler (Sep 28, 2004)

Viking Bastard said:
			
		

> A nine. Just because I never give a ten.



 Ditto.  "There Is Only One Perfect Film".  But that is definitely the most clever horror film I've ever seen.


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## Gunslinger (Sep 28, 2004)

9

I really enjoyed it.  I was impressed by how it managed to stay funny throughout the whole movie, while actually actually advancing a serious storyline.  Even missing most of the in jokes (due to being American), I still thought it was a great movie.


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## Harp (Sep 28, 2004)

Tarrasque Wrangler said:
			
		

> "There Is Only One Perfect Film".



OK, I'll bite.  At the risk of hijacking the thread, what is this movie?

As for _Shaun of the Dead_, I must say I enjoyed it muchly.  I thought Simon Pegg made a hysterical straight man, and even had some fine dramatic moments near the end of the movie.  Gave it an '8'.


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## Viking Bastard (Sep 28, 2004)

Harp said:
			
		

> OK, I'll bite.  At the risk of hijacking the thread, what is this movie?



What, you never studied basic philosophy? Socrates, man, Socrates!


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## The Grackle (Sep 29, 2004)

I gave it a 9.  It was pretty great.  I esp. liked the whole apocalypse taking place unnoticed in the background.


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## Tarrasque Wrangler (Sep 29, 2004)

Harp said:
			
		

> OK, I'll bite.  At the risk of hijacking the thread, what is this movie?



 BEGIN HIJACK.

 I watch a lot of movies.  Probably more than is healthy.  I bought a gigantic TV to watch them on at home.  Hell, watching movies (and writing about them) was even my profession for a little while(Note: This is not to make me sound smarter-than-thou, just to say that I'm not some Outer Mongolian goat herder who's never seen a moving picture).  And in all the thousands and thousands of hours of films I have watched, only The Godfather rates a 10.  Perfect film, beginning to end.

 Some of the greatest actors of their generations at the top of their game (and Brando's best performance ever), a director who was never better, gorgeous cinematography (watch those scenes in Sicily - mafia bombers or not, you'll still wanna go), a beautifully evocative score and theme, and a script that retained all the potboiler-y goodness of the novel and injected it with epic scope.  If I were stranded on a desert island with only a TV, a DVD player, a generator and an endless supply of popcorn (this is a really weirdo island, way weirder than that one in "Lost"), my one movie of choice would be Godfather.

 That said, feel free to disagree.

 END HIJACK

 To not thoroughly disrupt the Shaun lovefest, I have one question.  Why did Shaun get upset when people called them "zombies"?  I mean, apart from "it's ridiculous!"  At first I thought it was just denial, but even when they're in the Winchester and he knows what they are, he still says that at one point.  Is this a zombie movie in-joke that I missed?

 Speaking of zombie movie in-jokes, I busted a gut when Ed yells into the phone "We're coming to get you, Barbara!"  I had to explain that one to my girlfriend afterwards.


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## Chun-tzu (Sep 29, 2004)

I have another question. What was so funny about "I'm sorry, Shaun"? Does sorry have another slang meaning? Does it sound like something else in British?


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## Viking Bastard (Sep 29, 2004)

Tarrasque Wrangler said:
			
		

> ...only The Godfather rates a 10.  Perfect film, beginning to end...



Oh, you mean you actually had a 'perfect movie'. For me, and what I took your 
comment to mean as well, is that the 'perfect movie' is a hypothetical one that
all movies aspire to be... ala Socrates's theories.

And anyway, Part 1, not Part 2?


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## Ferret (Sep 29, 2004)

Shaun of the dead is my favourite file ever. So far. It would have been an 8, but that was because 9 is perfect, 10 does not exist. I realised that was stupid so it went to nine. It wasn't perfect but only fractionally not. It was the storyline I digged the most, but everthing else played on it _so_ well. My only gripe is the sudden change from flesh crazy zombies to supermarket workers, mainly the fact they did not crave stuff anymore. And also that it ended so abbruptly when I wanted to see an end fight.




			
				Chun-tzu said:
			
		

> I have another question. What was so funny about "I'm sorry, Shaun"? Does sorry have another slang meaning? Does it sound like something else in British?




Nope.

When he was saying sorry it was because he farted, like at the start. Only this time he was sorry as well as having just farted.


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## S'mon (Sep 29, 2004)

I loved it when I saw it months ago - of course I live in London & was already a Simon Pegg fan


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## Fast Learner (Sep 29, 2004)

Tarrasque Wrangler said:
			
		

> Speaking of zombie movie in-jokes, I busted a gut when Ed yells into the phone "We're coming to get you, Barbara!"  I had to explain that one to my girlfriend afterwards.



Me too, though my gf got it, too. I'm glad I wasn't the only one in the audience to get it, though.

Several people have said there were _28 Days Later_ digs in the film, but apparently I missed them. What were they?


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## Viking Bastard (Sep 30, 2004)

Whoah. That one went right by me. 'Night of the Living Dead', right? When the guy is teasing his sister?


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## Tarrasque Wrangler (Sep 30, 2004)

Viking Bastard said:
			
		

> Whoah. That one went right by me. 'Night of the Living Dead', right? When the guy is teasing his sister?



 Exactamundo.



			
				Fast Learner said:
			
		

> Several people have said there were _28 Days Later_ digs in the film, but apparently I missed them. What were they?



 There's a few that I spotted, the most noteworthy being a bit at the end when they're flipping through the news and one of the newscasters says that "rage-infected monkeys have been ruled out as the cause".

 Another one, apparantly, is the "Don't use the zed-word!" bit that runs throughout the movie (that I asked about above, and later read about on IMDB).  That's supposed to be a dig at Danny Boyle (28DL's director) who insists high and low that 28DL is *not* a zombie movie (because they weren't really dead, I guess).  



			
				Ferret said:
			
		

> Shaun of the dead is my favourite *file* ever.



 You pirate .


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## Mark Plemmons (Sep 30, 2004)

Tarrasque Wrangler said:
			
		

> Another one, apparantly, is the "Don't use the zed-word!" bit that runs throughout the movie (that I asked about above, and later read about on IMDB).  That's supposed to be a dig at Danny Boyle (28DL's director) who insists high and low that 28DL is *not* a zombie movie (because they weren't really dead, I guess).




No, I think it's because the old zombie movies never actually used the "z" word.  Of course, it's been about a week since I've listened to the dvd commentary track, but I'm pretty sure that's what they said on it.


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## Celtavian (Sep 30, 2004)

*re*



			
				Tarrasque Wrangler said:
			
		

> BEGIN HIJACK.
> 
> I watch a lot of movies.  Probably more than is healthy.  I bought a gigantic TV to watch them on at home.  Hell, watching movies (and writing about them) was even my profession for a little while(Note: This is not to make me sound smarter-than-thou, just to say that I'm not some Outer Mongolian goat herder who's never seen a moving picture).  And in all the thousands and thousands of hours of films I have watched, only The Godfather rates a 10.  Perfect film, beginning to end.
> 
> ...




I completely concur. _The Godfather_ does not have a weak moment in it. It is movie making at its finest.


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## Captain Tagon (Oct 1, 2004)

This was the best movie I've seen in a long long long time.

Best movie ever though, I've gotta go with the old stand by...Citizen Kane.


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## The_lurkeR (Oct 2, 2004)

Just saw it tonight, and gave it a 9.
Great movie, very well done all around.


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## Teflon Billy (Oct 2, 2004)

Great movie: Gave it a 9

Best Moive ever? Pulp Fiction.


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## Particle_Man (Oct 2, 2004)

Well put together and works on both the horror and comedy/parody levels.  8.5 rounds up to 9.


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## Altalazar (Oct 6, 2004)

Loved it!  Instant classic.  Well acted.  Well crafted.  Great story.  It works on so many different levels, simultaneously.  I love how it shows everyone living zombie-like lives before things even get into the "real" zombies.  I loved how the whole storyline was just developing in the background.  

I can't say enough good things about this one.  I highly recommend it.  

And a cool tagline:

A Romantic Comedy.  With Zombies.


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## Galethorn (Oct 6, 2004)

Chun-tzu said:
			
		

> I have another question. What was so funny about "I'm sorry, Shaun"? Does sorry have another slang meaning? Does it sound like something else in British?




He was appologizing for letting out a _stinking cloud_, of course. You know; say you're sorry in the most sincere manner possible, they don't know why you're appologizing, _then_ the smell hits them.


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## Chun-tzu (Oct 6, 2004)

Thanks for the explanation, Galethorn and Ferret.

I must have missed that because I never apologize when I -- er, I mean, I never fart. Yeah, that's what I meant.


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## Captain Howdy (Oct 10, 2004)

Tarrasque Wrangler said:
			
		

> To not thoroughly disrupt the Shaun lovefest, I have one question.  Why did Shaun get upset when people called them "zombies"?  I mean, apart from "it's ridiculous!"  At first I thought it was just denial, but even when they're in the Winchester and he knows what they are, he still says that at one point.  Is this a zombie movie in-joke that I missed?




It's kind of obscure, but I think they were referring to the fact that in the old Romero movies, the characters never called them zombies. They always said something like "those things". Either that or it was referring to the whole 28 Days Later "they're not zombies, they're angry people" thing. Either it's one of those two or I missed it completely.


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## ddvmor (Oct 11, 2004)

If you guys all liked _Shaun of the Dead_, then you absolutely HAVE to get hold of the _Spaced_ series on DVD here.  SotD is NOTHING compared to this!  And that's saying something.

Many of the same actors appear in it, particularly Simon Pegg (Shaun) and Nick Frost (Ed) and it, too, is directed by Edgar Wright.  No zombies, though.

Oh, and Big Al says dogs can't look up!


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## Bagpuss (Oct 11, 2004)

ddvmor said:
			
		

> No zombies, though.




Not strictly true. 

Season One - Episode 3. ART

Where Tim and Mike take some cheap speed and Tim (Simon Pegg) ends up having Resident Evil induced hallucinations, throughout much of the episode.


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## Viking Bastard (Oct 11, 2004)

ddvmor said:
			
		

> No zombies, though.



Not true, really.

Not as many zombies.


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## Numion (Oct 11, 2004)

I gave it a six. It was an ok saturday afternoon romp, but nothing special either. Average performance, average score.


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## ddvmor (Oct 12, 2004)

Viking Bastard said:
			
		

> Not true, really.




I'm sorry.  I shall go and commit seppuku immediately.

...er... anyone got any sharp objects?


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## Look_a_Unicorn (Oct 13, 2004)

Loved it- gave it a 9

But then I'm a sucker for british comedy, and Dylan Moran related comedy especially!


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## Viking Bastard (Oct 13, 2004)

ddvmor said:
			
		

> I'm sorry.  I shall go and commit seppuku immediately.
> 
> ...er... anyone got any sharp objects?



Because of the nature of your failings, you will have to use a broken Spaced DVD.

(..and y'know, they had that Resident Evil homage in Spaced. )


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## ddvmor (Oct 13, 2004)

I can't.  Not the Spaced DVD.  It's just too much to ask.  Can I use The Phantom Menace instead?


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## Viking Bastard (Oct 13, 2004)

No. I'll let you use some other british comedy series, instead.


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## jonrog1 (Oct 16, 2004)

A ten out of frikkin' ten, people.  There's stuff in here, script-wise, that's so flawless, so nicely done, you only catch it on the second viewing.  I watched with a bunch of other working screenwriters, and we spent the entire evening literally swearing at the screen as effortless little pieces of finely honed craftsmanship flew by.

Subtext.  Genuine romance.  Despair, effective horror, well-executed character arcs and some damn fine camerawork.  Go see it now.


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## Dimwhit (Nov 3, 2004)

I just recently saw this movie. Fantastic! I gave it a 9. What an awesome movie.


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## James Heard (Nov 3, 2004)

I gave it a seven, mostly because the gratuitous language in the beginning of the film reminded me too much of Snatch and made an otherwise mostly tame movie difficult to share with my 12 year old. It was good, better than average, but certainly nothing that I feel like I should demand my friends go see.


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## barsoomcore (Nov 3, 2004)

jonrog1 said:
			
		

> Go see it now.



Good advice. Any YOU, stop watching movies and UPDATE YOUR STORY HOUR.

Sheesh. There's good people suffering out here, you know.


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## Olive (Nov 4, 2004)

James Heard said:
			
		

> I gave it a seven, mostly because the gratuitous language in the beginning of the film...




If you don't like gratuitous language, the I'm not sure that you are the target audience for this movie.

Loved it. I say Collateral about two days before hand and loved that too! It's been a good few weeks for movies. I might go see Hero on the weekend.


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## Plane Sailing (Nov 4, 2004)

jonrog1 said:
			
		

> A ten out of frikkin' ten, people.  There's stuff in here, script-wise, that's so flawless, so nicely done, you only catch it on the second viewing.




Now if a real live screenwriter is impressed, I'm thinking to myself that maybe I ought to see this film after all!

I don't normally go for horror movies, but it sounds as if this one is definitely worth a look.

Cheers


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## Dimwhit (Nov 4, 2004)

Plane Sailing said:
			
		

> Now if a real live screenwriter is impressed, I'm thinking to myself that maybe I ought to see this film after all!
> 
> I don't normally go for horror movies, but it sounds as if this one is definitely worth a look.
> 
> Cheers



 Calling it a horror movie is stretching it a bit. Not really scary. But very good and funny.


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## Olive (Nov 4, 2004)

Plane Sailing said:
			
		

> I don't normally go for horror movies, but it sounds as if this one is definitely worth a look.




I don't like horror movies, but this is excellent.


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## ddvmor (Nov 4, 2004)

It's a romantic comedy...  with zombies!


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## Krug (Dec 19, 2004)

Just flat out entertaining and smart. Gave it an 8.


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## Tarrasque Wrangler (Dec 19, 2004)

Shaun of the Dead comes out on DVD Tuesday!  Yay!  Got it queued up in Netflix and ready to roll!


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## mojo1701 (Dec 19, 2004)

8.

I never give a 10, and the 9s are reserved for those REALLY good movies (e.g. The Usual Suspects, RotK, etc.)

8s are for great memorable movies, but lacking something...
7s are good memorable movies
6/5s are average
<4 is crap.


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## Olive (Dec 20, 2004)

mojo1701 said:
			
		

> 8s are for great memorable movies, but lacking something...




So what was it lacking?


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## mojo1701 (Dec 20, 2004)

Olive said:
			
		

> So what was it lacking?




That I do not know.


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## Tarrasque Wrangler (Dec 21, 2004)

mojo1701 said:
			
		

> That I do not know.



 So maybe it's really a 9 or 10?  C'mon Mojo, err on the side of overexuberance!


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## Jakar (Dec 25, 2004)

Was not a bad flick, but it only rated an 8 for me.  Had some good moments in it that made me laugh out loud, but over all was just a smiling movie for me.


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## WayneLigon (Dec 25, 2004)

Just saw it last night. Wonderful, wonderful film. Especially in the first part where all the clues that society is just falling apart around him and he's too wrapped up in his own concerns (like most people).  At the end, the 'what happens after' parts were brilliant. We watched the extended scenes, the outtakes, everything. Esp. neat was the 'plot holes' section, where they fill in bits.


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## John Crichton (Jan 30, 2005)

Just watched it on DVD.

Excellent film.  Had subtle comedy, in-your-face comedy, some real emotion (Ed's final stand was great and the mother scene almost drew tears) and solid action and fights.

Gave it a 9.  Why not a 10?  I dunno.  I reserve 10's for films like Pulp Fiction, LotR (3 combined), Star Wars, Braveheart, Dark City & Clerks.  I guess I don't give out 10's until I know a film can be watched 10+ times and still rock/move/entertain me.  Yeah, that's it.

Either way, one of the best films released in 2004.


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## Chimera (Jan 30, 2005)

Let me start out by saying that I HATE violent and gory horror movies and in general, do not watch them.  Because incredible cruelty and bloody violence are not my idea of *Entertainment*.

However, I recently rented _Shaun of the Dead_ mostly because of what I'd heard about it here and a few other places.

I loved it.  Great "spoof" (if you want to call it that).  Loved the beginning bits where I'd almost go; "there's a zombie!....oh no, it's just someone zoning out."  Like on the bus.  Great commentary on how we spend our lives.


I work nights (midnight to 8am) at a Kmart Distribution Center.  People, if the World Ending Plague (tm) or something like this happens, DO NOT go to your local mall or grocery store.  Find one of these places and hole up.  Miles and miles of everything you'd find at your local retail store.  Pallets upon pallets of bottled water, toilet paper, soap, clothing, etc, etc.

And lots of forklifts and carts to ride around in!


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