Apologies to Mr. Romero

I'm going to take my aspirations to one day write a Zombie flick and pack them away for a while, until the brilliance of Shaun of the Dead dims a bit, and I'm able to come at it properly, without thinking, "Why bother? I'll never be that good."

When I'd originally heard about the movie on AllThingsZombie.com, I thought it was just some cheapie fan-fick, shot on video, that had attained some measure of fame through the festival circuit, like Clerks. The more I heard about it, the bigger the buzz, I learned that I couldn't have been farther from the mark. This wasn't just a bunch of guys who got their friends together to shoot a horror flick over a weekend; the writer and director, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, have achieved a great level of fame in the UK with their tv show Spaced, and after learning more about that, and finally seeing Shaun, I want them to be my best friend. In fact, I would settle for them not being my friend, simply to follow them around, sycophantic, like that little dog in the Warner Brothers cartoons.

After discussing it at length with Nikki, I've come to the conclusion that Shaun of the Dead is simply the best Zombie movie I've ever seen. I know that's a bold statement, but I've given it some grave thought -- pardon -- and even though Shaun is essentially a comedy, it still manages to beat the shit, Zombie-wise, out of any other Zombie movie I can think of because, beyond all the Zombies and the comedy, Shaun had a point, a message, almost. And this is where it's better than the rest of what's out there today. It didn't just take a disparate few and throw a bunch of Zombies at them. (Actual Zombies, mind you -- classic, shambling, slow-moving Zombies.) It went where Romero's flicks went, using the Zombies as metaphor, and actually (shock!) telling a story.

And Pegg and Wright clearly acknowledg their debt. Shaun makes reference to many classic horror flicks, including several nods to Romero's trilogy, as well as the Evil Dead series (and 28 Days Later is openly slammed during the film's final sequence, which warmed my heart quite a bit).

It's smart, it's funny, it's romantic, it's terrifying. Shaun of the Dead is perfect. Puts Romero in quite a bind, doesn't it, now that he's making Land of the Dead? I don't think even he can top this one.