MMMMM...Brains. Every time I hear the word zombie that is the first thought that goes through my...mind (you thought I was going to say brain, didn't you? Well, it certainly would have been fitting). Anyway, thinking about zombies, one generally thinks of horror movies where innocent, uninfected people shoot zombies and run for their lives trying to find a place to hide. Occasionally a zombie movie comes along that is a horror/comedy and takes an even more twisted spin on an already twisted idea. Probably one of the best examples of a zombie horror/comedy is 2004's Shaun of the Dead, which Universal Studios has just released in a 20th anniversary 4K steelbook.
Shaun (Simon Pegg; Mission: Impossible franchise) is what you might categorize as a loser. He is a 29-year-old electronics salesman who hangs out at the local bar with his friend Ed (Nick Frost; The World's End). Ed is a freeloader who doesn't have a job and plays video games all day. Shaun's girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield; Beyond Borders), just dumped him because he has no ambitions, spends too much time with Ed, and messes up a dinner reservation for their anniversary.
Depressed, Shaun spends the evening at the bar getting drunk and wakes up the next morning to a zombie apocalypse. Despite official warnings to stay indoors, Shaun and Ed go to Shaun's mother's house where they find out Shaun's stepdad, Phillip (Bill Nighy; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), has been bitten. Shaun and Ed take Shaun's mom and Phillip with them to get Liz, who brings her roommate and the roommate's boyfriend with them. Not knowing where to go, they end up at the bar where they are attacked by zombies. There they all have to do whatever they can to survive, some more successfully than others.
Co-written by Pegg and Edgar Wright (Baby Driver) and directed by Wright, Shaun of the Dead hits all the right chords and has become a cult classic film that is listed among the best movies of the decade and the best horror films of all time. The script is great, and the cast meshes well together to make for a solid ensemble. Pegg is perfect as Shaun, and he and Ashfield have good chemistry.
Universal Studios used a 4K scan of the original 35mm negative, which gives the film an excellent look overall. The colors are warm and deep, and the details are well defined. While the Dolby Atmos audio is wonderful overall, the mix is not great. The music is too loud, so anytime there is dialogue, I had to raise the volume to hear it, only to lower it again when the music resumed.
The steelbook is lovely with an old-school comic book look to it, and the discs themselves are decorated like old records. There is a plethora of extras to go through; however, there is only one new one. The extras include: Shaun of the Dead: 20 Bloody Years! (NEW!), Missing Bits (Kitchen Pow-wow, Body on the Line, Body on the Lone/Yvonne, Taxi Driver, Bathroom Blowout, In the Bedroom, Meercats United, Alternate Ed, The Doppelgang, Q.W.A., David vs. Shaun, More Peanuts, Rifle Trifles, David's Redemption, and Bar Extension), Outtakes, The Man Who Would Be Shaun, Funky Pete, Plot Holes, Raw Meat (Simon Pegg's Video Diary, Lucy Davis' Video Diary, Joe Cornish's Video Diary, Casting Tapes, Edgar and Simon's Flip Chart, SFX Comparison, Make-Up Tests, EPK Featurette), TV Bits (T4 with Coldplay, Fun Dead, Trisha - Your Nine Lives Are Up, Trisha - I Married a Monster, and Remembering Z Day), Trailers (US Trailer, UK Teaser Trailer, UK Trailer, UK TV Spot #1, UK TV Spot #2, and Fright Fest Trailer), and Audio Commentaries (Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Kate Ashfield and Lucy Davis, Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton, and The Zombies).
This steelbook is a real treat from a physical standpoint and from a technical perspective. Any Shaun of the Dead fan would love this special edition, and it would make a great stocking stuffer!
Grade: B
