Shaun of the Dead DVD Review (Simon Pegg) Empire Movies

SHAUN OF THE DEAD DVD REVIEW

Shaun of the Dead
(Universal Studios Home Entertainment)

The Movie

The Extras

Reviewed by

8.5/10

Liam

Shaun of the Dead is one of those movies that opens overseas first, becomes a smash hit, and then takes forever to open in North America. I remember hearing about it at least a year and a half to two years ago. And I kept hearing about it, and hearing about it and wondering if (ever) it would open here. Well, it finally opened Fall 2004 and, like most movies that become hits overseas, was only mildly successful here. Sure, there's a small population that would really enjoy it, but it's not going to find widespread success.

The movie is a comedy/horror about Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) a couple of slackers who must fight of hoards of zombies. When zombies begin taking over the world, they fight to find their way to the only place they believe to be safe - their local pub. Along the way, the pick up Shaun's girlfriend (who recently dumped him), a couple of her friends, Shaun's mother and her husband who Shaun doesn't have the greatest relationship with. So, there's some horror, some gore, some drama, a few touching moments and a whole lotta laughs.

And besides a whole lotta laughs, there's also a whole lotta special features on the movie's DVD. The heart of the behind-the-scenes material can be found in the section titled "Raw Meat". Here, you'll find "Simon Pegg's Video Diary" where we follow our lead character around the set. The best bit here is where Nick Frost gets a pain killing needle in the "arse" (as they call it in England). I don't know what was more painful - Nick's arse or having to repeatedly watch this over and over again. Next, there's "Casting Tapes" which looks at casting the various characters from the movie. In "Edgar and Simon's Flip Chart" we look at a tape from September 1, 2001 which shows how the film's star and director see the movie happening. Basically it's a written storyboard. (It's difficult to imagine that this movie started pre-9/11 and is just now making it here.) In "SFX Comparisons" we look at a couple of scenes from the movie and how they were created with the some effects help. "Make Up Tests" is just that. And finally, the "EPK Featurette" is your making-of featurette complete with interviews with much of the film's cast and crew.

For Special Features, the next section is titled "Zombie Gallery". In this section you'll find a behind-the-scenes photo gallery, a "2000 Ad Strip" which is a comic book type ad which leads into the movie, and some poster designs.

In "TV Bits" you'll find four funny segments featuring an interview with Coldplay, a look at some zombie sports and two bits with "Trisha" a TV talk show host featured in the movie. These are well worth checking out for a couple of laughs.

The next section in the special features department is titled "Missing Bits". Here you'll find some more hilarious bits including some 15 deleted/extended scenes (with optional commentary), some outtakes and some art filling in some of the film's "plot holes". Pretty funking funny stuff.

For those who like their commentaries, visit the disc's setup menu and you'll find two - the first provided by star Simon Peg and director Edgar Wright and a second cast commentary featuring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Kate Ashfield and Lucy Davis.

Overall, I would highly recommend checking out Shaun of the Dead. I figure a lot of people would shy away due to the "zombie" content, but really, it's a comedy first with zombies second - which is a wholly original idea and one worth at least a chance, if only for curiosity's sake. For everybody that complains that movies just aren't original anymore - that everything's been done - give this one a shot.

Features
Simon Pegg's Video Diary, Casting Tapes, Edgar & Simon's Flip Chart, SFX Comparison, Make Up Tests, EPK Featurette, Funky Pete, The Man Who Would Be Shaun, Plot Holes, Outtakes, Extended Bits, Photo Gallery, 2000 Ad Strip, Poster Designs, TV Bits, Theatrical Trailer, Feature Commentary with Star Simon Pegg, Feature Commentary with Cast Members Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Kate Ashfield and Lucy Davis, Storyboard Comparison, Zomb-O-Meter Zombie Trivia

Video
Widescreen (2.35:1)

Audio
English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles
French, Spanish, English Closed-Captioned

Release Date
December 21, 2004

Rating
R

Length
100 mins.

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