Movies - Shaun of the Dead

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	Movies - Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead is a zombie-themed romantic comedy, or "rom zom com" as it dubs itself, released in 2004 (9 April in the United Kingdom, 24 September in the USA). It was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, directed by Edgar Wright, and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Despite the title—a pun on George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead
and the name of the lead character—it is not a horror-spoof in the style of the Scary Movie
films. It is better understood an affectionate tribute to the genre of zombie horror, with many background references to classic zombie films. Shaun focuses on the common men who simply keep acting like they always do throughout the entire ordeal, rather than focusing on the more typical, heroic characters.

The production was filmed entirely in London, primarily at Ealing Studios, and involved production companies Working Title Films and StudioCanal.

In its opening weekend in the US, Shaun earned US$3.3M, taking 8th place at the box office despite a limited release to only 607 theatres (compared to the usual 2000-3000 for other top 10 entries). In the UK it took in £1.6M at 307 cinemas on its opening weekend and netted £6.4M by mid-May.

In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Shaun of the Dead the 49th greatest British film of all time.

In 2005, it was rated as the 3rd greatest comedy film of all time in a Channel 4 poll.

In 2006, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced that they would be producing Action Figures based on the film as part of their Cult Classics line that features fan favorite characaters from various genre films.

Principal Cast

Plot

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a dissatisfied appliance salesman trapped in a dull rut in his life, largely due to the negative influence of his lazy, shabby (and occasionally cannabis-dealing) best friend and flatmate Ed (Nick Frost) while his other, much more successful flatmate Pete tries to talk Shaun into organizing his life. His job is dull and his social life largely consists of playing PlayStation2 games (Namely, TimeSplitters) with Ed and going to his local pub, the Winchester, with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), who is consequently dissatisfied with the lack of spice in their relationship. After he forgets to book a reservation somewhere else for himself and Liz and feebly offers to take her to the Winchester again, she dumps him. An attempted reconciliation by Shaun goes terribly awry, so he goes to the Winchester with Ed and drowns his sorrows in beer. Back at their flat Shaun and Ed's party is crashed by an angry Pete, who has to work on Sunday. After Pete yells at Shaun, berating him for wasting his time with Ed, Shaun realizes that his life needs a serious overhaul.

Unfortunately for him, this realization about his life comes at the same time that London and the rest of England is swamped by a sudden zombie outbreak, as the recently dead return to life and begin to attack the living. As society breaks down, Shaun takes charge and it's up to him to lead Ed and Liz, his beloved mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton), his hated stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy), and Liz's best friend Dianne (Lucy Davis) and her condescending boyfriend David (Dylan Moran) to safety and prevent them from becoming a tasty snack for the walking undead.

After dispatching a few intruding zombies at their flat and formulating a plan to take shelter at the Winchester and "wait for all this to blow over" Shaun and Ed decide to first kill the bitten Phillip and pick up Barbara, then pick up Liz, Diane, and David and head for their favorite pub. They borrow Pete's car, after discovering that the zombified Pete (who was bitten the night before, assuming his attacker to be a 'crackhead') is in no condition to use it. Armed with a cricket bat and a shovel respectively, Shaun and Ed make it to Phillip and Barbara's house only to discover Phillip is not zombified yet, throwing a wrench into Shaun's plan. After Shaun and Barbara argue about Phillip, Shaun agrees to take Phillip with them. Before they can get into Phillip's car (Ed drove Pete's car into a telephone pole so he would be able to drive the Jaguar), Phillip is bitten badly in the neck by approaching zombies.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Shaun of the Dead ]

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Movies - Shaun of the Dead

Principal Cast

Plot

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