When Sex Lives of the Potato Men came out, I suggested the dilemma facing the British film industry was whether to put the gun barrel to our heads or in our mouths. But with the release of Shaun of the Dead, I’m inclined to say the dilemma is whether to opt for Moët or Veuve Clicquot. Because this cheerful horror comedy, starring and co-written by Simon Pegg of Channel 4’s Spaced, is as smart as paint. It’s pacily directed, nicely acted and boasts a script crammed with real gags.
Pegg is Shaun, the hopeless assistant of an electrical store who shares a house with Ed (Nick Frost) his dodgy slacker mate, in London’s Crouch End, a location I like to think has been chosen as a tribute to the childhood home of Gillian “X-Files” Anderson. His girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) has just chucked him, when an unexplained plague hits Britain and the streets are filled with vicious, flesh-eating zombies. So Shaun makes a desperate bid to save Liz from their clutches, and win her heart again.
The spoof genre is usually so tricky but this brings it off: it’s spirited, good-natured, likable and funny, with great support from Penelope Wilton and Bill Nighy as Shaun’s mum and stepdad. If it sometimes looks like a feature-length episode of Spaced, well that’s a good thing.
My only regret is that a bigger part couldn’t be found for the excellent Jessica Stevenson. I laughed a lot at the gag about whether or not dogs can look up, and also the description of a zombie’s air of resentful melancholy: “Like a drunk who’s lost a bet.”