featuring the nira park allstars, shaun of the dead is wall to wall faces recognizable from some of the best british comedy in the last half decade. the two central characters are instantly identifiable as real life close friends/lovers simon pegg and nick frost, or spaced's tim and mike. daisy (jessica stevenson) is now a good hundred pounds or so lighter since her first appearance on spaced, looking like her own hotter sister, as the competent yvonne. although it seems fairly clear that yvonne and shaun's old friend reunion is some continuation of the tim and daisy story. peter serafinowicz is every bit as peter serafinowicz as usual. even the bipolar raving cyclist makes a brief appearance as a samely clad zombie at the winchester. i was also happy to see black books' dylan moran and tamsin greig as well as the office's martin freeman and lucy davis (tim and dawn). shaun of the dead's charm is truly its own and, as it aptly describes itself, is a 'romantic comedy with zombies'. the intensity prevalent in the relationships of the characters which keeps them from realizing the whole of london is coming down with a bad case of hunger for brains, even though clear evidence of the apocalypse in process is all around them and otherwise impossible to miss, then serves to make sure the imminent threat of being eaten alive is still in the background as zombie killing action further aids the characters in resolving their relationship problems and facing their own personal issues. none of this in any way describes shaun of the dead, which is such moment by moment fare as to be its own only proper description. the dvd is loaded with tons of great extras too.

one of the most entertaining and oddly realistic films i've seen in a while,
more of a film about relationships than anything else; it's really very sweet and touching!
one of my fave scenes is *(spoiler)* where they're trying to decide which albums out of a treasured vinyl collection to throw at a couple of attacking zombies...hilarity ensues!
what would YOU do if zombies attacked? "shaun of the dead" offers some great (or not so great) suggestions. pure magic.