D V D C R Y P T

SHAUN OF THE DEAD

Directed by Edgar Wright
Produced by Nira Park
Written by Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright
Director of Photograpy David M. Dunlap
Music by Daniel Mudford & Pete Woodhead
Cast: Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy & Penelope Wilton

2003/90 mins/Color/5.1 Dolby Digitial
2.35:1 anamorphic/English/UK/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Universal DVD

Welcome to the boring life of Shaun(Simon Pegg). Things are going nowhere for him as he neglects his girlfriend Liz, has problems with his stepfather and mom and spends most of his time at the local pub called The Winchester with his buddy Ed. When Liz dumps him, Shaun decides to put order in his miserable life but an even more serious problem called Zombies, yeah I know i'm not supposed to say the "Z" word, are returning to life to eat the living. Along with his friend Ed (Nick Frost) and armed with a cricket bat, he sets out to rescue his mom and get his girlfriend back.

The two minds behind the British Channel 4 sitcom SPACED, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, have created one of the best horror comedy ever! This is the perfect movie for the horror geeks. Horror and comedy usually doesn't work well together but almost every jokes are well delivered, funny, clever and refreshing. The film is also pretty bloody and gory and features a very cool decapitation scene taken right out of DAY OF THE DEAD. Most of the music is actually taken off directly from the original DAWN OF THE DEAD. There's even the classic NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD line "We’re coming to get you Barbara!". And yes, zombies in this movie are slow, shamble and groan. There's so many good moments in this film that telling you about would spoil too many jokes. If you haven't seen this movie yet... you're definitively missing something. And one last thing, anyone knows if there's a (Ken) Foree Electronics store around here?

SHAUN OF THE DEAD is presented in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and it is anamorphic. Like most new movies out there on DVD, this one looks stunning. All colors are richly saturated, there's no compression or artifacts. It is an almost perfect transfer! As for the audio there's the original English track along with a Spanish and French one all in 5.1 Dolby Digital. I've listened to the English and French tracks and they sound great. They're loud, crisp and crystal clear. Another top notch release from Universal.

This disc is loaded with extras! First of all there's a very interesting audio commentary track from actor/writer Simon Pegg and director Edgar Wright. They goes pretty much into all the details of the making of their movie and have a lots of fun. There is also a commentary from Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Dylan Moran, Kate Ashfield and Lucy Davis. Its interesting to note that the UK PAL Region 2 DVD released from Universal in mid 2004 also featured these tracks with one with Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton and another one with zombies! There's about 11 minutes of Outtakes, most of them are actually funny. There's 15 extended scenes from the film. In 'The Man Who Would Be Shaun', Simon Pegg and Nick Frost impersonate Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Plotholes features cool comic strip sequences with voiceover from Lucy Davis, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost including What Happened To Shaun When He Ran Off?, What Happened To Diane When She Left The Winchester?, How Did Ed Get From The Cellar To The Shed?

There's also the extended edits of the TV Shows within the movie: Coldplay on T4, Fun Dead (full version of It's a Knockout Zombies), Trisha 'Your nine lives are up!', Trisha 'I married a monster'. Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg's 'Flip Chart' is a rather unique presentation of the first draft. We get the SFX comparison for two scenes of the movie, Make-up tests, the 2000AD Strip, various posters design. Simon Pegg's video diary which features lots of behind the scenes footage, how the zombies were created. 'Casting Tapes' is exactly what the title says it is. 'EPK' is a cool 7 minutes featurette, there's a 'Photo Gallery' with lots of stills, 'Fun Dead' is a fictional tv show with the undead, 'Funky Pete' is a "clean" version of the movie. The the teaser trailer and official trailer are also there. The disc also features the trailer for another Universal release, UNLEASHED. The cartoonish animated menus are great and superbly designed. The film is separated in 26 chapters, comes in a keep case with an inlay card about other releases from Universal.

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