Shaun of the Dead review

Film Title: Shaun of the Dead
Year of Production: 2004
Director: Edgar Wright
Genre: Zombie Comedy/ Horror

Brief plot outline:
Shaun attempts to rescue his relationship with his ex and his mother while trying to fight off those who have turned into the un-dead and attempt to eat the living.

Which two scenes impressed you most? Why?
1)The first scene I enjoyed most was where Shaun spot, early on, a zombie from a florists window and sees the zombie chasing pigeons and then goes to bite off a pigeon’s head, but then a bus drives past blocking both Shaun’s and the Audience’s view. This scene was a great use of the mis-en-scene of the scene in order to achieve restricted narration and leaving much to the audience’s imagination.
2) The second scene I enjoyed most was the shot of David being dragged from the pub window, and is then proceeded to be ripped apart by the zombies. This was both a shocking and great example of the use of body horror in order to disturb the audience.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of filmmaking? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? When? How?
There are various generic conventions from the checklist that were present in Shaun of the Dead such as;
-Body horror, when the zombie, in the back garden of Shaun’s house, falls onto the pipe which leaves a bloody hole in the torso of the zombie and produces a lot of blood splatter when the zombie first falls.
- Restricted narration, again in the garden, where you see the swinging of the spade/bat but none of the actual impact nor the blood that the impact would create.
- Male hero (Shaun) and Final girl (Liz) it helped me to understand, that even if a horror movie is done with a variety of comedy elements, it still needs important aspects from the checklist – this is especially true of Characters like those mentioned, in order to flesh out a story and give it structure in the horror genre.

Which aspects of the film would you like to Include in your own Trailer? Why?
Certain aspects of the body horror would be good to include, as it enables the trailer to have a shock effect that is desirable in a horror trailer – but it has to be utilised correctly and not be over done so it looks ridiculous. Body horror is a brilliant tool to make an audience shudder as it’s something that, even though seen before in various movies, it can shock and disgust the audience when used to enhance a situation.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own Trailer? Why?
The comedy aspect is not something I would out into my trailer. It is a great addition however, if pulled off correctly – but not something that would attract the serious horror fan which would be the main fan base of my trailer.

What was the best aspect/more enjotable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreat this in your own film? How?
The slighlty comical sense of panic was the most enjoyable aspect of the film - where the experience of panic was shown by the characters facially and in the dialogue, this mixed with the tension of the film made for an enjoyable experience.

I would like to try and recreat this effect within my own trailer by the use of music - more specifically parallel music.