"'Shaun of the Dead' 20 Bloody Years"

Hard to believe that "Shaun of the Dead" was released 20 years ago.

Wow. 20 years!

Twenty years since Shaun and the gang gathered at the Winchester and battled a zombie apocalypse.

Twenty years since we were introduced to Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and writer/director Edgar Wright (unless you watched their terrific British television series "Spaced").

Twenty years since "The Cornetto Trilogy" began with this film, continued with "Hot Fuzz," and ended with "The World's End." 

Man, it's been a fun 20 years.

Three Flavours Cornetto AKA: The Cornetto Trilogy consists of three terrific films: "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz," and "The World's End." They are connected by the characters love for Cornetto Ice Cream Cones.

In the early summer of 2004, I began hearing some buzz about a "British zombie comedy" being screened across the pond to some acclaim.  Of course, I was intrigued.

Wright, Pegg, and Frost had already done some very funny episodes of "Spaced" that were horror and zombie-related (a particularly hilarious episode involving too much "Resident Evil" and too much speed immediately comes to mind).

It was a huge topic of conversation at the Flashback Weekend Horror Convention in August 2004 because it had already been released overseas. Some of the hardcore members of The Tribe had already seen it and were raving about it.

In America, it wasn't scheduled for release until the end of September, and we were all waiting with bated breath.

Because I'm a film critic, I was invited to an advanced film screening. I brought my buddy and fellow zombie movie freak, Manny, to the much-anticipated screening at the Webster Place Theaters in Chicago.

So, the movie starts, everything is going beautifully, and Manny and I are enjoying the hell out of the film. Then the first reel change happens (remember reel changes?), and instead of going from reel 2 to reel 3, we go from reel 2 to reel 4, skipping roughly 20 minutes of the film.

We went from an early scene in Shaun's apartment during the beginning of the zombie apocalypse directly to the scene in which Shaun and a large group of people are pretending to be zombies, so something was obviously wrong. I ran to the lobby to tell someone to let the projectionist know about the screw-up.

Unfortunately, it was 2004, and it was Webster Place, so the joint was virtually empty. I finally tracked down an usher who went up to the booth, and I returned to my seat (covering my eyes and ears to keep spoilers out of my head). The movie was halted.

Manny and I knew that this problem could not be fixed quickly, and we were either in for a very long night or we would be seeing this film later.

We saw the film later.

My personal Blu-ray disc of "Shaun of the Dead." I'm surprised I haven't worn it out entirely.

After that very memorable screening, I saw "Shaun of the Dead" multiple times on the big screen and countless times on DVD, cable, Blu-ray, etc. It's truly one of my favorite movies.

The plot is simple: Shaun is a goofy, aimless guy about to turn 30, stuck in a nowhere job as a clerk at an electronics store. He has an unhappy girlfriend, no future to speak of, and he spends most of his time hanging out at the pub with his idiot best friend Ed or sitting around his flat drinking and playing video games.

Then, a zombie apocalypse happens, and he must step up, fight the zombies, and save the day. That's it. It's that simple.

What follows is not only a clever look at growing older and wiser, a wonderful romantic comedy (sometimes billed as a "Zom-Rom-Com”), and a smart satire of horror flicks, but it's also a legitimately great zombie film.

Following the rules set up by the master himself, George Romero, "Shaun..." takes the genre very, very seriously (with an undying love evident in every frame), and the results are scary, funny, heartfelt, and brilliant.

With the great George Romero at Flashback Weekend. He LOVED "Shaun of the Dead."

George Romero, by the way, absolutely LOVED it! He loved it so much that he cast Wright and Pegg as zombies in his 2005 zombie masterpiece "Land of the Dead" and often referred to "Shaun of the Dead" as one of the best zombie pictures ever made.

He also loved the fact that at a time when fast zombies were all the rage (the remake of "Dawn of the Dead," which also came out in 2004, featured fast zombies), "Shaun" followed the rules and only featured slow zombies because we all know that fast zombies suck.

Here's the deal: fast zombies suck...just read my shirt.

From the terrific practical make-up and gore effects to the plot points taken directly from Romero's canon, the movie is both a wonderful tribute and a clever satire.

It's amazing it works as well as it does.

Huge laughs are followed smoothly by bloody kills, which mix in with genuine sentiment (a moment in the last twenty minutes always chokes me up). The film climaxes with a great surprise and a thoroughly satisfying ending.

In addition to a terrific script, the film also features a virtual who's who of great British comedic actors like, Kate Ashfield, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Martin Freeman, Matt Lucas, Reece Shearsmith, and Tamsin Greig.

There's even an appearance by Coldplay's Chris Martin as a zombie who is also very musical.

"Shaun of the Dead" is a great movie, plain and simple. Extraordinarily entertaining and beautifully made, it was a remarkable directorial debut for Wright, who would go on to become one of the most skilled and clever commercial filmmakers of the last twenty years.

There are also so many Easter eggs and allusions to other genre films that you might lose track of all of them.

Here's a couple: they named Shaun's mom Barbara just so Frost could say the line "We're coming to get you, Barbara" from “Night of the Living Dead.” They called the neighborhood Italian restaurant "Fulci's" in honor of the zombie director. And they sample the fabulous use of Goblin's score from the original "Dawn of the Dead" throughout.

There are many more, and they all work beautifully without being heavy-handed.

So, let's celebrate 20 Bloody Years of "Shaun of the Dead" by going to the theater to see it on the big screen again or watching it at home with friends. It is a classic that will live on forever (just like a zombie) and be as entertaining in 20 more years as it is now.

I got my hat....did you get yours?

And while I love "Shaun of the Dead" very much, I like "Hot Fuzz" more, which I consider the best of the Cornetto Trilogy. But that's up for debate...perhaps over a pint at the Winchester?

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