...He'll kill some zombies too! Brace yourself for some nonstop zombie action and laughs with the delightful horror-comedy "Shaun of the Dead."

Armed with a cricket bat, razor-sharp wit, and an attitude, Shaun (Simon Pegg) is perhaps the last guy that you'd want to save the world from the legions of the living dead that have suddenly begun to storm the London neighborhood where he lives. It could be stated, as this is a running gag here, that we're all dying slow deaths, so it's no surprise that when zombies begin to eat the flesh of the living, Shaun couldn't be any more oblivious to the chaos that has gripped most of London.

Shaun loves his dead-end existence of wasting his days at the Winchester, a local pub, with his friend and flat mate Ed (Nick Frost). The film's money shot arrives about 20 minutes in, when Shaun, hungover from a hard night's drinking, goes to the store and because he's so hungover and is worried about his ex-girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield),he doesn't even notice that the street behind him is teeming with the living dead.

While in the store buying a beverage, he doesn't notice the bloody handprints on the refrigerator door and he almost slips in a puddle of blood. I was quite amazed at the response this film got from people in the theater: it seemed that every time something funny happened, the response was almost always with riotous laughter.

Straight from Britain, we have what is certainly one of the most original horror movies to come out in a long time. Even in a genre that embraces gore, "Shaun of the Dead" is fairly light on it (at least for the first 45 minutes) and is dominated by laughs galore.

You may remember the character of "Ash" (Bruce Campbell of "Evil Dead" fame),who has remained pretty much the supreme demon slayer in the horror genre. But you know, Campbell's pushed past 40 and people today may not be weary of his history slaying evil Deadites in Sam Raimi's notorious film series. So maybe with "Shaun of the Dead," the torch has been passed to Simon Pegg, who slays more than his fair share of the living dead in this film.

It's pretty obvious that "SOTD" was greatly influenced by the works of George A. Romero (the director of 1978's supreme epic of zombie action-mayhem "Dawn of the Dead") and 2002's "28 Days Later" (directed by Danny Boyle). There are little itty-bitty references to the two zombie flicks throughout the movie.

Granted "Shaun of the Dead" is aimed largely at the gorehounds who idolized Romero's "Living Dead" trilogy, but it's also the first zombie flick to attempt making a hit with the mainstream. I guarantee any viewers out there that you'll spend more time laughing than you will being frightened.

10/10

This was a very good film, but like many recent films, its score has been inflated on IMDb thanks to young viewers that have no appreciation for anything made before they were born--hence older deserving films often are rated lower even though they are excellent films. As a result, lots of mediocre or above average films are given astronomical scores (a great case in point, the film MEMENTO). Now this ISN'T to say that SHAUN OF THE DEAD is a bad film--it's very good, but it isn't so good that I would rank it in the IMDb Top 250! In fact, it's a darn clever film that manages to inject life into a dull genre (zombie movies--when you've seen one, you think you've seen them all). In particular, it's tongue-in-cheek sense of humor was quite refreshing and the film had one of the best endings I have ever seen--I was laughing about the shed scene for weeks. Excellent, refreshing and clever--just NOT Top 250 material.

I thought that Shaun of the Dead wouldn't be my style, I seriously thought I would hate it. But no...I loved it. Some parts do drag, especially the beginning which took a little too long to get going, but I loved the film's deadpan and offbeat style and effortless mix of undergraduate humour and hardcore horror. If you love blood and gore, you have found your match with Shaun of the Dead, and if you love offbeat and sophisticated humour delivered in a deadpan way you have also met your match. The cinematography is innovative and unique, the music just adds to the atmosphere, the screenplay is extraordinarily clever and hilarious and the story is original and well constructed. Another strong asset is the cast, Simon Pegg is just wonderful, and Nick Frost is hilarious. Then we have great actors like Penelope Wilton and Bill Nighy who are terrific as Barbara and Phillip. Overall, just a great film, although it is a one-joke concept it actually works. 9/10 Bethany Cox