HMM '12 Day 8: Shaun of the Dead

It's finally October! That means two very important things: Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts are here, and Halloween is near! My favorite thing to do in October to prepare myself for Halloween is to, of course, watch movies that I feel best exemplify the season. Now, this doesn't just mean extreme gore fests (of course, I do love me some gore), but I like to include movies that have that Halloween feel. Anyway, let's get to Day 8 of Halloween Movie Madness 2012!

Shaun of the Dead
(Universal Pictures, 2004)

Ah yes, Shaun of the Dead.  My favorite romantic comedy with zombies.  This is one of those movies that is loved by everyone that I know who has seen it.  Hell, even my wife enjoys it, and she doesn't care for gore-filled flicks very much.

I'm not really sure what more can be said about this movie that hasn't already been said.  So, let's just talk about my favorite parts of the movie.

I think one of the things I like best about this movie is the amount of foreshadowing that takes place ("Next time I see him, he's dead", "Go live in the shed", etc.)... the amount of repeating themes... people being sick all over, people seen in the opening scenes being seen later as zombies... different bits of dialogue being used multiple times in completely different situations ("You've got red on you", "Glad somebody made it", etc.).... the fact that these people act like most of the people I know.  And let's not forget the actual zombies.  The zombies in this movie are exactly how zombies should be: slow and shambling.  Just like Shaun explains in one of the missing bits about what happened to him when he ran off as a decoy, "Contrary to recent theories, the living dead are actually very slow moving."

On that note, rather than tell you all something about the movie that you already know, I think this would be a good place to talk about the type of zombies that I like.  I don't really care too much for the running zombies.  The reason that slow zombies are so scary is because they are more like a creeping terror.  No matter how fast you can run, or how far you can go, you need to stop sometime to rest.  Zombies don't need to rest.  Zombies will always catch up... eventually.

In fact, this seems like the perfect time to pass along a tip on how to deal with zombies during an outbreak.

If you are bitten, find a way to make yourself harmless to the living.  A few suggestions I have seen would be to cover your mouth with a few layers of duct tape, or, if you want to be safe AND entertaining, right before you die, have someone stick a fishbowl over your head.  I mean, how fun would it be to have your own fishbowl zombie?