You’ve Got Red on You

Shaun of the Dead

“You’ve got red on you” is a clever bit of repeated dialog, and harbinger of things to come. ‘The living dead’: look closer for an analogy. Protagonist Shaun seems to exist in a dead world. As he rides the bus to work, we become aware of the masses of soul-dead people slogging to work. If Shaun’s a loser, he’s about to become a hero. Will he get the girl? Again?

Brilliant dialog, slapstick, and satire stylize this quirky comedy-horror flick. The editing is brilliant: flowing yet abrupt scene changes keep us on edge – along with the somewhat startling soundtrack. In the beginning of the film look for background scenes as characters manifest the onset of zombie metamorphoses. Note: film has shown us that zombies move extremely slowly, that they’re not very bright and seem to be food-centric. Therein lie methods for coping with them. Kudos to the excellent writers, director and cast! Brits Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg are now on my radar. http://imdb.com/title/tt0365748/

I admit it: the so-called comedy/horror genre has long been a guilty pleasure of mine: An American Werewolf in London . . . Cast A Deadly Spell . . . Cemetery Man.

 

Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man)

In the comedy-horror film based upon the Italian comic strip, Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) is the guardian of Buffalora cemetery and is responsible for disposing of “The Returners”, those dead who return seven days after being buried. Francesco is a busy man; I’d love to read his Day Planner (or Night Planner as it were). The film is artistically shot, wickedly funny, satirical, full of visual puns; erotic, violent and graphic. Not for all tastes. Very well done, though I have one gripe: some of the zombie make-up/special effects were very poor quality, out of sync with the overall excellence of the film.

Also recommended:

Frankenweenie http://imdb.com/title/tt0087291/
Cast a Deadly Spell http://imdb.com/title/tt0101550/
Popcorn http://imdb.com/title/tt0102690/

 

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