The Throwback Tuesday monthly post is a opportunity for me to revisit the good, cheesy, forgotten or essential parts of music, film, tv and books from my childhood, the past few years or the generations/eras/works of art that have influenced my life in some way.
So today I’m going to write about one of my favourite and most watched films and I’m sure a favourite of all yours too and that film is Shaun of the Dead. The film came out in 2004 [I actually can’t believe it is 11 years old!] and at the time I was in my third year of secondary school and I loved it straight away. Over the years I must have watched the film nearly 20 times, it’s just so bloody good and I never get bored of the jokes at all.
The film tells the story of Shaun, a 29 year old man who’s life from the outside seems pretty good but starts to fall apart with his dead end job and the loss of his girlfriend, Liz. Then to make matters worse zombies start to take over with dead bodies coming back to life. If you are thinking this is sounding like it will be your typical horror let me assure you it is not and I would not have watched it if it was. Instead it’s a comedy about fighting zombies, Shaun trying to get Liz back and the group trying to survive the attack.
There is a great cast in the film from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to Bill Nighy, Martin Freeman and Jessica Hynes. This film was the start of what has become the Cornetto triology featuring Hot Fuzz and The World’s End. The films all feature the same actors but each film is completely standalone with no overlap bar the quote which spawned the name. The quote: Shaun: “Do you want anything from the shop?”, Ed: “Cornetto”. It is a line uttered in the other two films and therefore become the name of the three films which spanned out over 9 years with The World’s End being released back in 2013.
If there is one thing it is that this film will never get old for me and I can see myself still enjoying it when I’m in my 50’s. With lines that have spawned iconic quotes and brilliany moments like the walking home from the pub singing ‘White Lies’ scene which is something I’ve been dying to recreate for years. If you somehow have never seen this film then I urge you to go right now and watch it and if you have seen it then watch it again because in my opinion it is a film that you can never watch too many times.
Mixtape Couture 