The Cornetto Trilogy are a series of three comedy films by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. They are all equally funny, entertaining, and to a certain extent, heartfelt. About two months ago the conclusion to the trilogy, The World's End, came out. It was a very good end to the series. But it all started back in 2004 with the "zom-com", Shaun of the Dead. Shaun of the Dead is about a man named Shaun (Simon Pegg) who takes his slacker roommate (Nick Frost), his ex-girlfriend (Kate Ashfield), her friends (Dylan Moran and Lucy Davis), and his mom (Penelope Wilton) and tries to survive the reanimation of the dead. With hilarious results. I have never seen anything like Shaun of the Dead. There's never been a better zombie movie. Shaun of the Dead is so much more than just a zombie movie, if you've seen it you'd know. This is the kind of movie you need to watch more than once. On first viewing it's a pretty funny zombie flick. After multiple viewings, you get some more of the jokes and you get a fuller appreciation of the film as a whole. You begin to see Edgar Wright's wonderful way of cutting scenes (which he re-used in Hot Fuzz, but less so in The World's End) and just how damn funny the movie is. I just saw it for my fourth time and don't regret a single viewing. It's actually an incredibly rich film, a lot of people haven't analyzed it as much as they should. Definitely the smartest horror movie ever made. The obvious strength of Shaun of the Dead is its humor. For some reason, Brits always seem a hell of a lot funnier than Americans. Maybe it's their accents. Maybe the British are just a more talented group of people. I don't know. What I do know, is that Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright wrote a very, very funny script for the move that's jam packed with lot's winks, nods, and references to other movies. There are certain movies, like The Big Lebowski and Pulp Fiction, that I can rewatch and rewatch without getting tired of them. This is one of those movies. After every viewing of Shaun of the Dead I get something new out of it. In fact, the last time I watched it was the best, simply because I got so many of the jokes and references and because I understood it so much more. There are some subtle gags that only a handful of people would get, and much broader and funnier stuff like Shaun and the gang beating up a zombie to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now. It's ludicrously funny stuff. Yet, as good as the script is, it'd all be for naught if not for some great comedic acting. Luckily, this movie has a fantastic ensemble of great British comedy actors. Nick Frost has appeared in all of the Cornetto films. He is most certainly hilarious here. Frost delivers some of the best lines in the movie. Simon Pegg of course is great as the title character. There's a reason he's gone on to so many movies after this like Mission Impossible and Star Trek. He's just really, really fun to watch. The rest of the cast is good too. Especially Bill Nighy in a small , but pivotal, role as Shaun's step dad. This movie is like a nice puzzle. Every aspect of it is a piece that without, would make it an unfinished puzzle, but with the pieces in their places: It's an undisputed masterpiece. Shaun of the Dead was the launching pad for this cast to move on to more things. Simon Pegg is a pretty big star now. Edgar Wright , along with directing the Cornetto trilogy, did Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and other projects. Nick Frost has more acting work now, He was in Snow White and the Huntsman, crappy as that was. Shaun of the Dead is an overall terrific film in many ways. If you haven't seen it, I advise you to do so. as you may have noticed, I'm doing a theme of horror movie Throwback Thursday reviews in spirit of Halloween. Last week I did The Evil Dead and next week I'm planning on doing The Cabin in the Woods. If you have any particular preferences, follow and message me on Twitter @WhitsMovies and like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/WhitsMovies. Thanks. Happy Viewing!
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