Shaun of the Dead (2004)

JJ Crowder: 00:00:00

Ray park is scottish, and so I.

Mattson Heiner: 00:00:04

Feel like the out of it might be real hard.

JJ Crowder: 00:00:07

Oh, it's come time for us to reveal ourselves to the Jedi. You know what I mean? Like, it might have been a little rough.

Alec Burgess: 00:00:12

That would have been perfect.

JJ Crowder: 00:00:25

Welcome to the what's our verdict? Podcast. We fashion ourselves cinematic judge and Jerry. My name is JJ Carter. I'm here with my co host, Mattson Heiner.

Mattson Heiner: 00:00:31

I better red than dead and Alec purchase.

Alec Burgess: 00:00:34

Let's get it.

JJ Crowder: 00:00:35

We appreciate you tuning in. Go and hit that. Follow subscribe like bell notification buttons. Tell a friend about us. Tell a family member about us.

Tell a zombie hunter about us or survive zombie survival. I don't know. Tell some people involved in the zombie apocalypse about us, especially brits, and we'll be good to go. But, yeah, we are here.

It is October. We are kicking off a weird month, but a fun month. We. Poor Alec. We tried to save his soul and protect his. His harmful sensibilities.

We last year, earlier this year, we tried to hurt those same sensibilities, and I failed miserably. But thank you. Yeah, we seem. I feel like we'll. I feel like Mattson might get you.

Alec Burgess: 00:01:28

Later this month, but, yeah, Matson, you're a dick.

Mattson Heiner: 00:01:33

But we're trying to watch party, that particular one, so it should make for a good old time. JJ. I'll just be sitting back like, easy peasy, like.

JJ Crowder: 00:01:41

That's right. That's right.

Alec Burgess: 00:01:42

Watching it like this.

JJ Crowder: 00:01:43

Yeah. And thus would be Matson's themed background as well. We're. It's Halloween time, so we're.

We're kicking off non scary horror movies for the first three, and then we'll finish up with a doozy of a classic horror film to make you properly ramped up.

Mattson Heiner: 00:02:04

Halloween.

Alec Burgess: 00:02:05

Yeah, Thursday, I believe it's a Thursday.

JJ Crowder: 00:02:09

So this will come out there. That's good. The fourth one will come out right before the Monday before Halloween. So it'll be. It'll be good.

But yeah, we're doing a non scary finishing. Scary leaning into the Halloween theme. It's fun, but we're starting off, if you haven't seen the image there, with Shaun of the Dead.

,: 2004

It stars Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Nicola Cunningham, Keir Mills, Matt Janes, Peter Sarafinowicz, rafe spell. There's a lot of people in this. Geez. Who else was in this movie? Help me. Bill Nye was in it. Who's the mom is that. Oh, she's pretty big too.

Anyway, it's. There's a lot of people in it. I mean, you've got some pretty funny cameos too, that we'll talk about, I'm sure.

Penelope Wilton, that's who the mom was.

I was struggling, but yeah, you get Martin Freeman and this is a lot of british actors that were in this that were in this before they were actually super famous. So we'll talk about them, I'm sure. But yeah, this movie is about. I gotta get my synopsis up.

The uneventful aimless lives of a London electronic salesman and his lay about roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse. So. Yeah.

Alec Burgess: 00:03:42

Are they though?

JJ Crowder: 00:03:43

I mean, they can't be lazy anymore, that's for damn sure. But yeah. Interesting movie. I remember when this came out, I was. I was. Yeah, I'll stop. I was in my early twenties.

You pricks were probably still very tweens or whatever the hell I was in.

Alec Burgess: 00:04:06

6Th grade.

Mattson Heiner: 00:04:07

Yeah, I probably wasn't like 7th grade and I heard of it but I didn't watch it when it came out. But yeah.

JJ Crowder: 00:04:14

Yeah, that's. I knew you guys would be young, that's for sure. But I. Yeah, I'm. So whose film was this anyway? Like I forget. Was it. This is an Alec pick.

Alec Burgess: 00:04:28

This is an Alec pick. Duh. British humor. Of course it's an Alec pic.

JJ Crowder: 00:04:32

That's fair.

Mattson Heiner: 00:04:33

The only one of mine that got picked. Washington children of the corn. Other than that, that's all you and Alex spoilers.

JJ Crowder: 00:04:39

Yeah, that's fair. That's. That's the end one now. Yeah. I mean, it's good. I. I'll tell you what though.

I went and saw this in the theater because I love Edgar Wright and I love Simon Peggde and Nick Frost. Like, those guys are hilarious to me. So in fact, they made a list of ours for another month coming up too.

So I had seen there was a tv series back in the late nineties, early two thousands that called spaced that was very british, hard to watch.

It's kind of terrible, but it's like imagine hours and hours, I think two seasons, maybe three seasons of this, only not zombies, but like these people. Simon Pegg, Nick Wright or Nick Frost.

In fact, I think the one of the actresses, the one that plays the other version of Simon Pegg's character, when you meet the other group, I'm pretty sure she was in space. So anyway, I fell in love with this show because I'm like Alec. I like british humor.

It's pretty funny most of the time as long as I'm paying attention to it. And it's. It hits, right? But so I was, like, super excited and have been on the Edgar Wright train ever since.

And so this was, like, the first big breakout film for him in the States and across the board. So I giggle at this movie quite a bit, even though it's not. There's a.

There's, like, lulls for me, and I, like, there's parts where I'm laughing so hard, tears are running down my face. Then there's other parts where I'm like, okay, I'm bored. Let's go. So. But I'm curious as to your other than british humor, Alec.

Mattson Heiner: 00:06:36

What?

JJ Crowder: 00:06:36

Your take. What made you pick this one?

Alec Burgess: 00:06:38

So the Cornetto trilogy and I have a love hate relationship. The first time that I kind of watched this, or hot fuzz or the end of the world, whatever it is. World's end.

JJ Crowder: 00:06:49

World's world end.

Alec Burgess: 00:06:50

Yeah. Hated them.

JJ Crowder: 00:06:52

Oh, really?

Alec Burgess: 00:06:53

Yeah. And then, you know, dating Oshi is what I mean. Oh, she's weird. Like, she tries to think she's not, but she's super weird.

And the movies that she likes and watches, super weird, but they grow on, or they grew on me.

JJ Crowder: 00:07:10

Right.

Alec Burgess: 00:07:11

So, like, now I'm a huge fan of hot fuzz, john of the dead, and world's end. Like, I'll watch him just all the time because I cackle.

JJ Crowder: 00:07:20

Yeah.

Alec Burgess: 00:07:21

And it's.

It's that, you know, stupid british humor that I love, but it was almost like I was, when I first saw him, I was, like, refusing to believe in the stupid humor and just stop as stupid. But, I mean, Nick Frost is so good.

JJ Crowder: 00:07:42

Yeah.

Alec Burgess: 00:07:43

And I just love the way that all these films in this trilogy tie together, but it's just like, it's that it's a little things, right? Like how long it takes them to figure out they're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

JJ Crowder: 00:07:57

Mm hmm.

Alec Burgess: 00:07:58

Like, that's just. It's perfect because you have these two guys who are so absorbed with what they're doing themselves.

And then on top of that, you have zombies that don't really look like zombies. Right. They look like actual people just going about their daily lives.

JJ Crowder: 00:08:17

Oh, yeah.

Alec Burgess: 00:08:18

And so these guys are just chilling in the zombie apocalypse for the longest time. And so it's little things like that that just get me going and cracking up because it's so unrealistic.

But at the same time, you know, we're kind of living in our own type of zombie apocalypse currently. So it's. It's also kind of like a, you know, satirical, and I love a good satire.

JJ Crowder: 00:08:39

Fair enough. All right, I'm curious. Matt said, I'm assuming you had never seen Shaun of the dead prior to this.

Mattson Heiner: 00:08:47

No, I'd seen part of it on, like, tv, but I'd never seen the whole thing. Now, I was aware of, like, the premise and knew it was a british humor. I mean, I've seen hot fuzz, so I knew.

I was like, oh, I know that this is, like, I knew what I was walking into, but obviously didn't know the whole story. But, I mean, I could surmise, like, how this would probably go for me.

I think it resonated with something you said earlier, Jay, that this movie's funny. Like, don't get me wrong.

Alec Burgess: 00:09:17

I laughed.

Mattson Heiner: 00:09:18

I enjoyed a lot of the humor. But I also have to say this movie is also really slow at some parts that it just. It definitely does.

Like, you're sitting there and you're like, all right, like, okay, can I get to another joke? Because when it's. When it's funny, it's. It's funny. Like, I. Enjoyable.

I like the premise of what Alec talked about, about the beginning of showing the life and showing the people. And then as you start to see, you play, oh, there's that. There's that truck that I just saw in the news station. Oh, there.

That person just crashed and their head fell off.

He didn't see, like, all those little things, like, almost like Easter eggs in a sense, and kind of chuckle, and you're like, oh, he's finally going to the convenience store. Didn't see the red handprint. Is he finally going to realize there's a zombie?

And that whole progression was funny to me, but there's just some other parts that I. I wanted them to speed up.

So it was kind of that given, like, that give and take for me, that I kind of had that constant battle and watching this, just trying to get through the lows to get to the highs, because, man, it was funny.

JJ Crowder: 00:10:23

Mm hmm.

and the whole first, probably: 2030

And then, like, it's the dumbest thing that finally triggers them to realize what's going on. The girl in the garden, like, just like, nick fry, big old hole. Yes, there's a girl in the garden.

And, like, they think she's trying to, like, make out with them when she's trying. You know what I mean? And so he pushes, and then finally they're like, okay, you know?

But then I think the only thing that I miss, or that I think that they missed is an opportunity for them to have, like, this flashback moment of how many zombies they missed. Right? Like, to me, that would have been like, peak shit if they just would have gone back and gone, like.

And I think once they get to the bar, it would have been great, right? They're sitting there in silence and all of a sudden, you know, Simon Pegg's characters, like, sean's like, holy shit.

And then, like, it replays all the zombies that he met. Like, I think to me, that would have been funny as fuck, but. But it's just one of those things where it cracks me up.

Mattson Heiner: 00:11:52

I resonate with you. And I think the more we talk about it, this movie, I think you said it best, Jay.

For me, having watched it all the way through for the first time, the first 20 to 30 minutes was pretty much gold. Like, they'd done it right was I really liked everything about it. And that part I would watch again.

But then after that, like, the middle, especially the end, it just got less funny to me and to the point where I was like, you're definitely supposed to die here. And you would die. And then all of a sudden, the truck does come say, but it didn't. I was so disjointed at the end.

I was almost just like, oh, that's how we're doing this. Like, what?

Alec Burgess: 00:12:28

British cinema at its finest.

Mattson Heiner: 00:12:30

Yeah, real hot start to me. It really started the trip up, and that's when it started to get really long.

A lot of the bar scenes especially, I was like, I'm kind of done being in here. Like, we're. This is all we have to offer now. Like, we've really. They really limited their possibilities of comedy at that point.

And it wasn't really funny to me anymore. And then it tried to be kind of wholesome. I was like, but that's not what you presented to me.

Like, this isn't what I wanted this movie to be, but now it kind of is. And I don't really care about the character arcs of this supposed love story. I like that it wasn't working and it was awkward and how we're safe.

It was just all those things at the end.

It definitely, it left a sour taste in my mouth at the end because the beginning was so unique and the camera angles and the suspense they tried to throw in, like, kind of making fun of it. And then it just kind of wasn't funny anymore at the end because it was too in your face.

I was like, I don't know if we know what we're trying to do now.

Alec Burgess: 00:13:25

My biggest gripe comes when Shawn can run through a horde of zombies.

Mattson Heiner: 00:13:29

Yeah, that too.

Alec Burgess: 00:13:32

I'm like, I mean, I feel like you could make it happen, right? And have some fun with it. Have him, like, get out and then show up like Bill Murray status from Zombieland as a, you know, dress as a zombie.

But you go through this whole thing where it feels like the writers and director just kind of back themselves into a corner and we're like, okay, well, we need a and b to happen. So here's what we're gonna do.

JJ Crowder: 00:13:59

Yeah.

Alec Burgess: 00:13:59

Because that's where I'm going. Okay.

Like, you could find some way to kind of trick it out or, you know, movie magic it in some way, shape or form that you could still keep that funny humor aspect to it. But, yeah, like Matt's been saying, you kind of go serious and then you throw in something like that.

Like, ah, I feel like there's a better way to do this.

JJ Crowder: 00:14:20

Yeah.

And I agree with you because I think that they just messed it up because I think they were trying, it was supposed to be a funny moment, what you're talking about, like, where he's, like, he's the only one that can run through him and they don't get, they don't touch him or whatever. And I, and I. It's supposed to be funny because comparatively, it makes no sense.

But I think what they should have done is had him be, like, this super badass where he's, like, gets ahold of something and he's beating the shit out of all these zombies and cuts a path and then gets through them. And then when you get back in, into the bar and he's got the gun and he can't hit shit, that would have just upped the funny, right?

Like, we've seen this dude go on this massacre of zombies getting out of the bar and trying to save everybody, and then he can't hit anything from point blank range with a fucking gun. To me, that would have been hilarious. And I get what they were trying to do, but I'm with you. It misses. I'm like, okay, whatever.

But there's so many of these silly moments that they talk about where it's like something doesn't fit within the world of zombie and it's trying to be funny, but it misses in that moment. But if they just did one little tweak to a next scene or a previous scene, it could have really landed well.

But again, british humor that they're very good at the misses and they're not very good at endings. So it's like.

Mattson Heiner: 00:15:42

The whole tension with the. What was the other male actor's name in the. In the. The other. The girlfriend's boyfriend that liked. What was his name?

Alec Burgess: 00:15:51

David.

JJ Crowder: 00:15:52

Right? Yeah, yeah.

Mattson Heiner: 00:15:53

Like, that whole, like, the tension at the end and, like, him getting out the window and all that. Like. And they were arguing before then. I don't know.

I just wanted them to go back to the satirical and the funny and they could have played on a lot of that more. It's almost like if you could have had them when he. What was the main character's name? I blink on his name. Sean. Yeah, Sean. Stupid me. Sean.

Alec Burgess: 00:16:15

Right there on the screen.

Mattson Heiner: 00:16:16

I know.

As JJ talked about Sean, like, running through them, like, almost if he was, like, pranking the zombies himself and making light of it in front of it, they could have leaned in a lot of that so much more because the very end of this film, when they show Sean with Ed and they're sitting down and played video games like that show funny again. And I liked what they were doing on the television of all these zombies playing game, all the stuff they showed.

Alec Burgess: 00:16:41

They turned it into.

Mattson Heiner: 00:16:41

That was great.

And I think if they had taken a lot of that and applied it again to how they started showing the zombie apocalypse and kept it funnier like that, and they certainly could have. I think it would have just played the theme throughout, but it just feels like they had it.

They lost it for a solid chunk, and then they gave us, like, a slight bit at the end. I was like, oh, man. Like, I would have watched five more minutes. You hanging out with Ed? Probably, but.

JJ Crowder: 00:17:06

Okay.

Mattson Heiner: 00:17:07

Didn't know that that's what gardening meant. I was, like, not expecting that.

JJ Crowder: 00:17:12

Hang out in the garden.

Alec Burgess: 00:17:14

Could you imagine if they combined it so that Sean is the one who kind of figured out how to use zombies for entertainment and he did it and they saved the bar scene.

JJ Crowder: 00:17:26

That would have been.

Mattson Heiner: 00:17:27

Yeah, really funny.

JJ Crowder: 00:17:29

That would have been good.

Alec Burgess: 00:17:30

Like, he's the new world millionaire billionaire because he figured out how to create zombie entertainment.

JJ Crowder: 00:17:36

That's great. I do completely agree with you, though, Matt. Like, when he, like, when.

When Ed leans over to bite him and he's like, sean or, like, ed, and he pushes him over and then he's like, one hand pushing the remote, like, oh, dude. I just. Yeah, that's.

Mattson Heiner: 00:17:55

It was like. I was like, oh, they found it again. Like, this is good. That last little bit, I was like, where was it? Where'd it go? Like, that's what I.

nestly, think about the first: 2030

It was all there. And, like, the whole sean needing to step up to be a real boyfriend, like, who can't resonate with that. Like, that just was funny. I was like, oh.

Like, half of the world has been in this circumstance, or like, oh, yeah. Like, all. And I was like, oh.

The subject matter of, like, having somewhat of a real serious thing that they're making funny and throwing the zombie beginnings in the background. I was like, man, I haven't seen anything quite like this.

And then even replaying the same scenes essentially as it's happening, I was like, this should be dumb and boring, but it's funny because I'm looking for what's different. And they had you. I was like, this is. It's probably some filming technique that I should be able to name that. They do that.

It felt like something Hitchcock would do, but I was like, this is great. It was funny, it was fresh, it was different, and that's obviously, it kicked off kind of this air a little bit. But, man, I just got really.

I was watching Tay and she's like, this is kind of boring on. And in the middle, I was like, well, it was fun because we were laughing. I was like, I don't know where it went, and I didn't know what to tell her.

That was like, oh, it got funny at the end, but, like, went somewhere.

JJ Crowder: 00:19:21

Yeah, it really is. Yeah. I mean, as a british comedy fan, it's. It's.

Well, in a british cinema most of the time, like, there not just comedy, but especially british comedy, when they land it, they land it amazingly. But there's so many times that, as an American, there are things that I don't find funny in british comedy, and sometimes it may be inside jokes.

Like, there's one line that isn't funny, but unless you think of it from a perspective of an American when they're in the bar and he's like, hurry, shoot the. Kill the queen. And, like, as a Brit, that's probably hysterical, right? Right. Like, it'd be like, shoot the president. Like, you know what I mean?

But now it's like, I watch it, and I'm like, okay, now I get it. And it's funny. But at first, I was like, what? Why is that?

Mattson Heiner: 00:20:09

Yeah.

JJ Crowder: 00:20:10

You know what I mean? Cause you miss it in that instant, and it's only funny for that instant. Right. But then. Yeah, they really.

Yeah, the weird, like, sardonic, just goofy comedy doesn't catch all the time, and when it doesn't, shit gets boring. And then, to your point, their endings, they try to be clever with their endings a lot of times.

Or they try to twist it like this one, and have it be wholesome and like, hey, all's well that ends well. Even though your whole family and all of your friends just got eaten by zombies. But you got the girl. Yeah, you got the girl, and everything's okay.

And so, yeah, it's just one of those things.

Mattson Heiner: 00:20:48

Well, that whole scene, like, the alley scene where they came across that other group, what was that all about? Like, I felt like that was supposed to be something bigger than what I took it for. Cause obviously we saw that girl at the end with the.

The troops, but I don't know. I felt like, is this supposed to be, like a doppelganger? It basically wasn't. It like a. Wasn't like a doppelganger thing? Am I thinking of the. Right.

Cause they all looked like each other, but they were different. But I was like, doubles. Sure, and it will. But it. I was like, oh, I think that's what they're going for.

But it also felt, like, very forced, and I wasn't sure. I was like, I don't. I don't know. I just remember that scene, and it was kind of weird and random at the same time because it feels. That character.

That girl's character just felt forced because she showed up at the end, like, with the truck, and I was like, I don't. Did they need to show her then, to show that she could come back at the end? I don't know.

JJ Crowder: 00:21:37

Well, it's. It's the mirror effect. So what they were doing is showing. Because they all look alike.

Mattson Heiner: 00:21:42

Yeah.

JJ Crowder: 00:21:43

And they're all lined up in the same order. She's the sean of their group, and they're like, each one is matched up and have the same so it's like, again, it's a very british type thing where.

Yeah, it's straight up like, oh, that's funny. They just ran into themselves, like, as they're going. And then you get to the end and like, that little twist.

The reason she shows up is to show that she's the same as Sean but a little different because her boyfriend didn't make it. So it's like there's that tie together that I'm trying to think of a parallel to what we do in the states that is a similar comedic tool.

But that's all that was, was like this really fun, like, to them. Really funny. Oh, that's cute.

Alec Burgess: 00:22:27

There's a. Yeah, Zombieland two, Matt.

JJ Crowder: 00:22:30

Yeah. Fair.

Alec Burgess: 00:22:32

Exactly what it is.

JJ Crowder: 00:22:33

That's fair. That's. Yeah, because they do that, don't they? It's fair.

They do that exact thing in zombieland, too, probably as a reference to this movie, if I'm being honest. I would bet. Yeah, I forgot all about that. That they do that exact thing. That's funny. Yeah.

Listen, the other thing I want to talk about is what this movie is. The dialogue is some of the fun.

And it goes back to, I don't know how many movies you guys have watched that have Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Edgar Wright as the writers. Oh, my God. But I, like, I'm with you, Alec. Like, to be honest, the. And I'm not, I don't recommend this movie to most people, if very many at all.

And that is the world's end because it is not what you think it is similar to this one. But it's funny because the. The world's end.

And then that stupid ass Jonah Hill, whatever, the one where the world actually ends at world's end or some shit like that. They came out. Go ahead.

Alec Burgess: 00:23:44

It's, this is the end.

JJ Crowder: 00:23:45

This is the end. They came out almost at the same exact time frame.

And I've said a million times, I'm not always, I'm very rarely a huge fan of half the cast in this is the end, but I'm a huge fan of everyone in the world's end. And I went into the world's end not fully like I knew because I'd seen Shaun of the dead and I'd seen hot fuzz.

And so I was like, okay, I know I should know what I'm walking into. And then I got to world the world's end and I went, I was not fucking expecting this at all. And so I don't recommend it.

But, like, that movie, to me, if you're going down to it. And this movie has some of those pieces to it, and so does hot fuzz. Hot fuzz is my least favorite of the trilogy. But if, like, that writing.

And to me, the world's end has. Is when I talk about great writing for a movie, that's.

That one always comes into the conversation for me because the dialogue in it up until the end, which is really fucking weird, is some of the greatest ever done. And this one has pieces of that. Like, the whole conversation, the whole fight between Sean and Ed and their.

Their flatmate, the guy that owns the joint, like, that they live with, like, every time those three are on screen together. And then when he becomes a zombie, the little digs that they're still taking in his ass, like, as a as.

And the fact that he's the one guy that they call his name and he looks at him like Pete, and he looks right at him before he shoots him in the dome. Like, it's just fucking great. So I.

No matter how fucking weird the shit gets, if Simon Pegg wrote it, if Edgar Wright wrote it, or if any combination of Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright are involved, I will watch it. Because even if it's a movie, because, like I said, I don't love hot fuzz.

But there are moments of brilliance even in that one, especially from a dialogue perspective. Like, the writing. Some of the best I've ever watched is with that trio. Love it. And this is no exception.

Like, there's the whole exchange with Bill Nye is Philip. And, like, right before he turns into a zombie, like, where they hate each other. He's not my dad, but he's like, I always look like that.

Just that moment of, like, tenderness where he's like, I just wanted you to be a man.

And, like, I love it because it's so inappropriate and mistimed and yet perfectly timed from a perspective of this dude knows he's dying, and so he's trying to make this kid feel better. And then not five minutes before, like, he was gonna kill him before he was even a zombie. And it just.

Just some genius ass writing and the way that they carry pieces of dialogue through an entire movie and make it make sense. I love it. And I will give them all the credit in the world for almost any movie they're in because of it.

Alec Burgess: 00:26:44

Amen.

JJ Crowder: 00:26:45

Yep. Sorry. That was my diatribe that I knew I had to get in before we were done with this.

Mattson Heiner: 00:26:49

The line that was not in the original script is, you've got red on you. Very much improvised. I think it probably got said a couple times. And they're like, oh, let's just keep running with this and just. Yeah, say it.

Because they said it like, three or four times by the end. But I. I love the.

The working scene with these at the appliance shop and, like, the whole age difference and, like, I don't blend my personal life and work and, like, the folks. And I like, that part made me laugh. I was like, oh, like, eddie's 28. He does.

Alec Burgess: 00:27:20

Sorry.

Mattson Heiner: 00:27:21

Simon Peck did not look 28 in this. I was like, no, it's an old 28 year old. Like, that's what they always like. I just don't sometimes get with movies.

I'm like, you could have just said he was 35, like, closer to his age, and it would have been funny still, because it's clearly an old guy doing a young man's job. And at least the age you would have said to me would have felt more realistic than, say, he is 20. Movies do that all the time, though.

Like, all the time. And I'm like, it's okay to say they're a little older. I'm fine with it. But they all. I don't understand why they always do that. They really always do.

JJ Crowder: 00:27:54

Yeah. I don't know either. The obsession with the younger people, I.

Mattson Heiner: 00:27:59

Guess maybe, is that's the whole point of this movie. If he was 35, maybe it could have been even five. It's like, dude, what are you doing with your life? Dude, 17.

Also, the 17 year old didn't look 17, but I can forgive that little bit. Almost always. It's always harder to find someone that looks that actual age that's good enough to act in the film sometimes.

Alec Burgess: 00:28:19

But, yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they did that on purpose.

Like, you guys know that it's floated around before, like a picture or meme or whatever, where it's like some guy who just looks like shit and they're like, yeah, you know, working night shift is great, you know, Zack, 25, and it just.

JJ Crowder: 00:28:42

That's fair.

Alec Burgess: 00:28:44

I would almost wonder if it was personal, like a, you know, choice to be like, hey, let's just do this. Because he shouldn't. You know, he's 28 going on 60. Because I feel like that would be a very british thing to do.

JJ Crowder: 00:29:02

Sure. Yeah.

Mattson Heiner: 00:29:03

JJ, I've got a. I'm curious how deep lore trivia this will be. There's a Star wars connection in this film. Which character or actor, I should say in this.

This film voiced Darth Maul in episode one.

JJ Crowder: 00:29:19

Darth Maul.

Alec Burgess: 00:29:20

Yeah, he has speaking lines.

JJ Crowder: 00:29:24

He has one in episode one. It's time for us to reveal ourselves to Sith. Finally, we can reveal ourselves to the Jedi or whatever it was. He had the voice. I don't know.

I know Simon Pegg's connection. He's done voice for Star wars, and he was also in the Force Awakens, but I don't know who it was that voiced.

Mattson Heiner: 00:29:47

It was. I'm going to say his last name wrong. Is Peter Seraphin Spinowitz, if I'm saying that correctly. The guy who played Pete.

JJ Crowder: 00:29:57

I did not. Yep, there it is. I did not know. And I knew, um, the guy that played mall like that with the actual actor didn't voice him.

I knew that, but I didn't know that Peter Serafinowitz was.

Mattson Heiner: 00:30:13

That's so funny that. Yeah, Maul had. I mean, we're getting real off top here.

Ma had one line, and it's like, the dude that just physically played Maul, it's like, you don't. We don't think he. He couldn't have learned that one line. Like, maybe just like, a day of line coaching.

JJ Crowder: 00:30:28

Yeah. I don't know, because. Yeah, the actor, I don't. He has a very different voice. The guy that physically played him, I.

Mattson Heiner: 00:30:39

Guess if you had, like, a high nasally voice, it just wouldn't fit for.

JJ Crowder: 00:30:42

I. Well, when he doesn't have a high nasally voice, he just has a strange. He also has a strange accent to him, that might have been. Cause Ray park is.

Mattson Heiner: 00:30:52

Who was the Darth Maul is a strange fair being.

So he could have said, well, so, I mean, I get if the dude sounded like Jar Jar Binks and I was coming out of Darth Maul's mouth and be like, all right, we probably should change that.

JJ Crowder: 00:31:05

So here's it. When Ray park is scottish, and so.

Mattson Heiner: 00:31:10

I feel like that would have been.

JJ Crowder: 00:31:13

Might be real hard. Oh, it's come time for us to reveal ourselves to the Jedi. You know what I mean? Like, it might have been a little rough.

Alec Burgess: 00:31:19

That would have been perfect.

JJ Crowder: 00:31:24

And at the time, he was still pretty young.

Mattson Heiner: 00:31:28

Oh, my gosh. That Shiz would have. Yeah, we need to do Star Wars AI right now. And how to remake that scene with Darth Maul speak.

The funny thing is, you could do that shiz right now.

JJ Crowder: 00:31:40

Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, he had only been acting for, like, two years when. When he did that part. So I don't know.

Mattson Heiner: 00:31:48

One of our listeners make that. Make that happen. Put. Do the stuff and send us that scene. Holy shit. That would be funny.

JJ Crowder: 00:31:55

Yeah, hilarious. No, there's. I'll tell you the other thing about Edgar Wright. Simon Pegg, Nick Frost. Those guys in their movies, they get big people.

Like, and they may not be super famous at the time. Like, I'm pretty sure Rosamund pike, who was in the world's end, wasn't huge until just after the world's end.

And I know, like, from this one, like, there's. There was a couple. I mean, Bill Nye was always pretty big, and so was the mom.

I don't know why I'm struggling with that actress's name today, but, like, Martin Freeman wasn't. He was a nobody at the time this came out, and he played like that. He was in one of the mirror groups. And then.

So, I mean, there's, like, some serious. They pull some serious people into these movies that you'll see after these movies, then it's not that they do anything fantastic.

It's not like these are, like, breakout roles. They're just get them in the map. Get them on something that's connected to somebody.

That is huge, because Edgar Wright's become one of those names that when someone says it's directed by Edgar Wright, like, people pay attention. Like, I mean, we did a movie. The. What's.

What's that one that we did that I think you were already moved out of, but me and Ian and Javier went and watched it, and Javier was pissed at my ass. Oh, gosh. Soho last night. So last night in Soho, wasn't it?

Mattson Heiner: 00:33:20

Yeah, I watched that.

JJ Crowder: 00:33:22

Were you at the theater with us?

Mattson Heiner: 00:33:23

No, I wasn't at the theater, though, but I got. You remember that? Yeah.

JJ Crowder: 00:33:26

You were part of that. You were in it. Yeah. So that's. That's one of his movies. And then baby driver was. He directed baby Driver and Scott Pilgrim versus the world.

So, like, I. There's a lot of movies that he was a part of that people are like, this is a great movie. So when.

When he does it, I mean, this is what launched his career in the States, at least, was Shaun of the dead. So I. Yeah, so anyway, they do a good job, but. Yeah. I did not know that Peter Serafinowitz did that voice. Last we reveal ourselves to the Jedi.

Mattson Heiner: 00:33:59

Deep cut.

JJ Crowder: 00:34:00

Very deep cut. But I did know Simon Pegg on the Star wars. Not. He did. He was the big ugly guy that ray in rise of the. Not rise, but the. The Force Awakens.

Force Awakens. He was like that guy on car plot, but the bigger one. Before that, he voiced a character called Dengar in the Clone wars.

So he's been pretty involved in the Star wars universe as well. But. Cool. Should we rate this thing all right out?

Alec Burgess: 00:34:36

You're get to go first. So I still love this movie, but I mean that the end. This is. This is a bad end. Even for like, british cinema. Bad ends like it is up there.

So I think I'm gonna go three and a half. But I will watch this anytime, anywhere. It's just funny. I might turn it off after about 45 minutes, but that's neither here or there.

I love this movie, so I'll continue to watch it. Three and a half for me.

JJ Crowder: 00:35:08

Nice. Alec or Jesus.

Alec Burgess: 00:35:11

All right, well, okay, so I love this.

JJ Crowder: 00:35:16

Go again. I didn't like your fucking score.

Alec Burgess: 00:35:19

I'll go.

Mattson Heiner: 00:35:20

I'm gonna give it a. I'm gonna give it a two and a half. I mean, to Alex point, like it's. If you're gonna say you're gonna turn a movie off after 45 minutes, like it's.

It's hard to. To give it a great rating, but it starts so strong. I've already said all the things. It's funny if you've never seen it. Should you watch it?

Yeah, it's a good watch, I think for the Halloween time of year. Looking for something? The easy win to the rest of the. More like actual scary movies that Alec won't be watching.

Alec Burgess: 00:35:48

Nope.

Mattson Heiner: 00:35:49

It's a good start. Good start. But it, like we've talked about, there's times that feel slow. It's definitely.

It kind of loses its identity, but at the same time it's so iconic. I would say for the first kind of, I don't know, 30 ish minutes. And I mean, just the. The level of acting in the banter back and forth.

I think it's deserved to be seen, but it definitely falls off a cliff. And if it didn't, I think this would be one of the probably better economies comedies, like out there. It just lost itself.

JJ Crowder: 00:36:25

Yeah, I'm gonna give it a three. I think this movie is better as clips. Like I'd be interested. I've never looked and now I think I'm gonna have to. Is like if someone took in the.

On YouTube and clipped all the fun.

Mattson Heiner: 00:36:43

Like together, edit it, like re edit in a set. Yeah.

JJ Crowder: 00:36:46

Yeah.

Mattson Heiner: 00:36:46

That could work really well.

JJ Crowder: 00:36:48

Yeah. Cuz I think is like once you've established what the film is about, then you can take the funny bits and still follow the movie. Right.

You don't have to see all the in between and the slower pieces. So I I'm really curious if someone did that, because I do think that this movie stands alone better as clip together portions of funny.

Once you've established you pass the first 30 minutes and it's really about taking the funny bits and putting them together, I think you can make an hour long deal that I cackle for hours about watching because there's a challenge.

Mattson Heiner: 00:37:23

There's a challenge to some editors out there that's actually.

JJ Crowder: 00:37:26

Yeah, I could work well. Yeah, I think there's a lot of movies that could be done that way, but this is certainly one of them, especially from a comedic perspective.

Like, I think you could really piece together a lot of funny.

Mattson Heiner: 00:37:38

JJ, I think we just found our new business model. We got to take AI and apply this and make it happen. Hell, yeah. We just got to get through a mountain of copy. Yeah.

JJ Crowder: 00:37:47

I was going to say good luck.

Mattson Heiner: 00:37:48

Getting through the copyright by every movie studio out there.

JJ Crowder: 00:37:53

And you couldn't put shit on YouTube because that shit would get blacked out and demonetized. Yeah. So, anyway, but, yeah, like, anyway, I like it. I'm going to give it a three. I'll watch it pretty much anytime, especially certain pieces of it.

I'll be honest, after the first time I watched it, this is the only. This is only the second time I've watched this movie in its entirety. I've seen bits and pieces and clips of it.

That's what made me think of it because, yeah, there's. There's parts that I'm like, hey, it's shot of the dead. I love this part. You know what I mean?

watched it originally back in: 2004

Mattson Heiner: 00:38:34

But, yeah, having just done it myself, I can see why. Like, yeah, I mean, Alec, I guess you got the nostalgia or something. It'd be real hard for me to turn around and watch this again.

At some point, I'd have to watch JJ was talking about, are you really?

Alec Burgess: 00:38:50

Oh, she missed my watch through because she's. Oh, gosh, we're watching it again.

JJ Crowder: 00:38:55

That's funny.

Mattson Heiner: 00:38:56

That's funny.

JJ Crowder: 00:38:58

Yeah. So there it is. Uh, Shaun of the Dead is a good way to kick off the month of not so scary movies for the most part.

And then, uh, keep Alec happy and part of the podcast and not wanting to murder me in my sleep the.

Alec Burgess: 00:39:11

Next time I I'm one of those people where if I'm not winning, I just take my ball and go home.

JJ Crowder: 00:39:17

That's fair. He gets his cricket bat and smacks you in the head with it.

All right, Alec, tell everybody where they can find us when they're not watching us in our scary movie films.

Alec Burgess: 00:39:27

Happy to, JJ. So, like JJ said, thank you for tuning into week one of October and are not so scary scary films.

Shaun of the Dead, this, you know, addition or start to the Cornetto film trilogy is pretty much peak. British humor does not get much better than this. What did you think of our verdict? Let us know in the comments if you agree or don't comment.

If you don't agree, that's fine, too. If you want to be more involved with the podcast, a place to be involved is Patreon.

Thank you to our current patrons, Richard Mel Brooks and the peak mail form, for making the selection for this month. And, you know, great hot start to the month so far. With that, I will kick it back to the sultan of SWAT, the keen of crash a JJ.

JJ Crowder: 00:40:10

Yeah, appreciate it, Alec. Yeah, we appreciate our patrons. They're always fun to hang out with and make us do painful and not so painful things.

Um, I know there's a painful one coming down my line.

Mattson Heiner: 00:40:25

Coming his way.

JJ Crowder: 00:40:26

Yeah, it's already fucking on the pain. I'm pissed. Anyway, I knew it was coming. Uh, yeah, so, uh, with that, as always, we appreciate you tuning in. We'll catch you on the next.

Mattson Heiner: 00:40:39

Wait.

JJ Crowder: 00:40:40

I still love Easter, baby. Magic out.

Alec Burgess: 00:40:43

Geez, you forgot your line.

Mattson Heiner: 00:40:46

I was distracted on this other screen.

Alec Burgess: 00:40:48

Ramdez.