re:mote voices

Title: Dawn Of The Dead
Cast: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell
Director: Zack Snyder

Title: Shaun of the Dead
Cast: Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran
Director: Edgar Wright

In the last month two zombie films have hit the big screen in the UK, both based on George A. Romero’s seventies classic Dawn Of The Dead. The American one is pretty much a remake of the original, updating it to a more contemporary standard in terms of look and feel and in terms of cinematic production. The British one is a little more tongue in cheek, not quite a spoof, perhaps having more respect for the material than that, but certainly described as a rom com zom (a romantic comedy with zombies).

In both cases we follow the lead characters as they go about their business, the signs of the growing disaster being woven through the background, but at such a level neither are entirely aware of what is happening. In Dawn Of The Dead, Ana (Sarah Polley) is a nurse, with the first sign of victims appearing at the hospital, initial news reports ignored on the radio on the way home. Meanwhile Shaun (Simon Pegg) has made a mess of things with his girlfriend, and as a result been dumped, leading to a serious drinking session at the pub. The morning after sees all hell breaking loose on the housing estates of America, leading Polley, and a couple of others to shelter in the local mall. While a hung over Shaun nips to the shops, blissfully ignorant of bodies in gardens, bloody hand prints smeared here and there. In fact that woman in the back garden is really bloody drunk, what a shocking state to get into. However it soon becomes clear to Shaun and his mate that the zombies are coming and they have to find somewhere safe, retrieving Shaun’s girlfriend in the process. Of course the Americans barricade themselves in the mall, while conditions outside get worse and worse, while the Brits are more traditionally British, the decide the best place to be in the event of a zombie holocaust is the local pub.

The thing with zombie holocausts is of course their very inevitability, zombies being nothing if not frustratingly relentless in the pursuit of brains and carnage. Between the two Dawn has an 18 certificate, while Shaun has a 15 – which makes it a little ironic that between the two the most gore filled scene that comes to mind was actually in Shaun Of The Dead. Both films offer a high quality zombie assault, though for the most part Shaun is playing with the humour, contrasting the regular stupors of daily life with the living dead, while Dawn has a definite edge of sheer brutality. There is something particularly nasty about the zombies in Dawn, the hissing, screeching sounds they make is quite unpleasant, and the way they come running making these sounds is particularly atmospheric and unsettling.

Both films are good in their own ways, and catching a double bill if possible is particularly recommended, especially as this underscores the similarities in concept and the differences in execution.