zombie points board

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

•  doesn't seem like it's going to be a zombie movie  +100
• CGI soccer ball  -50
• Requiem for a Dream visual referencing  +50
• more likely from  Evil Dead   +50
• "fuck-a-doodle-doo"  +20
• English accents  +50
• Shaun spares some change  +40
• excellent headlines on convenience store newspapers  +100
• everyone's a brain-dead zombie even if they're not really zombies  +200
• a la  Invader Zim  +100
•  excellent exploitation of scare fake-outs  +50
• Pathetic Fallacy after getting dumped  +50
• having to start the Zompocalypse drunk  +25
• "Go live in the shed" foreshadowing  +60
• the whole first half hour is foreshadowing  +30 
• puts popular carbonated beverage back  +500
• general excellent avoidance of Product Placement +500
• but then he takes a Diet popular carbonated beverage anyway! I HATE PRODUCT PLACEMENT!!  -500
• except for you, Wayne's World - we're still cool  +10 
•  clever news cut montage +100
• not an entirely original concept -10
• neither is zombies, but it's okay, i like zombie movies  +20
• throwing rocks at zombies  +10
• see-through abdominal cavity a la Death Becomes Her  +20
• "Fuck the man!"  +100
• The Zed Word  +200
• i appreciate the irony of this Product Placement +10 
• they drive on the other side  +10
• possible first use of cricket bat against zombie (a la casey jones?)  +100
• and field hockey stick +50
• and umbrella! +50
• Captain Wow  +10
• zombie twins  +22
• x2  +44
• too many television station Product Placements!  -500
• Queen  +100
• i love my mum  +100
• "fuck-a-doodle-doo" x2  +40
• fuck the military -500
• Zombies from Hell, Z-Day, Zombaid, the Service Industry  +200
• 28 Days Later Product Placement  +28
• Queen x2 +200

  TOTAL
          +1789

THEREFORE

• this film goes one step past the parody and stands on it's own, more-or-less, as a very decent zombie flickeroonski.  if Romero can back it, i can back it too.  what frustrates me most are the two bygone conclusions that plagues 28 Days Later (and many others) as well: that a) recognizable consumer goods are our survival and b) the military is our salvation.  These conclusions bother me very much.  Functionally, I appreciate a need for funding that will drive a filmmaker into the hands of Product Placement, and The Military is an easy out at the end of a film, but it still provides for two justifications that I will not back: consumerism and military presence.  yes, Products would exist shortly after the Zompocalypse, and yes, the various Militaries would make attempts to exploit the situation, but here a commentary is lacking.  touched upon in 28 Days Later, downright explored in the original DotD, but glossed over for the most part in SotD.  sorry, Shaun, you could have had a higher rating.   

FURTHERMORE 

after the film ended, at about 3 in the AM, my neighbour came home and really shambled up the front stoop, and I didn't really hear the front door open or close.  The "What If?" response followed, so I grabbed my trusty Zombie Stick and stayed still and quiet a few extra minutes before heading off to bed.  This is what I love most about zombie films, their ability to present the entire population of the planet as a threat to itself, which, in the end, it truly is.