Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week

      Hello, readers. The World's End opens this week. Since it reunites co-writer/director Edgar Wright with comic duo Nick Frost and co-writer Simon Pegg, it is only fitting that this week's recommended viewing pick be devoted to the film that brought the three front and center to us.

      In Shaun of the Dead, Shaun (Simon Pegg) lives a directionless life, working a dead end job as a salesman for an appliance company. His younger colleagues, as Rodney Dangerfield would say, give him no respect. His girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is unhappy with their relationship. He has a uneasy relationship with his stepfather Philip (Bill Nighy) - it's not his father, by the way - and his housemate Pete is at his breaking point with him due to Shaun's crude slacker friend Ed (Nick Frost) living with them. Following a heavy night of drinking, both Shaun and Nick slowly, and I do mean slowly, begin to realize that an uprising of zombies have taken over the town. While at first they plan to rescue Shaun's mother, Liz and then just "Wait for all this to blow over.", that proves to be easier said than done for them.

      I actually debated between whether I should pick this film or the unofficial "sequel" Hot Fuzz (the second film of the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy). Both were fantastic films and it's really hard to decide which of the two I love more. When in doubt, just go with the first. At the time of its release, the zombie genre was running out of steam. Earlier in the year, you had the lackluster remake of Dawn of the Dead, and just a week or two before it you had the second Resident Evil crap fest of film. You'd think it'd be the worse time ever to release just another zombie picture. Then again, when you're aiming for satire, it ends up actually being the best time release a film like this. What makes this film so much fun is that while this is technically a zombie film it's really about the characters and their reactions to it more. We're spared the usual origin story of how it was the environment or the government or inbreeding or whatever the hell it normally is. This is about Shaun, Ed and Liz and much of the humor revolves around the fact that in spite of the zombie invasion taking place around them, they still somehow manage to squabble and argue over the little things that complicate their daily lives. Both Pegg and Frost couldn't be any more electric together and the dynamic they create is amazing. Credit should also be given to Edgar Wright for helping bring it out of them. He's further proof that like De Niro/DiCaprio to Scorsese, Samuel L. Jackson to Tarantino and more recently Sharlto Copley to Neill Blomkamp, never ever underestimate how important the relationship between director and  performer really is. Take Wright out of the equation and you get Paul which while okay was really disappointing. If dry British humor with a number of zombie master George A. Romero references is your thing, this is a must see for you. The writing is sharp, witty and clever. The cast is uniformly hilarious and Wright's directing style fits this film perfectly. Make it a movie night and throw in Hot Fuzz which satirizes the buddy cop genre.