shaun of the dead

The staff at Total Film are not allowed to have this much fun. They got all dolled up as zombies and celebrated the end of a decade by inviting the team from Shaun of the Dead over for a party. Jealous!

Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright from the popular 2004 British zom-com Shaun of the Dead assembled with the Total Film crew at a secret location in London back in November for a photo shoot. And don't the boys look dapper in their white tuxedo's sprayed with blood? Shaun of the Dead was TF's pick for 'Comedy of the Decade' and a wise choice indeed. The film revolves around Shaun (Pegg) who tries to find focus in his life while coping with the zombie apocalypse at the same time. Hilarity ensues.

The Shaun of the Dead Blu-ray was released this September and you can purchase it here. Special features include video diaries, tons of trailers, TV spots, and featurettes, commentary with the cast (including the zombies!), D-Box capabilities and more.

The photo shoot will be featured in the Total Film End-of-Decade Special Issue which will be out Thursday, December 17. Check out some of the other photos after the jump.

By Jenni Miller

"Listen to this!" A friend pressed the ringer on his BlackBerry, and it played the theme to The Omen, "Ave Satani" by Jerry Goldsmith, which he'd assigned to a particularly heinous client of his. Another friend had, for a time, assigned a relative the unforgettable score from Halloween as composed by writer/director John Carpenter himself. And I'm sure somewhere there is someone with the theme from The Exorcist, which was written by Mike Oldfield.

Ringtones aside, there's no denying that a deft soundtrack or score can ratchet up the tension in any movie, especially one that uses droning noises and other disturbing, almost subliminal effects that can slip past the viewer and straight into our brain. Some of my favorite spooky soundtracks sure to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end include the above, naturally, but there are a few that need some love as well.

I'm going to sound like a corporate shill here ... but I don't care. It could be Best Buy, the Weinsteins, or (gasp) Blockbuster who'd be worthy of my geekish affections ... provided they gave me something I wanted! And that's precisely the case this week with Best Buy. Here's why:

Amazon.com lists the Shaun of the Dead (and Hot Fuzz!) blu-rays as September 22 releases. Pre-order on both is a rock-solid $18.99. Additionally, Amazon lists the controversial indie horror Grace as a September 15 release, and that pre-order will set you back $19.99. Damn good prices for new blus if you ask me...

OR you could walk right into your local Best Buy and say in a loud, steady voice "Harry, I want you to sell me Shaun. And Grace. Hell, throw Fuzz in there too," because YOU, fine store, have offered these items a month before anyone else has. So head on over to BB while these "early exclusives" are still in stock.

P.S. They're $20 each.

Just when it seemed that October might be super-serious with its horror and dramatic offerings -- Shutter Island to Sorority Row, The Stepfather to Saw VI -- we get our first look at the fun-looking Zombieland, an action-horror-comedy in which Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone (!) and Abigail Breslin all team up in the post-apocalyptic wasteland and whoop some undead ass.

The tone of at least the trailer (I could see the narration carrying over to the film) strikes me as something like Shaun of the Dead crossed with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and I for one don't think that intersection's a bad place to be. The vague set visit rumblings I've heard suggest that this could be just as fun as it looks, though whether or not they'll run with an R rating remains to be determined. My hopes, of course, are that they go nuts with it. Breslin can wait and watch the finished film when she's old enough, but I wouldn't have to wait.

I like the sound of that. I could totally live with that compromise.

Anyhoo, Zombieland comes at you and me and everyone we know with a baseball bat on October 9th.