Shaun of the dead

Herald rating: ***

The world's first zom-rom-com - zombie romantic comedy - comes from the Brit-comedy writing team of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright.

Pegg stars as Shaun, a slacker shop assistant dumped by his girlfriend (Kate Ashfield) and seeking solace with his best mate, Ed (Nick Frost). Bound up in his own worries, Shaun doesn't seem to notice that the world is filling up with dead people coming back to life until he, his ex, their mates (Dylan Moran, Lucy Davis), and his mum (Penelope Wilton) must fight the curse of the living dead. This will require him to sacrifice almost all - his cricket bat, spade and record collection.

There's plenty more fun on the DVD as Pegg and Wright run through the production from drawing-board to final frame in Flipchart, a surreal behind-the-scenes feature and a more traditional making-of doco. Some of the spoof docos veer towards the schoolboy, while Wright and Pegg offer commentary over 14 extended scenes, most of which shouldn't have been.

* DVD, Video rental today