Last year at Sci-Fi Weekender, the rather lovely Emily Booth brought us the first look at a hero’s tale of blood, sweat, and shears with the teaser trailer of Shed of the Dead and after being teased with the look of the movie, I couldn’t wait to get to see it in its entirety.
Witness the hilarious and grisly journey of Trevor, a 30-something man-child and war-gaming enthusiast, and his best friend, Graham, as they attempt to survive the zombie apocalypse.
The film features a host of British talent including Spencer Brown, Lauren Socha (Misfits), Emily Booth(Doghouse), and Ewen MacIntosh (The Bromley Boys, The Office). In addition, British actor Brian Blessed will be lending his unmistakable booming vocals as the film’s narrator. The film also features US horror icons Kane Hodder (Friday 13th, Hatchet), Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects, Halloween), and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes, One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest).
An ‘urban fear’ grips the tenants of an inner city allotment when the long-predicted apocalypse finally arrives. Gardeners, of all levels of green-fingered ability and produce-preference, are afraid to venture onto their plots, especially late at night. And even then, when they can summon enough courage to so do, there is no safety in numbers. For the dead have risen from the depths beneath the cabbage patch, and the rows of sweet pea, hell-bent on mischief, mayhem and consumption of the living.
Shed of the Dead It’s Got Some Bite!
After seeing that teaser last year, I got very excited when the screener arrived for the movie and too be honest I couldn’t wait to watch Shed of the Dead on my TV screen and see if the movie was as comical as it looked in the teaser, suffice to say I wasn’t disappointment.
There has been an increase in the Zombie genre recently and I do love a good Zombie movie, you can thank the late great master himself George A. Romero for that with the very first Zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead, but I digress.
What makes this movie different is that it’s a wholesome British made movie that is pure indie, writer/director Drew Cullingham has brought us a movie that is not only some that has bite, but also brings in the comedic humour of the apocalyptic world. Forget all the seriousness of those zombie hoards in the streets, but see how an everyday run of the mill guy deals with something that no one would be expecting and especially in a delightful and tranquil allotment!
Brian Blessed sets up the movie wickedly with his booming and distinctive voice as he opens the film in only Blessed could do, what a way to start a movie bring some fantasy to the genre in true Blessed style and also not forgetting that the lovely Emily Booth as a fantasy warrior woman.
As I mentioned earlier in the article, the cast is brilliant and having some a superb collection of cast from the horror world, brings a special feel to the movie, the shock moments of Micheal Berryman‘s role as Derek with an onscreen introduction to Emily Booth‘s character Harriet’s rather risque business his brilliant. Also the same goes for the brilliant Bill Mosley as Doc, with his passion for taking out the zombies with a pure love of slicing and dicing the zombie hoards.
Look out for the Kane Hodder in the movie as well, his portrayal of the character Mr Parsons had me laughing out loud at one point, certainly not the sort of role you’d expect to see Hodder in, but it’s priceless, but there is a little more to his character than you first expect, brilliant.
What I really enjoy about Shed of the Dead, besides the great use of some gory moments that any zombie movie fan will enjoy, is the lead characters Trevor (Spencer Brown) certainly changes through the film and becomes a man with more in his life than just a love for his role playing figures, with Trevor is his good buddy Graham (Ewan MacIntosh) who certainly keeps Trevor on his toes and has a hankering for Harriet (Emily Booth) which has a surprising ZomCom moment and let’s not forget Bobbi (Lauren Socha) who is Trevor’s long-suffering wife that needs him to pay her more attention than his role-playing.
The four main characters work brilliantly together and there are some superb moments where the script has them bouncing off each other with style and good writing, the comedy elements of the movie work well when needed and this makes the movie a good British indie film that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish, certainly one that has gone in to my top 10 of movies from this year (so far).
If you enjoy your zombie movies, love a good bit of dark British humour, then this is certainly a movie that you will want to check out, I love it and really wasn’t disappointed after being teased last year by Emily at Sci-Fi Weekender.
Shed of the Dead will also be available on Digital Download from 20th May and is available to pre-order now from iTunes.
A ZomCom with Guts!!
Movie title: Shed of the Dead
Movie description: An 'urban fear' grips the tenants of an inner city allotment when the long-predicted apocalypse finally arrives. Gardeners, of all levels of green-fingered ability and produce-preference, are afraid to venture onto their plots, especially late at night. And even then, when they can summon enough courage to so do, there is no safety in numbers. For the dead have risen from the depths beneath the cabbage patch, and the rows of sweet pea, hell bent on mischief, mayhem and consumption of the living.
Date published: April 29, 2019
Director(s): Drew Cullingham
Actor(s): Brian Blessed, Michael Berryman, Kane Hodder, Emily Booth
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
