Simon Pegg’s 2004 zombie spoof ‘Shaun of the Dead’ was an instant hit, but has been criticised for its treatment of zombies as one-dimensional characters with no autonomy, intellect or artistic sensibilities.
His sequel, Operation Raise the Colours, features an even more devastating mass infection event with a twist: the zombies hoist flags on lampposts to mark their territory.
‘We wanted to show zombies as real characters, you know, with hopes and dreams and ladders and flags’, Pegg allegedly told reporters. ‘These zombies can sort of speak – they can string a few words together, it’s gibberish, but it’s their gibberish. Obviously, they’re brain-dead, but they can still function a bit. And tie flags to lampposts.'
The zombie leaders are particularly abhorrent. The one they call ‘Nigel’ leaves a trail of ash and roubles everywhere he walks, and can make women vomit just by speaking to them. The rival zombie leader, ‘Tommy’, is a midget with a pronounced tic, as if he’s done too much coke. In the final climactic scene the two zombie leaders fight to the death, and are buried with full military honours, draped in flags – Nigel in a Russian flag, Tommy in a Union Jack handkerchief.
Image credit: perchance.org
Gary "Steve" Stevenson, 37 of Tipton, tragically lost his life when, at 2:30am on Tuesday, he was killed by a heavy goods lorry while he was painting an England flag on a mini roundabout on the B4517.
Mr Stevenson, who has a history of jumping on bandwagons, was a popular figure around the town. He was always the first in line to stand outside the local Travelodge, shouting at the residents in case one of them might be an immigrant. Friends remember him fondly, ripping the burqa off a young muslim women who offended him by playing with her children in the park during the half term holidays. They reminisce about the time he pushed a flaming wheelie bin towards a group of riot police, called upon after shots were fired at some brown children on their way home from school.
"He was a true patiot. A legend. A hero," said one friend. "If there would of been a war, or something like that, Stevo would have been the first to sign up. He loved are country and was not in any way a racist or a nazi. No. Not at all. No way. Not Steve. He always put England first, and he never hit his wife. Well, not so hard that it would mark her, anyways."
Friends family and assorted racists have called for the roundabout to be named "The Stevo Roundabout" in his honour. The local council has dismissed this suggestion as "totally bonkers".
Image: GregReese - Pixabay