Hot Fuzz

I don't know anyone who didn't love Shaun of the Dead. I did. Horror fans, especially, appreciate the laugh-out-loud lampoon for all its heartfelt homages to the zombie genre as spawned by George Romero. But will aficionados of blood and gore also embrace the filmmakers' nod to the action genre?

The answer is a resounding "Yarp!" because not only have writers (director) Edgar Wright and (actor) Simon Pegg sent up every hardcore action flick ever made, but they've also managed to interject their love of gore into the proceedings. After I saw it, I of course had processed all the nods to everything from Dirty Harry to Diehard, but I also thought, "This is like Agatha Christie meets Friday the 13th!" There are some very inventive set piece murders — but more on them in a bit.

The dark comedy follows top cop Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), who, being deemed too big a big fish in an already big pond by his jealous colleagues, is transferred to a small, sleepy town where nothing nefarious ever happens. Once Angel is teamed up with his well-meaning but clueless new partner, Danny Butterman (Nicholas Frost, also returning from Shaun of the Dead), the pair stumble upon a series of suspicious accidents and deadly events. As Angel tries to get to the bottom of the bloody deaths, he's got action movie buff Butterman nipping at his heels like a puppy, and the richest man in town, Simon Skinner (Timothy Dalton), opposing him at every turn.

The supporting cast is not, as you might think, populated by action stars, but by those who're well known for their iconic horror movie roles (Billie Whitelaw from The Omen, Edward Woodward from The Wicker Man), and Brit-centric TV comedies (Steve Coogan from I'm Alan Partidge, Darren Lamb from The Office). There are also some fun surprises and cool cameos in this very well thought out, ultra layered satire which I shan't spoil here.

Hot Fuzz is by far the best movie to come out not only this week (in a very full field of starters), but in recent memory. Although Grindhouse was great (in fact, Wright has a "fake trailer" in that film called Don't!), its running time and unevenness obviously scared audiences away; Hot Fuzz is not only succinct and fast-paced, it's funny and frightening — if it doesn't wind up doing some brisk office, that will be truly criminal.

Comedy and horror are, it's said, the two most difficult genres to direct — so kudos to Wright for his masterful work in Hot Fuzz. It's a movie that not only amuses and entertains, but also shocks and thrills.

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson