Last night we went to see a great production of Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones at The Irish Rep. It is primarily one man’s descent from “Emperor” into a voodoo-induced nightmare and John Douglas Thompson is awesome and terrifying in his psychosis. The scenery dances and puppets play ghosts as the audience journeys inside a head of madness.
We then came home and watched Shaun of The Dead. I have never seen a movie that combines comedy, tragedy, love and horror in the same way. How scary would life be if the undead wandered the streets consuming human flesh? How hilarious would it be if you didn’t even notice they were zombies because they acted that way when they were alive? The film actually succeeds in communicating the desperation of life in the face of undeath through humor.