Earlier this year, word trickled in across the pond about a zombie "rom-com" from Britain.

It was supposedly a spoof set in a lower-class London borough with two slacker goofballs fending off the living dead with — among other common domestic objects — Prince LPs and kitchen cutlery.

Geeks and elites alike took notice: Fangoria and Film Comment magazines ran features months before the movie's U.S. debut.

At first, the idea of sitting through another zombie flick — intentionally humorous or not — wasn't very appealing. In a little under two years, we've seen the grim "28 Days Later" and this spring's surprisingly effective "Dawn of the Dead" remake. Was another George Romero-inspired renovation necessary? It'd undoubtedly make satirical digs at society — i.e. zombies are no different than autonomous white-collar humans, our culture is overly commercialized, etc. — and come equipped with the typical apocalyptic scenario that follows a convoy of mismatched survivors as they get picked off one by one.

And Edgar Wright's "Shaun of the Dead," the "zom-rom-com" British import in question, uses all these conventions and more. While the film isn't a novel endeavor — horror flick or otherwise — it delivers a nicely rounded ratio of more killer laughs than authentic frights.

Shaun (Simon Pegg), the titular antihero, is a scrubby London denizen with a dead-end job at an electronics store and an obnoxiously puerile roommate, Ed (Nick Frost), with whom he spends off-time at the local pub, downing pints and reassuring Liz (Kate Ashfield), his long-suffering girlfriend, that he'll make something of his life.

He gets his chance when zombies begin popping up in his backyard and London falls into chaos, overridden by flesh-rotting monsters. Shaun's brilliant plan constitutes rescuing Liz and his mum and then seeking refuge at his favorite pub.

Obviously, Wright and Pegg (also "Shaun's" co-writer) lifted their title from Romero's 1978 classic "Dawn of the Dead," but they also draw inspiration from other cultish works. Stylistically, the film has the madcap energy of Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" trilogy and Peter Jackson's early New Zealand horror-comedies.

Shaun and Ed also follow a long line of loser flat-mates from Brit sitcoms like "The Young Ones" and "Only Fools and Horses." Attention "Office" fans: keep your eyes out for Dawn (Lucy Davis) and, in a wordless cameo, Tim (Martin Freeman).

Wright and Pegg are sitcom vets themselves, which makes sense given their flimsy premise and awkward stabs at pathos: with a film as self-conscious and so firmly tongue-in-cheek as "Shaun," the death scenes' emotional hooks are distractingly incongruous to the material.

Yet, by and large, it's a blast: furiously paced and splattered with gore and unbridled wit. It's a welcome reprieve from most zombie films' stoic scares.

Grade: B