Shaun of the Dead (2004) dir. Edgar Wright

This deadpan British zombie-romantic comedy is a gory good time with unexpected heart, courtesy of leads Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Even before I sat down to watch this film, I was hearing about this from seemingly everywhere. I guess Shaun of the Dead (2004) is just one of those films that seem to unite everybody across all tastes. If you’re a horror fan, you’ll love the zombies and the gore. If you’re a sucker for comedy, you’ll love the story of a loser getting his life back on track with his fellow loser of a friend. And if you love British films, you’ll love the familiar sounds of someone telling someone to “put the kettle on” and going for a pint at a local pub. So yeah, I needed to see this.

I have a weird relationship to British cinema. The UK is known for making some of the most hilarious comedies ever, but also some of the most depressing shit you’ve ever made. I’m glad that this film sorts itself down the middle, thanks to an amazing air-tight screenplay from director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg. The balance between horror and comedy is played incredibly well. When the titular character is walking down the street, blissfully unaware of the horrors that are about to unfold, you feel torn between laughing and squirming in your seat with how unbearable at how tense the scene is. Which does feel distinctly British. The world could be falling apart, but if the pub down the street is open, that counts as a good day.

Not to mention the core relationship between Shaun and Nick Frost’s Ed is very well-written. It’s something straight out of a romantic comedy, where a loser has another fellow loser for a friend that he must “escape” through a romantic relationship. But Shaun and Ed are given the same care as a regular rom-com couple. Although Ed can hold Shaun back, he also has his friend’s back when Shaun and Liz break up. And when both characters are placed in turmoil, the one thing they have their eye on at all times is each other. This might actually be one of the best male friendships I’ve seen onscreen. As immature as they are individually, they balance each other out, and they’re not afraid to confront the other when they’re upset.

Moreover, I was impressed by how situated in the early 2000s this was, yet it felt very timeless. I could taste traces of the COVID-19 pandemic in some scenes where the zombie outbreak is underway, and the TV footage felt eerily similar to what it felt like in the first days of quarantine. But the old TV footage transported you right back to 2000s TV culture, where reality shows blared confessions to shocked audiences and game shows put their contestants through physical hell.

But most importantly, the observation that most of Britain was zombified even before the outbreak felt incredibly prescient. When a crisis is coming, you would expect to see some people react to warning signs, but then the crisis wouldn’t have happened to begin with. You have to expect somewhere down the road, people would take a crisis seriously. It’s the disillusionment and indifference that leads to widespread crisis. One day, that old bar down the street you frequent could be a raggedy old comfort, but the next day it could be your survival. That one friend you begrudge for the sake of unity in your friend group could turn into your biggest enemy the next day. And the world you overlook can change drastically overnight without you realizing–or worse, caring.

It’s only what we do during and after the crisis that we learn how to survive. It’s by prioritizing our relationships that we realize we are better than we think we are. It’s realizing that what we do day by day doesn’t have to define us forever. And it’s the friends we make that end up being what saves us. Dammit, Edgar, you stupid optimist, you got me.

FURTHER THOUGHTS

• If this film were a wine, it would pair extremely well with Attack The Block (2011) dir. Joe Cornish. Which also stars Nick Frost!
• I guess this means I have to start the Three Flavors Cornetto trilogy.
• I have no clue how Edgar Wright managed to go from this film to Last Night in Soho (2021), although I guess it would explain the flaws in the latter.