Spooktober: Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead
Genre: Zombie Parody
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield
Released: 2004

It's weird that when I first watched Shaun of the Dead I didn't really care for it. Even putting aside my love for the zombie genre, especially then in it's hey day, I'm just kind of disappointed in myself for not enjoying a thoroughly entertaining and, mostly, clever movie. Of course, I quickly grew an appreciation for it over the course of several rewatches, thankfully.

Shaun of the Dead opens with an either too on the nose, or perfectly on the nose bit showing people living their everyday lives and how similarly our habits already mimic those of traditional zombies, shambling, mindless drecks. More cleverly is the lead up to the zombie apocalypse. Throughout the entire first act our hapless lead, Simon Pegg, keeps hearing hints and scraps of news regarding something going on. The audience is always aware of what's happening, but I love the way the main characters fail to realize what's going on until well into the first day of the outbreak.

It sets up how clever of a film Shaun of the Dead is, the majority of the time. For me, some of Nick Frost's jokes fall flat. I can understand why, he's an irritating nuisance who's only still a part of Pegg's life due to nostalgia, and possibly a touch of insecurity. Most of the time his brand of obnoxiousness works, but a few jokes fall flat. I do have a bias against humor based around flatulence, but thankfully that's only one of the many running gags.

While a bit hamfisted, they even manage a few genuinely touching scenes, specifically the death of Pegg's father, sorry, step dad, dealing with Pegg's mother being infected, and Nick Frost's death. It really is quite a shit day for Pegg. In a movie that is at it's core a silly exploration of the zombie genre, it's impressive and appreciated seeing scenes with believable emotions despite some of the characters taking it over the top a few times. Most "actual" zombie movies utterly fail to include this aspect, which speaks to how weak and unlikable those characters typically are. Despite being a gang of, mostly, losers, the characters in Shaun remain endearing.

The biggest failing of this movie, for me, is the reveal at the end. I like that this world has just adapted to having zombies and uses them for menial work, and general entertainment. That reminded me of Fido actually. Then Pegg ruins it by going to the shed out back, where zombified Nick Frost is chained up. It just. I dunno. For me it falls flat, it's kind of a cute idea, but ultimately doesn't do much. I guess it mimics how much Frost was just wasting his life alive? Eh.

The ending aside, Shaun of the Dead is a fucking joy. It manages to break it's parody bonds, and becomes a legitimate zombie movie. It's a fairly self-aware genre as it stands. Almost everyone who cares is probably aware of this, and I mentioned a few pretty big spoilers, but anyone who hasn't seen it really owes it to themselves if they enjoy zombies movies, or clever humor in general. I didn't ruin any of the actual jokes, which are truly the star of the show.

I don't know if I'll ever write about it in it's own post, but I wanted to mention that between the last time watching this and this most recent rewatch I watched Spaced, a television series made and starring most of the same people as this movie. It's an entertaining and short sitcom about, well, pretty much the same characters Pegg and Frost play here. There are a lot of parallels between the show and how this movie is shot and is worth looking into if you dig the style of humor in Shaun of the Dead.