Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
In 2004, I was still in the era of horror movies where I would happily watch anything scary, from gory bloodbaths and serial killers to poltergeists and possession to the entire oeuvre of Dario Argento. These days, the toughest thing for me when it comes to “scary” stuff is cozy murder mysteries Old people solve crimes. It’s the circle of life So, in the fall of 2004, when a friend invited me to see Shaun of the Dead, a new “rom-zom-com” (zombie romantic comedy, as we know it now), I was thrilled even though I had never heard of director Edgar Wright, or stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
What I watched would become my favorite scary movie of all time, and now it’s on Peacock. I can watch zombie brains get erased to the soundtrack of Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now as much as I want.
The star names of Shaun of the Dead were little known in the United States, with the exception of Lucy Davis, who had only just crossed over into the American consciousness when Ricky Gervais’ original version of The Office became popular. However, unless you’ve somehow pirated the great British sitcom Spaced, which most of us haven’t, Page and Frost were newcomers. In the film, Page plays Sean, a London TV salesman who has just been dumped by his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield). He lives with his slacker roommate Ed (Frost) and another roommate (Peter Serafinowicz) who is a jerk and is keenly aware of what happens to him when the zombie apocalypse strikes.
As zombies invade the city, Sean and Ed team up with Liz and her friends, including Diane (Davis) and David (Dylan Moran), to save themselves, Sean’s mother (Penelope Wilton), and her stepfather (Bill Nighy) from being bitten. On paper, it sounds like any other zombie movie, but thanks to Wright’s signature style of stunning cutting and fast-paced editing, the scariest moments are hilarious. Throughout the film, Sean tries to prove his worth to win Liz back, reluctantly uses his album collection to destroy the brains of the undead and has to come to terms with his stepfather, who hates him.
Shaun of the Dead He could It could be considered a parody, as the title is an obvious riff on Dawn of the Dead. At the time, I thought maybe it was an attempt Which Another British film about the virus outbreak, 28 Days Later, hit theaters in 2002. Shaun of the Dead apparently has 28 Days Later easter egg Buried in the final scene is a reference to the rage virus in this film, but Page and Wright, who co-wrote the film, say that is not the case. In fact, they say they wrote Shaun of the Dead before 28 Days Later was even released.
Shaun of the Dead uses some classic zombie movie tropes, but genre-wise, the film veers into its own path, becoming more of a coming-of-age film about Shaun’s development from perpetual adolescence to a man running from the undead straight into adulthood. The film defies any genre: scary but emotional, gory but with fart jokes. While the “rom-zom-com” may have been clever marketing, it’s a tag that clearly defines what a film is, and has spawned copycats since its release (hello, Warm Bodies).
Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, the second film in the Cornetto Trilogy, arrives on Peacock on October 1. Even though there aren’t a lot of scary movies I’d like to go back and rewatch, since I’ve developed my own “intimate escapism” complex, I’ll never stop watching Shaun of the Dead.
