Shaun of the Dead
I shudder to think of a time when the names Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright were not a part of my cinematic vocabulary. But prior to an October evening in 2004, that was very much the case. It was then when I saw “Shaun of the Dead” for the first time, and needless to say, it hit it’s mark perfectly. Earlier in the year, Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead” remake was a hit with fans coming off of “28 Days Later,” although while Snyder has gone on to big hits since, I think Wright’s film, co-written with Pegg, has had an even bigger on audiences at large, and not just because Pegg has become a popular actor due to franchises such as “Mission: Impossible” and “Star Trek.” That all started because of “Shaun.”
When we first meet him, Shaun (Pegg) is out with his girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield), and some friends at the local pub (the Winchester). Shaun and Liz have been together for three years, but Liz is feeling uneasy about things. Shaun seems stuck. He works at the same electronics store he has for years, and every time they get together, they seem to do the same thing- go to the Winchester with Shaun’s roommate, Ed (Nick Frost), and Liz’s roommates, David and Dianne (Lucy Davis and Dylan Moran). They don’t spend a whole lot of time by themselves, and Liz hasn’t even met Shaun’s mother (Penelope Wilton). Meanwhile, Shaun spends his free time with Ed playing videogames and just slacking about. His life is quite boring, although he is happy with it. Liz needs more, though, and when Shaun forgets to make a reservation at a nice restaurant for them, she’s had enough, and breaks it off with Shaun. However, life is about to throw all of them a major curveball when an epidemic turns the population into zombies. As in Romero’s original “Night of the Living Dead,” the reasons for the outbreak are unexplained, but things get out of control really fast for Shaun and company. A plan is needed. Can Shaun deliver?
At the time “Shaun of the Dead” came out, Wright, Pegg and Frost were only really known for their cult TV series, “Spaced,” on British television. Thanks to some well-deserved praise by Stephen King, Peter Jackson and George Romero for this film, however, American geek audiences caught on to what they were delivering in a great way. The tagline, “A romantic comedy, with zombies,” is what hooked me into seeing it, but the film goes a bit deeper than that. One of the great things about Wright’s “Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy,” as this, “Hot Fuzz” and “The World’s End” came to be known, is how Wright not only shows a deep appreciation for genre, but also use each genre to illuminate something emotional about the main characters. In “Shaun,” Wright and Pegg’s screenplay not only follows through on a sharp, satirical dig at modern life as creating a world full of zombies, but Shaun in particular has been zombified in his life. His morning routine says it all, with Pegg brilliantly playing groggy as if he were one of the undead, with his typical idea for a “date” with Liz, and his friendship with Ed (who is unemployed, and doesn’t have much motivation in life, himself) giving us a full picture of how unfulfilled his life is, all in the first few minutes. That look at the main character’s maturity extends also into Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,” but the sharp timing between Pegg and Frost in these films is what makes them truly special for fans. It started with this one, and while we immediately feel a connection with Shaun and Ed, it’s easy to see why Shaun gets so exasperated with him as they are on the run that he just lays into Ed. It’s a powerful moment that resonates through the rest of the film, even when Shaun and Ed are fighting off zombies at the Winchester, with Queen playing on the jukebox. Even at the end, with Ed bitten and headed towards zombification, the bond the friends have is as close as the one Shaun should have with Liz. One of the things I love about this movie is how it understands how tricky romantic relationships, and the emotions involved with them, can be for men in a state of arrested development, who have always felt happiest when they’re hanging out with their best friend. That makes for some uneasy tension when, all of the sudden, you have to be thinking on a romantic level rather than a buddy level. That dynamic is at play until the final frames, although a balance seems to have been reached, leading to one of my favorite endings of the past 15 years.
Although “Shaun of the Dead” is a comedy first and foremost, it very much has the elements of a straight-up zombie film. Wright and Pegg have studied the Romero films that had been out by that point to a “T,” and find great ways to not only make the film scary, but darkly hilarious, as well. The subtlety with which they build up to the realization of a zombie apocalypse happening for Shaun and Ed is a masterstroke that gives us some great throwaway gags, all the while ramping up the tension beautifully. One of the funniest convergences of humor and horror comes when Shaun and company have to “act” like zombies in order to get to the Winchester (good thing that Dianne is an actress so she can teach them), although Wright has many such points scattered throughout the film. This was the arrival of a smart, hilarious filmmaker whose embrace of geek culture defines his appeal to his fanbase, but not his films. Wright may be playing with formula for the fun of it, but it’d be wrong to call any of the Cornetto trilogy “parodies.” With parody, the joke is what matters most. With Wright, it’s what the joke tells us about the character that is important, and even though “Hot Fuzz” and “The World’s End” don’t hit the same highs “Shaun of the Dead” does, all three films stay true to that fundamental truth of Wright’s work, and it makes for a grand old time.
