Film Talk: Looking Back – Zombie nation with Shaun of the Dead
Any flick that stands as the pioneer of the rom-zom-com genre deserves a nod of appreciation – particularly if said film is as brilliantly hilarious as this, and particularly if Halloween is just around the corner. Let's do this...
Directed by Edgar Wright, 2004’s Shaun Of The Dead was one of the finest comedy highlights of the noughties, and even considering the excellent standard of their subsequent work, features its two lead stars at their very best.
With the powerhouse duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in front of the camera, Shaun of the Dead presented us with a fun tale of an unfolding zombie apocalypse with a brilliantly everyman love story at its core – hence rom-zom-com; romantic zombie comedy!
Written by Wright and Pegg, the film developed from ideas the pair had used for their equally brilliant TV series, Spaced – particularly an episode where Pegg’s slacker character hallucinates a zombie invasion. The title and plot refer to the Dead films directed by George A. Romero, with the title’s suitably tongue-in-cheek pun on Dawn Of The Dead perfectly conveying its daft and light nature before even a flicker of footage has been seen.
Co-starring a plethora of talent including Kate Ashfield, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Bill Nighy, and Penelope Wilton, Shaun Of The Dead is the first instalment in the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by 2007’s Hot Fuzz and 2013’s The World’s End.
With a largely home-grown cohort occupying each side of the camera lens, Shaun Of The Dead was set to deliver a beautiful slice of British humour to the classic zombie invasion flick. But would the critics buy into it, and would the box office takings back it up? Wright, Pegg and Frost could do nothing but hold up at The Winchester until it all blew over...
Shaun (Pegg) is pushing 30 and has less ambition than a Cornish pasty. Content to simply waste time with his lazy best pal, Ed (Frost), Shaun risks losing the love of his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) and being left with only his dead-end job as a reason to get up in the morning.
Yet, cometh the hour, cometh the man...
When flesh-hungry zombies begin to appear across London, it's up to Shaun to save Liz and his mother Barbara (Wilton) before the apocalypse is complete.
With Ed by his side, along with a big box of records and a cricket bat, Shaun is forced to fight the good fight, with some pretty funny results indeed...
Shaun Of The Dead was met with universal critical and commercial acclaim, grossing $30 million worldwide against a budget of $6.1 million and receiving two BAFTA nominations.
It was ranked third on the Channel 4 list of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films and quickly acquired a cult following that it has maintained to this day.
Though every actor involved did their bit to ensure the spirit and humourous heart of this flick came across on screen, the undeniably phenomenal chemistry between Frost and Pegg was the core the reason for its success. Their characters were quite simply a pair of everyman best mates who did what most blokes would do when faced with a zombie apocalypse – head to the pub! And every chap who watches this film can see themselves and a best pal staring back at them.
Were it not for Frost and Pegg’s almost symbiotic on-screen bond – clearly deriving from the fact that the two are tight chums in real life – this effect would not have occurred.
Though their have been a few pretenders to the throne since this flick launched the rom-zom-com genre, Shaun Of The Dead will never be toppled from its rightful pedestal.
