Horror is the one type of genre of film where you can go crazy and be as creative as you want, in my opinion of course but I have heard many people say that. While there are many types of horror films, the one type of horror that you can do anything and be as creative as you want is Zombie Flicks. George A. Romero is the pioneer of zombie flicks as without Night of the Living Dead zombie films as we know it today wouldn’t be as popularized and beloved like it is. But as I said before you can be as creative as you want with zombie films as you can decide where the location and setting of the zombie apocalypse is, whether or not the apocalypse is cured or not, the types of ways a person becomes a zombie and who either continues to be a part of the living or whoever becomes a part of the walking dead. While zombie films pretty much carry out the same scenario of survival of brain eating corpses, it really is different in almost every zombie film. Zombieland is pretty much a survival guide in a zombie apocalypse; Dawn of the Dead is how people manage to survive in a shopping mall center and Return of the Living Dead shows how a government chemical could possibly bring back the dead into the living. So as I said before you can do anything you want in a zombie film but one zombie film that legit has been the centerpiece of zombie films is 2004’s Shaun of the Dead. The film became a cult classic and has gone on to be the most popular zombie flick of all time, taking down a heavyweight George A. Romero classic film of Night of the Living Dead. With this in mind let’s grab our weapons and put together everything we need during a zombie apocalypse and let me tell you why Shaun of the Dead is the greatest zombie movie of all time. *SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD*
Shaun of the Dead is a part of the Three Flavors Corneto’s Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World’s End) as it was directed by Edgar Wright; a man who is well known now for these films but he also known for directing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Baby Driver and as a writer for The Adventures of Tin Tin and Ant-Man. The film stars Simon Pegg (Shaun), who also co wrote the film, Nick Frost (Ed), Kate Ashfield (Liz), Lucy Davis (Anne), Dylan Moran (David), Penelope Wilton (Barbra), Jessica Stevenson (Yvonne), Peter Serafinowicz (Pete) and Bill Nighy (Phillip). Now I have seen this film more times than enough to say that this cast is probably one of best casts in cinema history of the sense of great working chemistry and perfect casting choices to play their characters. I first watched this film 15 year ago at the age of 10 so in a way this was technically my first real time watching a horror movie and it was also the zombie film that got me into zombie films so there is our fun fact of the day. But while I have been watching this film since I was 10 years old I began to watch it and pay attention more to the film as a whole once I became older or when I pretty much analyzed most films so maybe since college. Now the film as a whole was created because of an episode in Spaced, a British television show created by Simon Pegg and directed by Edgar Wright. The episode called “Art” has a part where Simon Pegg’s character, Tim, is having a drug hallucination of a zombie outbreak in his apartment after he just played Resident Evil 2. Not only was that episode an influence to making this film but George A. Romero’s Dead films played a big influence and inspiration on the film. Also something that I find really cool is the fact that the film is technically a parody of zombie films but at the same time it never makes fun of the genre and instead keeps a constant theme of a zombie film while also being a comedy. That is something I really like about the film that many people forget that it was technically a parody of George A. Romero’s Dead films so great job Edgar Wright. Now while the film might be a buddy comedy of two friends trying to survive the zombie outbreak in London while they are in a pub, it feels more than that as Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg and the rest of this production create a genius film that will have you watching again and again because each time I watch the film I learn something different or new from certain scenes as the film has so much going on when it comes to using the background as part of the story, the extra characters in the background become a big part of what the story is trying to tell, the hidden Easter Eggs are very clever and there are callbacks of certain moments in a different scene that come up later on in the film.
Okay so unlike my last review of 2020’s Mulan I feel like I don’t need to talk too much about the entire film and pretty much tell the whole film but there are a few scenes I want to talk about. So Shaun is kind of a slacker character as him and his best friend Ed always go to the pub, The Winchester, everyday with Shaun’s girlfriend Liz and at the same time he has a job as an electronic salesman in a electronics store. The main focus of his character is the fact that he is going nowhere in his life as each day for him is pretty much the same, wake up, go to work, go to the pub with his best friend and go to sleep until the next day when he does it all again. The film is trying to tell us already that him and Liz are kind of having a relationship issue because they are at The Winchester every day and it feels like they never go out together to dinner or just enjoy a day with each other and just the first 20 minutes of the film proves that as we open the film with a shot of Shaun then a few seconds later a shot to Liz talking to Shaun then a shot of Shaun talking to Liz with Ed in the background and then a shot of Shaun talking to Liz’s friends who are sitting at the next table next to them in the pub. So in just 5 shots we get to meet our characters, learn a thing or two of these characters and we get an understanding of what the film’s story, other than it being a zombie horror comedy, is going to be about. Pretty much the conversation between the two characters are about going on a dinner date the next night at a nice restaurant and that things will change. Shaun wakes up the next day and we get this amazing scene that has foreshadows and future callbacks in another scene that I will talk about later on but pretty much we follow Shaun pretty much doing his daily routine, he goes to the market to get a drink and goes on the bus to get to his job and after his job he goes back home. From there he forgets to book a table for him and Liz at a restaurant so the one thing he can think of doing is going to The Winchester with Ed and from there she and him break up because Shaun promised for things to change and just like his daily routine they never did. I honestly think the first 20 minutes of this film tell us the story of our main characters perfectly as we have a slacker boyfriend who can’t seem to make any changes in his life and it pretty much feels like he is going nowhere, a slacker friend who literally is going nowhere in his life, and the girlfriend Liz who dreams of having something big with Shaun but wants more from him as she is unhappy doing the same thing each night and not doing things couples usually do. Now while this is all happening the background of these scenes and moments are telling the viewer that something bad is going on in the world and we later find out that there is indeed a zombie outbreak going on just from certain background characters or certain things going on in the background. At the same time Shaun and the rest of the characters that we learn about are unaware of it so I find it very clever that Edgar Wright made it this way because them knowing about a zombie outbreak kind of ruins the story of what’s going on in those scenes but by doing this it brings tension to the viewers as while we are aware of the story of Shaun we are also aware of the zombie outbreak and know it will get worse throughout the film.
Now I didn’t mention this before but Shaun lives with his two friends, Ed, a slacker who sells drugs on the side and plays video games/watches TV all day and Pete, Shaun’s former college friend who is nothing like the two and works hard every day. I will talk later about the dynamic of these three and why it is important to the film’s narrative but until then let’s continue to move on. The next scene I want to talk about is the scene where Shaun wakes up the next day after he and Ed get drunk from going to the Winchester after Liz broke up with Shaun. So this scene mirrors the scene from earlier of Shaun going into the market but it is a bit different as at this point the zombie outbreak has already begun and once again Shaun is unaware with it and going on with his life by buying a drink and a Cornetto for Ed and he then goes back into his house. During this time most of the background characters and extras that we sort of met before have either become zombies or are running away from the zombies. Once Shaun is back in his home he puts on the television and he then becomes first aware of there being a zombie outbreak as the news channel mentions about destroying the brain or removing the head. From here there is a girl in the garden and she tries to bite Shaun but he pushes her away and both Ed and Shaun watch her get stabbed by a led pipe and get up automatically and from here the characters become aware of what is going on. What I like about this scene is that it concludes our 1st act and brings us into the 2nd act of the film. Once Shaun and Ed realize that this isn’t just some woman lurking around in the backyard but it is a walking corpse we are then introduced to our 2nd act of the film and now our characters are aware of the situation at hand. I also love how Edgar Wright uses the scene of Shaun going to the market and mirror it perfectly with the earlier scene as we see the before and after of both scenes but at the same time we see the foreshadows and a few callbacks of the previous scene that happens again in this scene but in a different situation. So Bravo to Edgar Wright on this genius filmmaking decision as it really works well for slow dry comedic reasons but also it adds tension into the film.
Now another great thing I noticed with the film that I actually found brilliant and liked very much is the fact that instead of going straight into the zombie outbreak we are instead having character building and storytelling but at the same time being foreshadowed of the future zombie outbreak and slowly building our way towards the outbreak to begin. I think this approach is a big help for the film as it takes a different approach of the way we introduce the outbreak and it is very creative as the only film I can think of that did this is Train to Busan, but unlike Train to Busan this film does it in its 1st act, first 25 – 30 minutes of the film. Once the tension is fully built and we get pretty quick previews of multiple zombies during the night of Shaun and Ed leaving the Winchester then we can now begin this zombie outbreak and properly create this zombie apocalypse. I’m not saying I hate how other zombie films go directly into the outbreak but I find this pretty creative for this film and because it was done in the most perfect way it just works perfectly and for me I enjoy it this way and I’m engaged into the film more because of it.
Now from here I want to talk about one more scene just because I like it so much and it’s one of my favorite movie scenes. But I’m going to do a speed round here of explaining how we got to this next scene. So Shaun and Ed go to Shaun’s home when he was a child to pick up his mom and kill his step dad Phillip because he was apparently bitten. At the same time they also go to Liz’s apartment and pick up Liz and her friends and there plan is to go into The Winchester because they feel like it’s the safest place to go. Once they finally make it to The Winchester they find out that zombies are all around the pub and in order to get into the pub Shaun makes a distraction and runs off with the zombies so the rest of the gang can get into the pub. He gives them the slip and would you look at that we are here at the destination of our scene. Now how’s that for a slice of fried gold? Anyway the scene that I am going to talk about needed this speed round because once Shaun gives the zombies the slip he returns into The Winchester and everything seems okay until he goes to turn on the lights and power and we see zombies behind the backdoor. From there Shaun and the rest of the group need to keep quiet but that is until the owner of the pub, who is a zombie at this point, comes out of nowhere and tries to attack the gang. Now this scene is probably my favorite scene of the film as it is all over the place with it being a hilarious scene to it adding tension of will they survive scenario still lurking over their heads. The scene is complete with Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now playing from the jukebox and from there it goes from 0 to 100 as Shaun, Liz and Ed try to kill the huge zombie owner with pool cues and David goes to turn the power off and the zombies begin to come in from the back. It is an hilarious scene that has the music sync with the actions that is going on from the three main characters hitting the big zombie with the pool cues to the power switches matching the music. It is only in a film about brain eating zombies that we will see such amazing filmmaking but at the same time see a ridiculous comedic scene. I don’t want to go into full detail about the ending of the film because I want you guys to be engaged with this film and watch it to see how fantastic of a film it is but pretty much in the end the zombie outbreak becomes controlled after the military units finally take control of the situation and Shaun and Liz get back together as he finally becomes something for his life. But that answers to what I mentioned earlier about Shaun, Pete and Ed having a dynamic that is important with this film. Shaun’s life is completely going nowhere before the zombie outbreak as he was never going anywhere with his life as he was kind of stuck between not only defending his friend all the time from Pete but by also always being with Ed he kind of never found who he could be. Pete is the type of guy Shaun wants to be, not in the sense of being a complete asshole, as Pete is a complete asshole, but he wants to have something in his life that he can be proud of and he wants to be seen as a successful man. As for Ed he is the child like force that kind of drives Shaun down to not doing anything with his life. But once this zombie outbreak begins and Shaun finally becomes fully aware of it not only does his character changed for the better but he is in control of the situation at hand when it comes to his life as he wants to be with Liz and tries to win her back as without her he feels like nothing and now that he is fighting off these zombies he feels like something and it also helps that once he survives in the end he is successful as he successfully survived a life and death situation. Sure it took a zombie outbreak for the man to wake up to reality and become something for himself but that’s the best way to tell a story and develop his character for the better.
Honestly guys I think this film is more than just a great zombie flick, it is a fucking great film. I couldn’t even review this film without watching the commentary of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg as listening to them talk about the film while watching the film made me appreciate the movie more and love the movie more as I’m learning about how each scene was created, how each actor was like during the scenes or just learning about how much fun the cast and crew had making a zombie movie. After that watch I knew from there I was about to make an analytical essay review on my favorite zombie film of all time. But here the thing about this film we already knew that this was a zombie film from the title but the word zombie can seen differently in this film. Now we know zombies as a revived corpse that will eat your brain but there is a different approach that Edgar Wright took when making this zombie film. When we are first introduced to the film and all of its characters, from Shaun to background characters, there is something odd about them. These characters are everyday people and from Shaun’s same routine to seeing the extras in the title introduction we see that these people repeat the same things each day and act sort of lifeless and this metaphors closely acting like zombies except they are alive and don’t want to eat brain. We live our everyday lives as zombies in a way and that is the message that Edgar Wright is trying to explain with this film. In a way Shaun’s motives before the zombie outbreak was the same each day and he constantly continued to live the same life cycle he was living and then once his girlfriend was tired of Shaun not caring more for his relationship instead of always going though life with no hopes and dreams and a future, we then got to see Shaun begin to not only develop but he started acting less of a zombie and more of the hero of the story, but more so he started to get out of his shell and evolve. The rest of the people that weren’t in the main cast however became zombies because well for one they were background characters that had no motive but to get us to our story, but in retrospect they were the line of a living person and a walking zombie who is still alive and once the outbreak began and once Shaun woke up from his drunken slumber we saw these walking talking people become undead corpses that only motive was to eat brains and feed on human remains, which if you are paying attention is the same way as living life like everyone else and not having your own motive, rather doing the same thing each person is doing. By far Edgar Wright shows us that this will be a zombie movie but he wanted to do it in a clever way, his way, by making it a story of a almost 30 year old who life is going nowhere and put him in a situation where he is a slacker, his relationship is on the brink of no survival and when he loses the one thing that should of led him to a better future his biggest motive now was to survive a zombie outbreak and find a way to not only gain back his ex’s love for him but to also protect her, his best friend, his mother and his ex’s bet friends and be something more than a regular guy, be a hero to these people and do something big for his life.
A great zombie film doesn’t need to always put us into a zombie outbreak but rather it could lead into a zombie outbreak very slowly by giving us a story of a character that we follow throughout the whole film change and have his or her story become the main focus of the film, rather it be the zombie outbreak. Then once the outbreak becomes the main focus of his/her story you then add both stories together and then you have your zombie film that has the blood and gore you see in most zombie film but add in the great character development and the metaphors it adds with the stories message and then you have yourself a great zombie film. And one more time, let’s not forget this was a parody in a way towards the Dead films and is a horror comedy so you also need to add in the humor and scares for this film and while it is supposed to be a parody it still finds a way to honor the Dead films in its own way without making fun of them. I think Shaun of the Dead perfectly gives out a great adaption of a zombie flick by doing something different. George A. Romero did something different with horror by not only making a black actor be the lead of a horror movie but by creating a sub genre of horror in a way with zombie horror as without Night of the Living Dead many filmmakers and creators wouldn’t be able to put their art in this genre and make their version of a zombie apocalypse taking over a state, country, region or the world and since Night of the Living Dead there have been many different ways to show a zombie outbreak and by far Edgar Wright was able to make an amazing movie and even though it is a zombie flick you can argue that it is more of a zombie flick and it is a film about a man going through a journey in finding himself. Yes it takes an outbreak of brain eating corpses to do it but it gets to the main point of the film’s plot and by far it brings your attention to the film.
Is this film for everybody, I don’t know because a lot of people have different tastes. Not many people care for zombie films and horror but while this film is a zombie horror comedy film, it is a film that can change your mind in how you look at the zombie horror genre and maybe it can make you a big fan. I have seen many zombie films through my lifetime in this world but there are hundreds to thousands of zombie films created by some great filmmakers that I have not seen yet and each year they seem to evolve and be different from every other zombie film. Shaun of the Dead brought the zombie films back into the spotlight and over the years we have seen these films be more about the characters rather it be more about the outbreak. Yeah this has been done before but we learned about these characters prior to Shaun of the Dead throughout the film and Shaun of the Dead introduced us to the characters and gave us their stories within the first 20 – 30 minutes and then put us into the outbreak and while not every zombie flick the last 16 years since Shaun of the Dead was first released has done that approach but they do it in their own way. Shaun of the Dead kind of changed the game for zombie films and it became a cult classic because of its success but also it became one of the greatest zombie films of all time. While it might be a film I have seen hundreds of times I now have reason to say this one statement: Shaun of the Dead is the greatest zombie film of all time.
Final Review: 4.5 out of 5 Stars, 95% out of 100.
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