Shall I carve? ... Bill Nighy redefines the concept of the family dinner in Shaun of the Dead.

Directed by Edgar Wright

Written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright

Zombies ain't what they used to be. In Haiti, where the legend has its origins, they were a metaphor for slavery. The zombie was often created to do the work of living plantation workers - a slave's slave - but the modern movie zombie has become something completely different, a flesh-eating mutant feeding on the living.

Where once we created and controlled them, and they served human beings without being a threat, they are now out of control and gnawing on our entrails.

The change is usually attributed to George Romero's 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead and its sequels (Dawn of the Dead, and Day of the Dead), which unleashed the meat-loving zombie, but the changes began earlier, around World War II, when the zombie met science fiction and politics. War and the atomic bomb changed both the living and the undead. Radiation became a new way of creating a zombie; mad science helped out. In Revenge of the Zombies (1943), a Nazi attempts to create an army of zombies for the Third Reich. Romero's zombies come partly out of the political turmoil of America in the late 1960s. Zombies became a metaphor for chaos, and an aggressive one.

Given England's guilty role in the African slave trade, it's only right that zombies should turn up there, but there's nothing in Shaun of the Dead to indicate its makers considered this historical-political link. The metaphor here is not slavery or chaos, it's the boredom of contemporary English urban life. Shaun of the Dead is a comedy (and a pretty funny one) about people who are halfway to being zombies, even before the mutation starts.

Shaun (Simon Pegg) and his friends are in a rut. The first time we see him, he's sitting in a North London pub, the Winchester, staring into space. His girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) complains they never do anything but go to the pub, and threatens to drop him. He wonders what to do, like the passive loser he is. In the bus, we see that everyone else stares into space, too, like they're hypnotised. At home, his fat slob of a best mate, Ed (Nick Frost), sits on a couch playing video games and drinking beer all day. At work in an electrical goods shop, Shaun's underlings all stare blankly, chewing gum like automatons. The crisis from which this comedy is built is spiritual, as it was in Romero's original.

Shaun determines to win Liz back, but before he can reform his aimless life, zombies begin appearing all over London, feeding on the flesh of the living. The only way to kill them appears to be decapitation or removal of the brain, the BBC tells them. Shaun and Ed kill two in their back garden using a cricket bat, a shovel and a couple of well-aimed vinyl records. They then set off on a quest to save Liz (and her anti-Shaun flatmates, played by Dylan Moran and Lucy Davis), cleaving bodies and hewing heads as they go. It's like Lord of the Rings up the Northern line, with zombies instead of orcs.

The film is from the team behind the comedy series Spaced, and it feels like a short film idea stretched to feature length. The story creaks with the strain, but doesn't quite break, because the characters are engaging and everyone takes their job seriously.

The main comic idea is that Shaun and his four friends are so self-obsessed that their reactions to the zombie crisis are dulled by personal considerations, desires and conflicts. There may be 100 ravening ghouls outside, trying to get into the Winchester, but Shaun and the gang are inside arguing about who fancies whom. All except Ed, who just wants to get a round in, and Shaun's mum (Penelope Wilton), who can't believe her husband (Bill Nighy) tried to eat them.

This strategy means some scenes are too talky, too much like a sitcom, but whenever that threatens to sink the film, the zombies appear and save the day (if you see what I mean).

The director, Edgar Wright, has mostly done TV comedy. He relishes a chance to make some horror, and the film has some genuinely creepy moments, although it's more often cheerfully gross, with buckets of fake blood and intestines, and hundreds of zombified extras. Though made at Ealing Studios, this is a long way from an Ealing comedy. More like a congealing comedy.

Review by Paul Byrnes

Review by David Stratton

In the British zombie comedy 'Shaun Of The Dead', Shaun, (Simon Pegg) is a truly hopeless case. He works as a salesman in a TV shop in North London, and lives in a house with his best mate, Ed (Nick Frost), an unemployed slacker, and the over-achieving Pete (Peter Serafinowicz).

Shaun's main problem in life involves his increasingly frustrated girlfriend, Liz, (Kate Ashfield). Shaun's idea of a date is an evening at his local pub, the Winchester Arms, and Liz is getting sick of it; her flatmates, David (Dylan Moran), and Di (Lucy Davis), back her up.

Shaun is so bound up in his own constricted world that for a long time he's unaware that strange things are happening in these suburban London streets. As the title suggests, ‘Shaun Of The Dead’ is inspired by George Romero's great zombie film, 'Dawn Of The Dead', though in fact it owes a lot to the early films of Peter Jackson, like 'Bad Taste' and 'Brain Dead'.

The film is the work of Edgar Wright, a talented Brit who previously made the spoof western, 'A Fistful Of Fingers', and the TV series, 'Spaced'. He and his co-writer, and lead actor, Simon Pegg, have a wonderful feeling for a specific strand of British society, and much of the film is very funny as it explores the eccentricities and daily routines of these Londoners.

When the zombies really get into the act, it's also pretty bloody, in a deliberately over-the-top kind of way. The first half of the film is better than the second, when the blood and gore takes over in a big way, but still it's a lovely joke that the single-minded Shaun's idea of a fortress to be defended at all costs from the zombie hordes is his favourite hang-out, the local pub. Peter Jackson moved on from this kind of film to bigger things, and I wouldn't be surprised if Edgar Wright does too.

Further comments:

Margaret: Fingers crossed, David. English dorks have only limited appeal for me. I only thought it was sort of funny - 3 stars.

David: I see. Well, I find them pretty funny. I'm giving it 3.5

Review by Luke Jackson

Synopsis: Shaun (Simon Pegg) is twenty-nine years old, stuck in a dead end job at an electrical appliance store, and spends his spare time with chronic layabout Ed (Nick Frost). He should be concentrating on the one good thing in his life, his relationship with girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), but the best he can offer for their anniversary celebration is another night at their local haunt. When Liz breaks up with him, things seem like they couldn’t get any worse…until the dead begin to rise. As their options are cut off one by one, Shaun’s team must board up windows, fight, shoot, and even pretend to be zombies…all while trying to reconcile their personal differences. Will Shaun die single, or can he prove his love to Liz amidst the zombie infestation?

Following the success of their sitcom Spaced, co-writers Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg wanted to make a feature film. Having enjoyed filming an episode in which zombies attacked the main characters, they decided to write a horror film, but they didn’t want to simply make fun of the genre. So they considered another approach: what if it didn’t start out a horror movie, but a love story? Better yet, a comedy love story. Get people involved with the characters, and then…WHAM…hit them with the zombies.

Shaun of the Dead opens in its signature location, The Winchester, a London pub like any other. With his short red hair, mousy features and defeatist attitude, Shaun appears outclassed by his beautiful, self-confident girlfriend, something that Liz’s roommates – brought to the meeting for moral support – believe wholeheartedly. As Liz confronts Shaun about his inconsiderate behaviour in general and the lingering presence of Ed, the man in question is two feet away, playing a slot machine and swearing at the most inappropriate moments. This scene, like so many, is simultaneously hilarious and tragic, as the viewer empathises with Shaun’s inevitable choice between loyalty to his oldest friend and the need to move on with his life. As they expertly walk the fine line between comedy and drama, writers Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg manage to create characters who are funny and accessible, but never caricatures.

As if blending comedy and drama isn’t difficult enough, Shaun of the Dead makes the transition to horror with ease, primarily because - unlike other recent additions to the genre - this film never falls into the trap of taking itself too seriously. The filmmakers offer no pseudo-scientific explanation for the zombie epidemic, no detailed timeline calculating the spread of the disease. Instead, when he finally realises what’s going on outside and consults the TV for answers, Shaun channel-surfs so fast that he catches only snippets of each newsreader’s theory; by accepting that no explanation could ever be acceptable to the true horror fan, the story cuts through the fan’s defences. Further demonstrating their understanding of the horror fan, the filmmakers have chosen a traditional approach to the zombie design. Gone are the fleet-footed, blood-spewing zombies of 28 Days Later and the swarming hordes of the Dawn of the Dead remake. Shaun of the Dead features undead of the blue-tinged, shuffling variety, accompanied by synthesized muzak so familiar to fans of Romero’s original Dawn of the Dead.

Weaned on movies and computer games populated with zombies, Shaun and Ed are the horror fan’s perfect representatives; accordingly, for fans, the movie is a must-see. Unless they’re in the mood for puerile humour and a few good scares, I am inclined to recommend that everyone else hold onto their money…but perhaps that’s underestimating the film’s wider appeal. When Penelope Wilton, who plays Shaun’s conservative mother to perfection, watched the film in preparation for recording extra dialogue, she said, “I’m so glad I’m in this film because otherwise I’d never go and see it.”

So what the hell? Take a risk!

Breathing new life into an old genre

An English comic has turned his hand to the zombie flick, with surprisingly good results. Shaun of the Dead writer and star Simon Pegg spoke with Guy Davis.

There are in this world a surprising number of people who have their escape plan mapped out for when society crumbles as a result of viral outbreak, alien invasion or the dead rising from their graves. Simon Pegg is one of those people. During evenings when the actor, writer and stand-up comedian would enjoy a few drinks with flatmate Nick Frost, the two men would nut out their plan for surviving the end of the world. "I think everyone has an apocalypse fantasy, and me and Nick basically said, 'What would we do, where would we head?'," says Pegg, the star and co-writer of the Brit zom-rom-com (that's zombie romantic comedy) Shaun of the Dead.

"Near us was one of the few sporting gun shops in London," Pegg continues. "We never really had guns in the UK, but you can buy shotguns if you're a farmer or whatever. We had this gun shop nearby, so we thought we'd run down to this gun shop and then head to the pub and shut the doors."

That somewhat half-baked plan bears a striking resemblance to the plot of Shaun of the Dead, in which Frost also has a role. Pegg's Shaun is adrift in late-20-something ennui. Treading water in a dead-end job, his lack of direction and motivation - not to mention his continuing support of his slovenly, dope-dealing mate Ed, played by Frost - is slowly poisoning his relationship with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield).

When the frustrated Liz finally dumps him, Shaun realises it's time to win back the love of his life, mend his patchy relationship with his mother and stepfather and generally get his act together. Putting a slight crimp in his plans for personal development, however, is the discovery that zombies are stalking the streets in ever-increasing numbers, looking to nosh on any poor unfortunate who crosses their path. In the face of this horrifying threat, Shaun realises there's only one course of action. He must gather his loved ones together and seek shelter in - where else? - the local pub.

It was lovely to have Daddy's approval."An intelligent, articulate guy with a penchant for pop culture (his university thesis was a Marxist analysis of Star Wars), Pegg is one of the leading figures in what could be seen as Britain's current comedy renaissance, alongside Alan Partridge's alter ego Steve Coogan, The Office's Ricky Gervais, the League of Gentlemen team, Dylan Moran of Black Books fame and Chris Morris, among others.

Wright and Simon Pegg, above, are pleased with their "thoughtful splatter movie".

Pegg is well aware there's a bit of a revival in things undead: fellow Brit zombie flick 28 Days and the recent remake of George Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead are proof. But he and director/co-writer Edgar Wright wanted to go further in telling their story, preferring to acknowledge such old-school influences as John Carpenter's early work, Philip Kaufman's 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and, of course, Romero's seminal zombie trilogy of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.

"The film is supposed to be sort of a companion piece to the Romero films," Pegg says. "We wanted to have it showing what was happening in England - take Romero's rules of zombies and create another film within that universe."

Pegg was happy Shaun of the Dead found a fan in Romero. "I think he was perhaps expecting some affectionate spoof or fan film but he was chuffed to find this fully rounded film," he says. "It was lovely to have Daddy's approval."

The title certainly suggests a send-up. It started out as a joke, but everyone became rather attached to it and so it stuck. "It is the broadest joke in the film, really, and it does make it look like the film is some kind of spoof. But I think it's good because it gets people in with the promise that maybe it doesn't require much thought. Then once they're in there's all this stuff for them to deal with. Loads of people have told us they didn't expect it to be what it is; they were expecting Scary Movie 6 or something."

The movie does juggle its gags and gruesomeness with a Sam Raimi/Peter Jackson-like deftness, but occasionally pulls the rug out from under the viewer with an unexpectedly poignant or bittersweet moment. Making these many changes in tone feel plausible and natural required a concerted effort, even to the point of sacrificing a laugh or two.

"We decided very, very early on that we wanted to make the characters people you believed in and cared about," says Pegg, "so when it came to various characters dying we thought it would do them a disservice if we were flippant about it.

"We removed jokes in the edit because we didn't want to undo what we'd done with the character development by laughing it off. Those hard-hitting emotional moments were the natural progression of where we set off from."

Many people would utter the phrase "thoughtful splatter movie" only in the context of a gag, but Pegg uses it in all seriousness in describing Shaun of the Dead. "We spent a long time writing the script and we were very careful about the way we constructed it," he says. "It was built very meticulously with repeated viewings and recurring themes in mind. It's not just about the laughs and the gore, there's something else there. If you sit down to watch it when you're pissed, you could probably enjoy it as this gut-busting or gut-wrenching horror-comedy but I think it's a far more gratifying experience if you've got your wits about you."

Despite the film's success, Pegg says fans shouldn't hold their breath for a sequel . . . even if the rumoured title of From Dusk Till Shaun does have a nifty ring to it. "Yeah, that was a title that was too good to not say," he laughs. "But we kind of said what we wanted to say with Shaun. We want to do a sequel in tone now, a continuation of the spirit of the film, but with . . . different subject matter."

For Pegg and his collaborators, that involves once again bringing an English sensibility to a distinctly Hollywood genre. "What we did with Shaun was place the American archetype of the zombie movie in a very British setting. It tends to be interesting because the small, parochial nature of England just has a way of putting a greater emphasis on everything and pointing out its foibles and absurdities.

"Next, we're thinking of tackling the police genre, creating what is effectively a British action movie, which I really don't think has happened before. We'll be trying to make the British bobby cool."

Arise ye zombies

By Jason Adams, Socialist Worker, Issue 543, 10 December 2004, Page 13

AS SHAUN of the Dead begins you know it's about zombies. "A romantic comedy. With zombies" to be exact. What you don't know is, who's alive and who's dead.

Our protagonist Shaun is wedged into a comfortably numb routine of retail work and nights at the local. He staggers and groans through the day, dimly becoming aware of the personal and societal crashes just ahead.

The zombie movie tradition contains radical critiques of modern capitalism. They often contain explicit concerns about enslavement, human-made apocalypse, genetic experimentation and war-the evil super corporation illegally experimenting on humans and building soldiers who don't question orders is an infamous cliche.

One implicit metaphor of zombies-made explicit in Ramero's 1979 classic Dawn of the Dead-strikes at the heart of everyday life under capitalism. Here the survivors hole up in a shopping mall where zombies shamble up and down escalators, banging on shop windows like desperate bargain hunters, accompanied by sprightly muzak. We are the zombies, trapped in a consumer hell we're not even conscious of.

Zombie as alienated worker

The recent remake of Dawn of the Dead, while still set in the mall, raises another idea: a society where every other person is your enemy will destroy itself, literally by us humans consuming each other. It's the ultimate "war of all against all."

Shaun goes beyond the "mindless consumer" metaphor to have some sharp digs at the whole empty round. The ill feeling that as we stumble through the day's routine-the bus, the brainless job, the happy dream of beer and pokies-that we're only half alive, that real life is elsewhere, is pretty much universal.

In Shaun of the Dead, we all recognise the slack looks we give each other, listening to petty lectures from the supervisor, or enjoying the marvels of modern transport.

Here the zombie is us as alienated worker: no real control over ourselves, slaves to alien forces and the basest habits. Working for a wage, the activity that consumes the bulk of our time, energy and life, is the one activity we have the least say in, the least control over.

Through it we're are robbed of our real human nature as creative, conscious, self-directed animals. We're most dead when we should be the most alive.

As the zombie menace is quashed and life returns to half-life (a happy ending of sorts) the thin line between life and death is made plain. The "mobile deceased" are given jobs in retail, appear on game shows and Shaun's (dead) best friend plays video games in the back shed.

Coming out of this movie into a shopping mall was quite disconcerting. A great film-and funny 'cos it's true.

Other Shaun of the Dead sites:

Cute site but slow-loading - lots of flash

- links to many US reviews