Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Shaun's (Simon Pegg, Star Trek) life isn't quite the definition of "perfect." He works a dead-end job at an electronics store with co-workers almost half his age; he's losing his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) over his inability to take their relationship to the next level, a problem that stems from his desire to hang out with his loser of a roommate Ed (Nick Frost, Hot Fuzz) and insistence that they spend most every evening at his favorite pub, Winchester's; his other roommate, Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), is unhappy with Ed's lack of contribution to the house and Shaun's continued defense of his friend's bad habits; and he's engaged in a years-long riff with his stepfather Philip (Bill Nighy) with his loving mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) caught in the middle. Just when it seems Shaun's life couldn't get any more complicated, it does; he's just so involved in his own affairs that he can't see the problems plaguing the world until they literally arrive in his backyard. It turns out the locals are turning into zombies, and they're on the prowl for living flesh to devour. Shaun and Ed devise a plan to save the day, or at least those they care about; they'll rescue Shaun's mother from Philip who may be turning into a zombie, grab Liz and her friends, and head on down to – where else – Winchester's to ride out the storm. There's just one problem: the zombies are everywhere. Can Shaun, Ed, and gang survive long enough to live it up in their favorite bar one final time?

As with Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead works well because it smartly – sometimes gently and sometimes bluntly, depending on what the situation calls for – incorporates the elements of parody into a script that takes the time to create an entire world and develop a collection of primary characters that bring everything together. Unlike the bulk of Parody films that flood theaters these days, Shaun of the Dead – and to the same extent Hot Fuzz – ensure the parody works in a context that makes sense rather than just wedging it into some loose and meaningless series of events meant only to fill in some time between jokes. Just as importantly, the primary actors do an excellent job in conveying all of the nuances the script calls for, particularly with regard to the film's most obvious yet most important parody of the Zombie genre – the take that everyone's a zombies in one form or another; it's just that most have no craving for human flesh and can't continue on with a gaping hole in the gut. The word "zombie" can almost be exchanged for "slave," at least insofar as it pertains to its usage in Shaun of the Dead. Shaun is a slave to suffering, or so it seams, standing up for Ed's lazy ways and seemingly unable to break out of the mold that has Liz ready to split up with him. He's not at all confident (he has yet to introduce his girl to his mother) and puts on a façade at work that removes from him his true personality and vigor in favor of (attempting) to fit in with his co-workers. Ed's a slave to laziness and gluttony, fixated on video games and finding answers to his – and Shaun's – problems at the bottom of a stein.

Shaun of the Dead's none-too-subtle portrayal of all humankind as a collection of zombies – some admittedly further along in the process than others – is a direct reflection of the overt sub-context that defines the end-all, be-all Zombie movie masterpiece, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead. In that film, mankind is depicted as being a slave to consumerism, and the zombie's attraction to the mall, it is assumed, stems not from their detection of a band of survivors holed up in the offices above the main mall, but in some innate instinct that draws them back to a place that served as an important part of their lives. In Shaun of the Dead, the notion is updated and reflected in Ed's slovenly ways as he remains transfixed on his video game, or in Shaun's reluctance to use some of his favorite vinyl records last resort weapons for survival. Without sacrificing the film's ending, the final seconds only reinforce these observations and solidifies the film's message on humanity's slowly decaying ways.