I know, I know. In your head, you’re tallying off a list of fantastic horror comedies from ten different decades in order to argue with me. No doubt, you think I’m crazy (or at least wrong) for omitting classics like Young Frankenstein and Return of the Living Dead, or at the very least, some highly entertaining and unforgettable newcomers like What We Do in the Shadows and Ready or Not.
But I stand by it, and I hope you’ll hear me out to find out why. 20 years ago today, Edgar Wright’s first major movie was released in the UK (the geographical release anniversary that matters most, for this film), and the greatest horror-comedy ever made (at least to this writer), Shaun of the Dead, was introduced to the world.
Written by Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, Shaun of the Dead follows the monotonous life of Shaun Riley, a late-30s guy who seems content with things being just the way they are. Every day is the same, and every date is the same. He’s lived with the same two flat-mates since college, Ed and Pete; one who lives in complete filth and chaos, and one who goes to work and wants a clean home. Shaun is stuck in the middle, completely fine, toeing the line between the two.
Shaun flubs his night out (for the last time) with his girlfriend, Liz, she breaks up with him, he and Ed get smashed, Pete tells Shaun to sort his “f*ckin’ life out, mate”, and he wakes up in a world that has been overrun with the walking dead.
From here, Shaun has exactly one seven-step plan. Take car. Go to mum’s. Kill Phil. Grab Liz. Go to the Winchester. Have a nice cold pint and wait for all of this to blow over.
So, why is Shaun of the Dead the greatest horror-comedy ever? Because it nails the genre blend perfectly. It seamlessly swerves from comedic to horrific on a scene-by-scene basis.
This is something that almost every other horror comedy fails to do. They are either too silly for the entire movie (Young Frankenstein, What We Do in the Shadows), or they are just too damned serious, and they never get going comedically for any length of time (American Psycho, Villains). In fact, the only other movie that comes close to this perfect blend is An American Werewolf in London, and that’s only because it doesn’t hit the horrifying reality of loss as well as Shaun of the Dead does (we’ll get to that).
Starting with the comedy aspect, Edgar Wright was able to transcend the barriers between British and American comedy. Oftentimes, British comedy comes across as stale or dry to Americans, but if there’s one thing fans of classic American comedy love, it’s slapstick humor. Wright used popular British dialogue, while still capturing the physical classic comedy perfected by the greats.
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Scenes like Shaun slipping on blood while he obliviously buys a soda the morning of the full-blown apocalypse; the often-repeated scene where he falls through the fence after smugly saying “You’ve never seen a shortcut before?” when Shaun’s group sees another survivor group full of doppelgängers, and of course, the pool stick-smacking scene to Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
The comedy doesn’t stop with the physical slapstick stuff, either. The witty banter and dialogue between the characters is incredible. Not just between Shaun and Ed, which is a given for Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, but every character gets to shine in their own way from scene to scene.
Even bit parts, like Shaun’s co-worker Noel (played by The Ritual’s Rafe Spoll), or Diane “expertly” directing the group in how to act like zombies. “Just look at the face; it’s vacant, with a hint of sadness. Like a drunk who’s lost a bet.”
Weaved into the brilliantly crafted dialogue are Easter eggs, like little gifts to the horror fandom, referencing horror classics and the greats that Shaun of the Dead took inspiration from. Scenes like Ed telling Shaun’s mum, Barbara, “We’re coming to get you, Barbara!”; a famous like from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, or the news reports stating that claims of the zombies being created from a rage virus from infected monkeys are bullsh*t, taking aim at Peter Boyle’s 28 Days Later. Shaun even works at Foree Electronics, a reference to Ken Foree from Dawn of the Dead.
The film is also genius at referencing itself. Characters that are barely mentioned in small scenes, are referenced later down the line in different ways. Snakehips, a character Shaun and Ed create a backstory for, who supposedly strangled his first wife and is always surrounded by women, is seen later in the movie being eaten by exclusively women zombies.
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Pete tells Ed to go live in the shed out of anger, and by the end of the movie, the zombified Ed is indeed living in the shed. The storytelling and development of even the smallest jokes pay off throughout the entire film.
But you can’t have a horror-comedy movie without the horror, and Shaun of the Dead also delivers that in droves. Not just the blood and guts, either, which is a standard for zombie movies. Granted, it has those, too, and uses gory, gushing practical effects for its flesh-ripping zombie attacks. We get to see full-on decapitations, entrails being ripped out, brains getting splattered, and unforgettable, David being dismembered, piece by piece. You can’t parody one of the masters of horror (George A. Romero) without using the same tricks he did.
The true horror in Shaun of the Dead comes from its heartbreaking moments of loss and pain. Has there been a more heartbreakingly horrific moment in a zombie movie (aside from the end of Night of the Living Dead) than when Shaun has to shoot his own mother in the head, and fight others to do so himself? A teary-eyed Shaun screaming, “Stop pointing that gun at my mum!”
“Stop pointing that gun at my mum!”
Or, when the first half of the film builds a backstory between Shaun and his stepdad, Phillip, and the animosity between the two after Phillip married Shaun’s mum. All of that dissonance came to a screeching halt when Phillip gets bitten on the neck, and knows he has precious little time to explain to Shaun why he treated him that way; because he didn’t want him to give up, and he wanted to give him someone to look up to, and that he loved him. Then he turned. It was a horrible, tear-jerking moment wedged between two hilarious scenes.
Because that’s what Shaun of the Dead does. It consistently breaks us down with the horror and builds us back up with the comedy. That’s the way it should be.
Even without these reasons that push it into the #1 spot, Shaun of the Dead has all the basics that a great movie needs. Not a single actor is weak, it’s a fantastic story of growing and moving forward in your life, and it has a slappin’ soundtrack (though the best horror-comedy soundtrack still belongs to Return of the Living Dead).
It’s hard to believe that two decades have passed since the release of Shaun of the Dead, and without it, we wouldn’t have gotten some incredible films from Edgar Wright, who has built on his style and has released some incredible films since then.
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost wouldn’t be the recognizable duo they are today, and let’s be honest, we all know what comes to mind when we hear “Don’t Stop Me Now.”
It became an instant icon, a comfort movie in all aspects, and the greatest horror-comedy ever made.
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