How many times have you said ‘It’s not the end of the world!’ lately? Next time you do, be careful, because there might even be a version of the end of the world happening beyond the walls of the room you’re in. This is what happens to the characters in the British film ‘Shaun of the Dead‘ (2004), directed by Edgar Wright and written by him together with Simon Pegg, who also plays the main role in the film. It’s a slapstick comedy, – which is the only formula in which I could stand a movie with zombies -, a parody and homage to ‘classic’ films of a genre that is far from my comfort zone. Still, I enjoyed and thoroughly enjoyed ‘Shaun of the Dead‘, which was just the right movie for my Halloween night.
Five young Londoners are the heroes of this film. Shaun and Liz are a couple, but Liz seems to have had enough of the lack of ambition and intellectual mediocrity of Shaun, who doesn’t know better than to spend every night at ‘The Winchester’ pub, named after the shotgun hanging above the bar. Dianne and David, a somewhat more ‘normative’ couple and Liz’s roommates encourage her to break up. To top it off, Shaun’s roommate Ed is a goofball incapable of anything other than making bad jokes, playing video games, and lounging on a couch. A kind of end of the world is happening in London, but these TV sitcom-like heroes notice nothing for a couple of days being too absorbed in their own conflicts, and not realizing that the behavior of those around them it’s a different degree of zombification than usual. When people begin to be devoured, their only escape plan is to take refuge in the pub that is the center of their Universe. The Winchester rifle will also play a role.
The themes of the pub as a fundamental institution for his heroes and that of the end of the world will be explored by film director Edgar Wright together with his accomplice, the actor Simon Pegg, and in a film made almost a decade later – ‘The World’s End’. The success (and near-masterpiece rating on IMDB) has several reasons. First of all, the characters in the film are real and familiar. Real and familiar, not necessarily like our neighbors, but certainly like TV sitcom heroes. Each character is well-defined, the pace of the story and the jokes flow freely and there are almost no dead lines in the film. The horror side is treated with humor and an indifference to political correctness that makes any excess acceptable. Even the creatures called zombies are filmed in such a way that they become flags in the comedy slalom and not obstacles to entertainment. The confusion between their world and the ‘real’ one is a nice social commentary. I saw ‘Shaun of the Dead‘ on Halloween night, but I bear witness that it’s a delicious movie any day of the year.