Shaun of the Dead at 20: how Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s zombie comedy prefigured today’s infantilised pop culture
- A defiantly British take on the zombie film that enjoyed international success, Shaun of the Dead is comedy gold, its scripted packed with quotable dialogue
- Simon Pegg, as Shaun, and Edgar Wright as his best friend are twenty-something slackers in a rom-zom-com that turns a zombie invasion into light entertainment
At the turn of the millennium it seemed like the end of the world was very nigh indeed. The Y2K bug predicted disaster, 9/11 delivered it, and Sars was not too far behind.
These apocalyptic anxieties were reflected on-screen in the likes of Resident Evil and 28 Days Later (both 2002) – much to the annoyance of Shaun of the Dead writer/star Simon Pegg and writer/director Edgar Wright, who had dreamed of making a zombie film since finishing their cult sitcom Spaced.
The result, which turns 20 this month, would catapult them both into the major leagues.
The inspiration was simple. After staying up all night playing video game Resident Evil 2, Wright went to buy milk, only to be confronted with an eerily empty, early morning London. It gave him an idea.
“Wouldn’t it be interesting if you did this Sunday walk and there were zombies, or what if you were hungover and did not notice?” he recalled in my 2019 book Britpop Cinema.
