Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost kicked off their beloved genre-spoofing “Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy” with Shaun of the Dead, a riff on zombie movies that transplants the narrative framework that George A. Romero defined for the blood-soaked horror subgenre into the plot of a Richard Curtis-style romantic comedy.

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The result is a spot-on lampoon of Romero’s classics. Wright is reluctant to call Shaun of the Dead a parody, because that implies that it’s mocking zombie movies when he instead set out to affectionately homage them. But either way, it’s a pitch-perfect comedic take on the undead.

The Title Is A Great Pun On Dawn Of The Dead

Shaun and the survivors in Shaun of the Dead

Right off the bat, Shaun of the Dead kicks off its affectionate homage to zombie movies with its title alone. The title Shaun of the Dead is, of course, a play on the title of George A. Romero’s horror masterpiece Dawn of the Dead.

It’s also a neat touch that, on top of Shaun’s name rhyming with “dawn,” his best friend Ed’s name rhymes with “dead.” Puns are considered a pretty low form of humor, but they can still be clever.

It Suggests We’re Already Living In A Zombie-Infested World

Shaun sits on the bus in Shaun of the Dead

During the opening titles of Shaun of the Dead, Wright cuts through a montage of various Londoners going about their day. Pedestrians float through the streets with their eyes glued to their phones, the passengers of a bus stare dead-eyed into the distance, and supermarket employees trudge through their daily routine.

This montage suggests that we’re already living in a zombie-infested world and basically everybody in the modern world is a zombie without the proclivity to eat brains.

The Script Is Filled With Foreshadowing To Play On The Audience’s Expectations

Shaun and Ed sitting in the pub in Shaun of the Dead

Since the movie is called Shaun of the Dead and the poster is filled with zombies, Wright assumed audiences would be expecting the undead to show up when they watched it. So, he had some fun foreshadowing the zombies’ arrival throughout the first act.

This can be seen in Ed’s poorly worded advice for Shaun after his breakup (“It’s not the end of the world") and also when Ed makes plans for the following day and unwittingly outlines the rest of the plot.

Shaun Is Initially Oblivious To The Undead

Simon Pegg in the convenience store in Shaun of the Dead

One of the funniest gags in Shaun of the Dead sees a hungover Shaun walking across the street to a convenience store, picking up a couple of things, and returning home without realizing he’s surrounded by hungry zombies that want to feast on his brains.

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Shaun’s obliviousness to the zombies hilariously subverts the terror of the situation. Usually, horror protagonists notice the zombies immediately.

The Characters Avoid “The Z-Word”

Shaun and Ed in Shaun of the Dead

While audiences in the real world can identify a zombie from a mile away, the characters who actually have to fight them in zombie movies tend to be unfamiliar with zombie fiction. In The Walking Dead, the zombies have been called just about everything but “zombies.”

Shaun of the Dead acknowledges “the Z-word,” but Shaun forbids Ed from using it, “because it’s ridiculous.” This hilariously self-aware scene points out the fact that most zombie movies ignore the existence of other zombie movies.

The Zombie Acting Scene Is A Classic Gag

Pretending to be zombies in Shaun of the Dead

When the survivors find a horde of zombies between their hiding place and the Winchester, they come up with a novel idea that no previous zombie movie protagonists had thought of: pretending to be zombies to blend into the crowd.

As a struggling actor, Dianne jumps at the opportunity to teach her fellow survivors how to act like zombies. This whole sequence hilariously deconstructs the zombie genre and pokes a huge hole in its loosely defined mythology.

The Survivors Hole Up In The Most British Location Possible (A Pub)

Simon Pegg says 'F--- a doodle doo' in Shaun of the Dead

Ever since George A. Romero sent the protagonists of Night of the Living Dead to a farm, most zombie movies have revolved around a band of survivors holing up in a secure, isolated location. In Dawn of the Dead, it’s an abandoned mall. In Day of the Dead, it’s an underground bunker. In Zombieland, it’s Bill Murray’s house.

And in Shaun of the Dead, because the survivors are all British, they go to the pub so they can enjoy a pint and a bag of nuts while they “wait for all this to blow over.”

It Mocks 28 Days Later’s Explanation Of Its Zombies

Shaun of the Dead Jeremy Thompson

Most zombie movies refrain from providing a hard explanation for where their zombies came from, but in Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later – which Boyle doesn’t consider to be a zombie movie, but clearly is one – it’s explained that the zombies were created by “the Rage virus” passed on from lab monkeys.

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One of the news reports at the end of Shaun of the Dead mocks this plot point: “Claims that the virus was caused by rage-infected monkeys have been dismissed as bullsh...”

“Don’t Stop Me Now” Deflates The Terror Of The Zombified Pub Landlord’s Attack

Shaun, Ed, and Liz holding pool cues in Shaun of the Dead

While the survivors are holed up in the Winchester, the zombified pub landlord John wanders out and attacks them. At the same time, the jukebox – established in an earlier scene to be set to random – starts playing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.”

As Shaun, Ed, and Liz fend off John with pool cues, the sounds of the Queen hit hilariously deflate the terror of the situation.

The Ending Imagines A Post-Zombie Society

Shaun and Ed in the final scene of Shaun of the Dead

Most zombie movies don’t resolve the apocalypse and either end with the protagonists learning to live in a post-apocalyptic world or the protagonists dying horrifically. But at the end of Shaun of the Dead, the military contains the zombie outbreak and society tries to go back to normal.

Wright hilariously envisions a post-zombie society in which people keep zombies as pets (including Shaun, who has Ed out in the shed) and the living enjoy game shows that pit the undead against each other.

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