SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)
SHAUN OF THE DEAD And Getting Lost In Repetition
I feel as if I’m always trying to convince people to become a horror fan. At first, as a teenager, I just dove into the extreme ends of what the genre has to offer, between very simple PG-13 slashers to some of the goriest films I could get my hands on. I went headfirst into a pool filled with blood, and I made it out okay, so I recommended the same thing to my friends, and they disapproved, so instead, I retreated and returned with lighter fanfare. The truth is, Edgar Wright’s second film SHAUN OF THE DEAD arguably may be one of the best films to help introduce someone to the horror genre, even if it’s on the super extremely light side of it all. This doesn’t lessen its sheer brilliance as a comedy, a horror film, and more importantly, a comedy horror film.
SHAUN OF THE DEAD is the first film out of “The Cornetto Trilogy” from Wright and writer/actor Simon Pegg. While every film in the trilogy is drastically different, there is a lot to connect them. Whether it’s the returning cast members, the now-iconic fence gags, or the core recurring theme of friendship between characters (who never truly grow up and are stuck in a more adolescent moment of their lives), it’s the friendships that work best for the films. For SHAUN OF THE DEAD it's the relationship between Shaun (Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost). The two of them live together with Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), both of them without a real plan of ever growing up but being comfortable living the same, routine life they’ve had for possibly years. They’re constantly returning to the one place they always go to, the Winchester, Shaun’s favourite pub.
The film works best by utilizing repetition. It’s the same old routine. It’s the same jokes or visual cues. Shaun is so blind to what’s happening around him that he’s oblivious even as he watches people fall or certain news reports. It even works as while they’re at the Winchester, after the Liz (Kate Ashfield) break-up, Ed gives a run-down to Shaun of what the next day could look like, and the audience is unaware that that’s exactly what’s going to happen for the rest of the film.
Something the opening credits do well is expanding on what Romero had shown in DAWN OF THE DEAD with zombies as a great stand-in for consumerism, but SHAUN OF THE DEAD more so relates to how we are stuck living in repetition; or at least, Shaun is.
The way that even in death, our bodies return to the mall because it’s what we know, we (both Shaun and us as a society), have become so accustomed to the same old jobs and routine that we can do it in our sleep, it’s built-in. The morning commute has always felt like I was surrounded by zombies, just slowly rubbing our eyes, yawning as we stagger slowly onto buses and subways until our destination.
It’s the repetition, these things that we know how to do without any doubt, how our bodies react and respond without mentally having to do so. And while the movie points the camera at us for a moment and nearly mocks us at our zombified life of going through the motions doing the same tasks day after day, Shaun is there in the middle of it, drinking at the Winchester wondering, “why is this a bad thing?” Doing a simple task (or simple to you) for a job that will remain stagnant but doable, livable. Even on our bad days at work, we can walk out mostly unscathed ready to tackle the next day. We’ve all either been Shaun or seen Shaun in a friend of ours, someone you haven’t seen for years and stumble on them doing the same thing they’ve always done. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but we question it until we see ourselves working the same job that sometimes bores you, but it’s safe, consistently so.
By all measures, SHAUN OF THE DEAD feels like it has more in common with a coming-of-age film than a horror film, but at the end of the day, what’s the difference? Terrifying and frightening in its own way. Some might argue more so due it to being more realistic. As someone who has often found himself going back to the same job that will leave me nearly stuck in the same place, it hurt to watch the film for the umpteenth time and compare myself to Shaun. It’s comforting to return to work at a place where you know what you’re doing or live a comfortable life. The question lies on how long that can sustain you and keep you motivated.
For Shaun, the answer seems like “for a while” as it ends with him going into the shed to play video games with a zombified Ed. Shaun knows what a lot of us know or feel: That change can be terrifying, and that’s part of what makes the film scary at times. Things happen to and around him, and he spends the entire film trying to fight it and mould it back into what he wants. He’s successful, but at a cost. Ironically, fewer people would have died if he followed Yvonne (Jessica Hynes) and her crew, which are mirror images of Shaun’s group, but he wanted to stick to what felt safer.
By the end of the film, the trusty Winchester helps save him and Liz and their relationship. While unfortunately, none of their friends make it out alive, Shaun and SHAUN give us a situation where sometimes the safety net of repetition can save us. Albeit with the help of friends and an army. While not outright scary, Wright delivers a film that lays all the groundwork in the horror and zombie genre, preparing us for the real scares when and if we ever decide to go down that dark alley. It’s a lovely story about friendship and feeling lost in the world while also being hilarious. A film about being afraid of growing up and afraid of change shows us that our favourite pub is a good place to go, but not always, to do something different while we have the chance.
