Episode 125: Shaun of the Dead (2004)

“Okay. But dogs can look up.” We’re grabbing a nice cold pint and waiting for all this to blow over by spending our HalloRe’ewind episode with Edgar Wright’s beloved Brit rom-zom-com Shaun of the Dead, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year.

Developmentally-arrested 29-year-old electrical store employee Shaun’s slacker lifestyle, mostly spent whiling away his nights with crass childhood friend Ed in the local pub, sees his girlfriend Liz give him the boot at a most inopportune moment – the advent of a zombie apocalypse that seems only slightly more grim and shambling than your average workday in North London. Armed only with a box of 12” records, a child-sized cricket bat, and his flatmate’s ‘borrowed’ Renault Megane, Shaun tries to rise to the occasion to bring Ed, Liz, and his mum to an impenetrable fortress (which is also, coincidentally, his idea of a romantic nightspot) …his local pub.

Capitalising on the cult success of Channel 4’s Spaced, director Wright and star/co-writer Simon Pegg hoped to break a streak of poor quality TV-to-film transitions from British comedy staples, by infusing the movie with their genuine love for classic 70s/80s zombie fare. Matt and Devlin discuss the film’s part in the 2000s zombie renaissance and the British film industry’s brief hot streak, and talk influences, ripoffs, zombies-as-allegory, and other pearls of wisdom we gleaned from a Guinness Extra Cold beermat. Don’t forget to fill out your Zombie Bingo Card while watching this Halloween!