Zombies are one of the most malleable fictional metaphors. The flesh-eating carnage they create makes the mortal stakes of their stories obvious. But most zombie stories actually soften our concerns about fatalities; the worst-case scenario isn’t the end of life, but the idea that you’re transformed into a mindless monster. That’s where the deeper significance of zombie stories can really land. Don’t our quotidian actions already make us all zombies?
Before zombies start appearing in Shaun of the Dead, director Edgar Wright shows us how ordinary people already look like them, including lovable loser Shaun (Simon Pegg). Shaun’s movements are decidedly zombie-ish when he staggers out of bed, making the film’s text and subtext clear from the jump: zombies are both real and metaphorical. Twenty years after its September 24, 2004, American release, Shaun of the Dead remains a classic, not because it’s a funny horror movie, but because it effectively destroyed the zombie genre with mockery.
