Shaun of the Dead (2004) directed by Edgar Wright is my ideal movie, which blends the zombie horror and comedy genres. The movie is part of the Cornetto trilogy. I watched the tv-series Spaced, which was a short-lived British surreal comedy starring both Pegg and Nick Frost. Edgar Wright used many editing techniques and cuts that add to the comedic gags of both Shaun of the Dead and Spaced. There multiple layers of comedy in the movie, all centered around watching a grown man having to face life in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Several pop-cultural references (including some paying homage to Spaced), are easy to miss with Wright's fast-paced editing. It is both parody on the horror genre, and social critique. He crams humor with efficiency, poking fun at zombie tropes, the drudgery of the British middle class, and spoofs horror cliches.
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| Shaun of the Dead (2004), Kate Ashfield, Dylan Moran, Simon Pegg, Penelope Wilton, and Nick Frost (Left to Right) |
Wright goes on to direct Hot Fuzz and At World's End, which work hand-in-hand with Shaun of the Dead as buddy comedies. The timing of the comedy is very precise, and could not have been pulled off without attention to detail in sound, the actors' range, chemistry between characters, and clever dialogue. This movie is the perfect horror spoof and can be watched again and again to find subtle or even hidden jokes.
