Rogue Pictures released Shaun of the Dead in the United States on 24 September 2004. It premiered six months earlier in London.
It is a great film. But I’ve never adored it the way my friends do. I’m not quite sure why it doesn’t excite me. I can make a great case for it. And I can make no case against it. But don’t get me wrong. I like it. That’s also true of The World’s End. So it may just be that I am crazy for Hot Fuzz. Everything Edgar Wright did pales in comparison to Hot Fuzz.
Shaun of the Dead started it all. Wright did make a feature film ten years earlier, A Fistful of Fingers. But it didn’t get distributed. And it didn’t make it to the US until after the success of Shaun.
It may just be me, but Shaun of the Dead is mixed up in my mind with Dead Alive. Obviously, the films are very different. But the tone is the same. And they are both kind of sweet in their ways. But I’d love to hear from others. Maybe I’m just a bit twisted.
Anyway, I don’t have that much to say about the film. It’s about as good as any horror comedy. And I still really enjoy it. I just don’t rant about it like some people I could name. Here’s a free copy to watch!
Other 24 September Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Victor Wong (1906-1972): Ubiquitous bit player of “oriental” characters — most notably in King Kong.
- Abel Salazar (1917-1995): Actor and producer of many horror films including El Vampiro and The Brainiac.
- Bert I Gordon (1922-2023): The king of the giant — and tiny — creature film!
- Jim Henson (1936-1990): Creator of the Muppets who directed films The Great Muppet Caper, The Dark Crystal, and Labyrinth.
- Phil Hartman (1948-1998): Not really a psychotronic actor but I credit him with saving my life. He was in some psychotronic films like the Sinbad vehicle Houseguest.
- Kevin Sorbo (1958-): Actor known for the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and quite a number of low-budget psychotronic films. He also has truly disgusting religious and political views. But I do with my liberal friends would stop saying he’s a bad actor. He isn’t. He’s a good actor.
- John Logan (1961-): Screenwriter of Bats, The Last Samurai, Alien: Covenant, and more.
- Megan Ward (1969-): Actor known for Joe’s Apartment, Crash and Burn, and more.
Films
- The Hands of Orlac (1924): Pianist loses his hands and gets new ones that belonged to a murderer.
- The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968): The fourth of the five Christopher Lee Fu Manchu films.
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): Outlaws flee a super-posse.
- Sounder (1972): Kind of the Black Old Yeller but much better.
- Amityville II: The Possession (1982): Prequel to the first film.
- The Name of the Rose (1986): A 14th-century Franciscan monk investigates a series of mysterious deaths at a monastery.
- Dazed and Confused (1993): Stoner comedy.
- The Good Son (1993): A boy visits his aunt, uncle, and psychopathic cousin.
- Warlock: The Armageddon (1993): The Druids go after the Warlock. This is not really a sequel to Warlock despite Julian Sands being in the title role.
- Double Jeopardy (1999): A man fakes his death and frames his wife for the “murder.” When she gets out of prison, she is free to kill him.
- Vampires: Los Muertos (2002): Sequel to John Carpenter’s Vampires.
- The Forgotten (2004): A mother grieving her dead son finds one day that no one remembers her ever having a son.
- Let the Wrong One In (2021): Irish gals return home from holiday in Transylvania as you know what!
Shaun of the Dead poster via IMDB under Fair Use.
I think, with these Simon Pegg things, my reaction is “the obsession with old references is cute. But a little dated for a grownup.” My favorite was probably “Paul,” because the ending is genuinely hilarious with Sigourney Weaver.
It’s like that network show where “nerds” all fixate on Star Wars and Star Trek. The actual nerds I know are into BOOKS. Tons of terrific fantasy/sci-fi writers from the past and doing great books today. Pegg is just referencing pop culture, he’s not an actual nerd. And I like Pegg! He’s great. But he’s a cool nerd, not a nerdy nerd.
And Tucker & Dale over Shaun of the Dead any day. But they’re both wonderful movies!
I remember in high school, there were all these guys who hung out on the edges of my world. They were into all the standard nerd stuff. But they never went into science. It’s one reason I just can’t grok The Big Bang Theory. None of the people I was in grad school with were into that stuff. They were the people who were making rockets in junior high, not reading comics. I know things have changed a lot since then. But I think that stereotype is largely wrong.
I agree with you about Tucker & Dale. And one reason I love it is because it shows a good male-male relationship. It seems more true than the Pegg-Frost relationship. I think the relationship is much better in Hot Fuzz and especially The World’s End.
This was always my fundamental complaint of The Big Bang Theory. I know those kinds of nerds! I knew them in high school. None of them went on to be scientists. And none of the scientists I knew in grad school were these kinds of nerds. I hate that “nerd” has become synonymous with pop culture. You may remember my definition of nerd: anyone who is so into something they don’t realize everyone else thinks its lame. IOW: the best people on Earth!
Those are good, but I can’t watch The World’s End. It hits a little too close to home. Or, specifically, my liver. But since the election, it’s been rough for all of us. Even John Oliver admitted it with his last piece. A giant Reses Pieces mug full of liquor and screaming “fuck fuck fuck.” That’s the GOP plan; get all of us decent people so depressed we booze ourselves to death. It’s a clever plan.
This is true. Tomorrow is the No Kings protest. I hope it is bigger than the last one.