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Film

18th May 2019

PSA: Shaun of the Dead is now on Netflix

Wil Jones

No more waiting for it to come on ITV2 again

One of the most beloved British comedies of this generation, Shaun of the Dead, has just been added to Netflix.

We probably don’t have to explain what Shaun of the Dead is. But it is worth taking a moment to remember just how great it is.

The movie spun out the iconic Channel 4 sitcom Spaced – and in particular, a scene where Simon Pegg’s character Tim stayed up all night playing Resident Evil and starts to hallucinate zombies.

Pegg and director Edgar Wright discovered that they had a shared love of George Romero movies, and had so much fun making that little scene, that they set to work writing a full zombie movie.

What makes the film work so well is that it genuinely works as a horror movie, as well as a comedy. Sure, we remember all the jokes about Cornettos and “You’ve got red on you” – but when characters start getting killed, you really feel it. It is genuinely horrific. And the film doesn’t skimp on the gore, either, being as violent as any of the Romero movies that inspired it.

On a recent appearance on Eli Roth’s History of Horror podcast, Edgar Wright even said the movie was partially an apology to several of his and Simon Pegg’s ex-girlfriends.

Of course, the team of Wright, Pegg and Nick Frost would go on to complete their ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ with Hot Fuzz and The World’s End – but for many, nothing has topped Shaun of the Dead.