Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British-French zombie comedy film directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright. The plot focuses on Shaun, a young man who is attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he reconciles with his ex-girlfriend and settles his various issues with his mother and stepfather. At the same time he has to cope with an apocalyptic uprising of zombies that is destroying society.
Pegg and Wright have referred to Shaun of the Dead as being the first film in their "Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy" with Hot Fuzz as the second and The World's End as the third.
Plot
Shaun (Simon Pegg) is an appliance salesman whose life is going nowhere; he follows a mundane routine, and his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is dissatisfied with their relationship, primarily because it revolves around going to "The Winchester", Shaun's favourite pub, every night. He also has issues with his hated stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy), his increasingly unhappy flatmate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), and a dissatisfying job where his younger co-workers show him no respect. Following a broken promise to do something special for their anniversary, Liz dumps Shaun. He decides to drown his sorrows at the pub with his other flatmate Ed (Nick Frost), his best friend. After a night of drinking, he has an epiphany and resolves to sort his life out.
Unfortunately, this revelation comes at the same time as an uprising of the undead within London, who begin to attack and devour the living. Shaun realizes the gravity of the situation only after two zombies attack him in his backyard. As he finds out, Pete has also become a zombie, Shaun and Ed plan to leave the house. Shaun and Ed proceed to rescue Liz, along with Shaun's mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and stepfather Phillip (who had been bitten earlier offscreen) to the Winchester. Liz's friends, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis), also come along.
During their journey, Phillip is mortally wounded but manages to make his peace with Shaun before turning into a zombie, forcing the group to abandon him and their car and go the rest of the way on foot. The remaining group find the Winchester surrounded by zombies, and they approach the pub by impersonating zombie behaviour, but they are discovered after the zombies hear them talking and arguing. Shaun draws the undead away while the others barricade themselves inside. Shaun returns to the pub thinking that he gave the zombies the slip, but the zombies followed him, and soon break in. Shaun is forced to shoot his mother, who was infected during the chaos; David is pulled through a smashed window, torn apart and eaten; Dianne charges outside in a vain attempt to save David, exposing the others to the zombies. Ed attempts to prepare a Molotov cocktail, but is bitten by the zombified Pete, who is shot in the head by Shaun. Escaping into the cellar, Ed decides to stay behind while Shaun and Liz escape through the barrel lift. Shaun and Liz, who have reconciled over the course of the day, prepare for one last great battle against the zombie horde, but are saved by the British Army.
Six months after the zombie outbreak, society has returned to normal, and the remaining zombies have now become a part of everyday life, being used as cheap labour and game show participants. Shaun and Liz move in together, along with undead Ed, who is kept in the garden shed, leashed and playing TimeSplitters 2.