The film Shaun of the Dead from the outset concentrates on Shaun, an unmotivated young man who is trying to get some kind of focus in his life throguh his desperate reconciliation with his ex-girlfriend and also the settlement of his various critical issues with his mother and stepfather. In the film it has also been shown that at the same time Shaun has to cope with an apocalyptic uprising of the zoombies, that is becoming the greatest reason for the collapse of the society.
Shaun is shown here as an appliance salesman who is going nowhere in life and happens to follow a mundane routine. His girlfriend Liz is totally disgruntled with their relationship, primarily because it revolves around going to The Winchester, Shaun's favourite pub. He also has issues with his hated stepfather Phillip, his increasingly unhappy flatmate Pete, and a dissatisfying job where his younger co-workers show him no respect. Around this time, when he is going through the worst phase of his life, there comes as an uprising of the undead, who begin to attack and devour the living. Shaun realises the true gravity of the situation only after having a close shave with a zombie. It is seen that Shaun, along with flatmate and close friend, Ed, proceeds to rescue his loved ones. Shaun and Ed decide to take Liz, along with Barbara, Phillip, and Liz's friends David and Dianne, to the Winchester Pub to survive the plague, and becomes successful in saving a lot of lives, through a gigantic struggle! This zeal to struggle for existence is best portrayed when Shaun has a final confrontation with a zombified Pete. Shaun and Liz, who have reconciled over the course of the day, survive and are saved by the British Army. The last phase of the film speaks eloquently of the triumph of human society and the traditional values! It is already six months after the zombie outbreak and the society has returned to normal. The zombies have now become a part of everyday life, being used both as cheap labour and game show participants. Shaun and Liz move in together, along with undead Ed, who 'lives' in the garden shed.

From the reviews of scores of eminent critics it is learnt that the movie is notable for the kinetic directorial style that has been used by Wright and its references to other movies, television shows and video games. In this manner, it has come to be regarded as akin to the Spaced, the very popular sitcom in the British television, in which both of Pegg and Wright worked on (Pegg being the co-creator, writer and star, while Wright as director). On the other hand, the movie indeed is consisted of quite a number of homages to previous zombie and horror movies. The most notable of them being the immensely popular Dead trilogy of George A. Romero. Again, the name of the film is based a play on Romero's Dawn of the Dead.

The film Shaun of the Dead was released on the 9 th day of April, 2004 in the realm of the whole of United Kingdom. The film was released in the United States of America on the 24th day of the month of September, in the same year. From the very beginning the film proved to be a both great commercial and critical success. The film in its opening weekend only in the United States of America claimed $3.3M, taking 8th place at the box office despite a limited release to only 607 theatres (compared to the usual 2000-3000 for other top 10 entries). While in the United kingdom Shaun of the Dead took in £1.6M at 307 cinemas on its opening weekend and netted £6.4M by mid-May. The film has earned $30 million worldwide in box office receipts since its release.