History YMMV / ShaunOfTheDead

** Did David not want to help Shaun fight the zombie in the garden because he was a coward? Or did he see an [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse opportunity to kill off Shaun]] and refused to intervene? It's clear that David harbours great envy towards Shaun for being with Liz and he always tries to point out Shaun's shortcomings in order to sanitize his own image as boyfriend material. If Shaun died, then David would become a shoulder to cry on for Liz.

** Is David really a selfish jerk? Or is he just desperate to survive just like everyone else in the film? The film seems to portray both as true. Also was his apology to Shaun in a deleted scene genuine? or was he only apologizing because Dianne pressured him to?

** Is David really a selfish jerk? or is he just desperate to survive just like everyone else in the film? The film seems to portray both as true. Also was his apology to Shaun in a deleted scene genuine? or was he only apologizing because Dianne pressured him to?

** Is David really a selfish jerk, or is just desperate to survive just like everyone else in the film?

*** Or is his outburst the result of years of frustration finally boiling over as his friend Shaun, someone he genuinely cares about, fails to take the breakup of his relationship as the wakeup call he's needed for a long time?

* NauseaFuel: David getting gruesomely [[GuttedLikeAFish disemboweled]] and [[AnArmAndALeg dismembered]] by the zombies. He may have been quite a {{Jerkass}}, but it doesn't stop the scene from becoming rather repulsive to look at.

** The scene where Shaun and the group end up running into [[SimilarSquad their near-identical dopplegangers in Yvonne's group]] (who are all played by more famous actors than many of the people in the main cast) includes Creator/MartinFreeman as Shaun's doppleganger, Declan. Martin Freeman is part of the main cast of ''Film/TheWorldsEnd'', the final movie in the ThematicSeries that ''Shaun of the Dead'' started.

* CatharsisFactor: The zombies attacking David and dragging him to his gruesome demise. While he was already an unlikable jerk prior, after he callously insulted Shaun's deceased mother, tried to ''murder'' Shaun and willingly attempted to leave the others for dead, audience members (''especially'' the original test audiences) were left ''cheering'' at his demise.

* NauseaFuel: David getting gruesomely disemboweled and dismembered by the zombies. He may have been quite a jerk, but it doesn't stop the scene from becoming rather repulsive to look at.

** Diane is pretty popular for being one of the more competent chata=arcters albeit still having some humorous blunders, her PretendWereDead strategy and being a nice person in general.

* NauseaFuel: David getting disemboweled and dismembered by the zombies. He may have been quite a jerk, but it doesn't stop the scene from becoming rather repulsive to look at.

* CatharsisFactor: After seeing David be an unlikable twat, it is quite satisfying to see him fall victim to a horde of zombies.

* MoralEventHorizon: David could be seen throughout the film as [[{{Jerkass}} pompous and insensitive]] [[JerkassHasAPoint but at times agreeable]]. However, for most viewers (including the first test audiences), the moment [[spoiler:he points the rifle at Shaun and pulls the trigger as ''retaliation for punching him'' (thankfully [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets the rifle was empty]])]] is when he loses all sympathy and deserves whatever he gets.

* MoralEventHorizon: David could be seen throughout the film as [[{{Jerkass}} pompous and insensitive]] [[JerkassHasAPoint but at times agreeable]]. However for most viewers (including the first test audiences) the moment [[spoiler:he points the rifle at Shaun and pulls the trigger as ''retaliation for punching him'' (thankfully [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets the rifle was empty]])]] is when he loses all sympathy and deserves whatever he gets.

* CatharsisFactor: After seeing David be an unlikable twat, it is quite satisfying when he falls victim to a horde of zombies.

* WhatAnIdiot: Ed. Deconstructed during the film, though some moments stand out (like having his cell phone on outdoor mode while ''surrounded'' by zombies. Being forgetful would at least be understandable, but ''answering it and holding a conversation'' wins him the award for dumbest human being ever. Oh, and he's not even chatting to a friend. He's ''selling weed''.)

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Ed. Deconstructed during the film, though some moments stand out (like having his cell phone on outdoor mode while ''surrounded'' by zombies. Being forgetful would at least be understandable, but ''answering it and holding a conversation'' wins him the award for dumbest human being ever. Oh, and he's not even chatting to a friend. He's ''selling weed''.)

* InformedWrongness:
** David is sensible if [[{{Jerkass}} insensitive]] for most of the film and is treated as a (literal) punching bag by Shaun. Even his argument for staying in the apartment is proven right by the end. As it's a parody of [[TooDumbToLive typical zombie movies]], it may have been intentional.
*** On the other hand, he doesn't disagree with Shaun because it's the smartest thing to do, he simply hates Shaun and [[CommanderContrarian wants to be a difficult, jealous prick.]]
*** Plus, as his own girlfriend points out, if he was that certain of what to do, he'd have taken charge instead of drifting along with what Shaun was doing and making snide comments from the sidelines; he's just a pompous know-it-all when it comes down to it.
** A better example might be Shaun's other friend Pete, who is depicted as a bit of an asshole for his obvious contempt for Shaun's best friend Ed, viewing him as a load who holds Shaun back. However, even before the events of the Zombie Apocalypse in which Ed increasingly becomes TheLoad for real, it's hard not to think that Pete has a point.
*** Even Shaun realises he's right about him needing to sort his life out and that Ed cam be more annoying than he's worth.

** For a character who's seemingly meant to come across as a {{Jerkass}} Pete has plenty of fans who take his side and find him to be a decent enough character.
* FauxSymbolism: There's some level of social observation, and the apparent suggestion that in 21st century Britain many people live life in an unthinking, zombie-like state - the introductory footage of everyday life at the film's beginning, Shaun and Ed's first few zombie encounters - in which they fail to notice anything unusual going on, and [[spoiler:the ending, where society becomes completely desensitized to violence, and Ed lives on, undead and tied up in the shed. Creepy.]]

** Shaun and Ed fending off two zombies by throwing vinyl records at them...but only the ones they're willing to break.

** Shaun ''definitely'' needs a hug after everything that happens to him in one day...

* DesignatedVillain: Pete. The film tries to make him out to be an intolerable JerkAss whose death is treated as karma, but his frustration towards Ed is actually very understandable considering Ed moved in without asking, leaves the house a mess, doesn't work, and is frequently pulling pranks on Pete. Pete was even polite to him (if a bit passive aggressive) when he asked Ed to do his chores, and when Shaun and Ed are inconsiderately having a rave at four in the morning while Pete has to get up early for work, he was still fairly reasonable about it and nice enough to allow them to keep partying so long as they turned the music down, until Ed angered him by calling him a prick.

*** Even Shaun realises he's right about him needing to sort his life out.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: We're clearly supposed to see Pete as an unlikable {{Jerkass}} because of how rudely he treats Shaun and Ed. However, Pete is actually quite justified in doing so, especially when Shaun and Ed are playing loud music at 4 in the morning, because how would you feel if you were struggling to get to sleep because two obnoxious idiots are staying up all night playing music so loud that you can't even sleep? Especially if you have to get up early for work. Therefore it doesn't really make sense to portray Pete in a negative light because of that, when really it's Shaun and Ed who are in the wrong.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Speaking of which, we're supposed to be on Shaun and Ed's side when Pete freaks out at them for playing loud techno music at 4 in the morning, even though anyone would understandably be just as pissed off as Pete if someone was disturbing their sleep by playing loud music late at night, which makes Pete's treatment of Shaun and Ed something of a KickTheSonOfABitch moment.

** This one actually crosses it a few times. Shaun and his stepfather Phil make their peace right before the latter passes on, all the while in an overcrowded car that Ed is taking on a joyride. When Shaun tries breaking the bad news to his mum, she remarks that Phil's alive. Shaun turns and sees Phil has already zombified. When everyone scrambles out of the car and locks Phil in (accidentally turing on the radio full blast in the commotion), Shaun tells his mother that there's nothing left of the man she once loved. Zombie Phil switches off the radio seemingly in response to that and Shaun just flatly says "Let's go".

* MoralEventHorizon: While not really evil, [[{{Jerkass}} David]], having [[JerkassHasAPoint just forced Shaun to shoot his now zombified mother]], makes a snide comment, causing Shaun to punch him in the face. What does David do? ''[[DisproportionateRetribution Grabs the rifle, points it at Shaun, and pulls the trigger]]''. By sheer luck, the gun is empty, but the others (quite rightly) react with utter disgust at David for this.
** As if ''that'' wasn't enough, his first reaction when called out on it is to say "[[DirtyCoward I'm leaving]]" instead of facing them, and attempting to open the door and march into a crowd of zombies. Even if he was [[TooDumbToLive delusional]] enough to think he would survive, he's shown his willingness to lower everyone else's chances of survival purely out of spite. And he even tries to talk Dianne into following him with the claim that they will be safe, after it's been well established that he only sees her as a replacement for Liz and a way to stay around her.
** Though he does [[HeelFaceDoorSlam try to apologize to Shaun for doing that, but gets mauled by the zombies before being able to]].
** He does, however, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath succeed in apologizing in the extended take of that scene]].