When the undead come to life, perhaps your drab existence could liven up as well.

That could be the moral of "Shaun of the Dead." Then again, maybe all this sly English horror comedy wants to do is poke fun at the aimless ways of average young adults, with nothing else on its mind beside refining "Dawn of the Dead's" social critique and exposing intestine-length gobs of gore.

Director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the script, also make one nearly brilliant addition to zomboid movie lore. Along with the obvious (though smartly updated from "Dawn," and drolly Anglicized) comparisons of oblivious workaday life to ghoulish monomania, "Shaun" proposes that the average bloke, when he finally realizes there's a zombie invasion, is still going to have to deal with the same petty annoyances that girls, boobish buddies and parents always create.

Pegg's Shaun is more or less content with his static, North London routine of brainless work in an appliance store, playing video games with his shiftless roommate Ed (a very funny Nick Frost) and taking his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) to the local pub every night. She'd like a little more out of their relationship, but, at 29, Shaun isn't quite ready to ... well, do much of anything.

But once Shaun and Ed comprehend that flesh-hungry zombies are stalking the high street (it takes about a day and a half for them to notice), our hero discovers previously untapped reserves of pluck and leadership within his slack self. He must save Liz and her two closest friends, even if he can't stand the friends. He must save his beloved mum ("Calendar Girls' " Penelope Wilton, dear and daffy), even if he can't stand his stepfather ("Love Actually's" Bill Nighy), who's probably a zombie anyway. And he must save Ed, even though the idiot will typically screw things up and probably get them all killed.

So Shaun hatches a master plan that reflects his newfound decisiveness in the face of apocalyptic urgency. It pretty much involves going to the pub.

Wright and Pegg come up with every gross zombie gag you could want. What's impressive is that while never missing the chance for a chuckle, they also build up better fear and tension than the vast majority of straight horror films do.

But the real marvel of "Shaun of the Dead" is how much compelling characterization it works in along with everything else. The actors are so subtly good at turning their comic archetypes into realistic (if not, technically, well-rounded) people that, whenever we lose one to the mindless munching masses, we feel the bite of real tragedy. And that's another rarity in attrition-count creature features, even George Romero's.

Who knew pint-glass realism and splatter satire could make for such frighteningly smart fun?

TITLE: "Shaun of the Dead"DIRECTOR: Edgar WrightCAST: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Penelope Wilton, Bill NighyRATED: R (violence, language)GRADE: * * * (on a scale of 5)