By Thomas Chau in New York City

It's been a while since someone has been able to successfully blend horror and comedy together but that's exactly what the comedy team behind the cult British show "Spaced" has done.

Director Edgar Wright and star Simon Pegg bring their wacky comic styles to their very successful zombie import, "Shaun of the Dead." A romance, horror, comedy, spoof all in one, the film takes us back to George Romero's classic zombie films and puts a new twist in the genre. Actor Simon Pegg plays the lead role of Shaun, a washed out appliance salesman who finds his world around him crumbling apart: his girlfriend wants to dump him, his friends are crazy, he hates his stepdad, and he absolutely hates his job. But as he wakes up one day, he finds that today isn't like any other day: the dead has risen and it's time to step up as a hero. Maybe this will, once and for all, show his girlfriend that he IS a man.

At a pub in Manhattan several weeks ago, Simon and Edgar chatted with us over lunch about the British import. Make no mistake when I say this to you friends: this movie is pretty damn good.

Q: Did you have American audiences' interest in mind when you did the movie?

EDGAR: We made a couple of concessions in the script. There was one bit that we changed where they’re in the garden and the line they say when they first see the zombie and they go, “Oh my God, she’s so drunk.” Originally they said, “Oh my God, she’s so pissed,” which obviously means angry here. We didn’t want that to be a confusion. There were probably a couple of lines that we changed. And we kept an eye on the fact that some of the songs and albums and films mentioned are all pretty universal.

At the same time we didn’t want to condescend to anybody, least of all the international audience. If I’m watching an American film, I want to see some American culture. If I’m watching an Australian film, I want to see some Australian culture. The British films that I despise the most are the ones that try to be transatlantic. UK audiences don’t like it, and US audiences don’t buy it either. What’s been really encouraging during this tour, doing festivals and stuff and screenings, is that people really get into it and like the fact that there are cultural differences.

Q: Is that why you decided to take a jab at "28 Days Later"? So you could bring in a piece of British work into it?

EDGAR: I felt that for a film that’s really, really serious the idea that it’s based on the idea that a monkey has watched some footage of some riots causes a national epidemic is pretty insane. And that’s actually my voice at the end, the newsreader saying, “And initial reports that the virus was caused by rage infected monkeys has now been dismissed as complete bullshit.” Luckily Andrew McDonald, who is the producer of that film, thought it was really funny. And we made more money!

Q: Did you like "28 Days Later"?

EDGAR: I liked the first half of it. I really like Alex Garland, I think he’s a great writer. My only critique with that film is not with the film itself but in the press for the film. Danny Boyle went out of his way several times to diss the old films and to say, “I’m not a fan of Romero’s work. Those are much more campy; this is a much more serious work and has a more satirical edge.” And I’m thinking, have you even SEEN "Dawn of the Dead"? Because that film has more satire and subtext than your film does and whole scenes from your film are straight out of that film. The bit with the refueling and the kid, the end with the military base and the zombie chained up and who’s worse, the zombies or the army? I think that’s from "Day of the Dead" isn’t it. But I think Alex Garland is a great writer and he’s said on several occasions to say that his film is a tribute to George Romero, John Wyndham and Richard Matheson. So he’s off the hook.

Q: George Romero apparently liked your movie...

EDGAR: It was like getting the nod from the Pope. We were really pleased and it was one of those things where I thought, everything else after this is a bonus now. The film wouldn’t exist without him, it’s a valentine to his films, and it’s our way of paying homage to our favorite films. Since then it’s been a bit overwhelming for the last couple of months because it’s not just George Romero, we’ve begun to meet other of our heroes who have seen the film. Peter Jackson has given us a press quote as well, so our poster has got Romero AND Peter Jackson on it.

Q: So is "From Dusk Til Shaun" happening?

EDGAR: There were a lot of ideas. One idea was to do a direct sequel – not to give too much away, but one of the main characters ends up a zombie – so it would almost be a cross between "Every Which Way But Loose" and "Weekend at Bernie’s." The other idea we had was to do the alternate reality sequel, where you do the "Run Lola Run" thing where the film just starts again and you’re watching a different day and it’s like left turn for zombies, right turn for something completely different. But we thought that if we spent the next two years doing another Shaun films we would be one joke merchants. We want to do a sequel in tone, and the idea for the next film is to do something with a very similar sensibility and a similar sense of humor but tackling a different genre. Also there’s that thing, where the filmmakers that we really admire like Tarantino and Wes Anderson and Paul Thomas Anderson have this feeling of a rep company that’s ever expanding, and in an ever expanding universe.

"Shaun of the Dead" opens in theaters this Friday.