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Sun 10 August 2025 15:45, UK
If you had to guess two genres that would encompass Simon Pegg‘s favourite films, they’d be comedy and horror and, most likely, a hybrid of the two.
The actor, screenwriter and comedian is best known for his Cornetto trilogy, which he wrote and starred in alongside fellow English actor Nick Frost, which consisted of Dawn of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and The World’s End. His mastery of the violent action comedy genre has been helped by his collaboration with director Edgar Wright, whose direction of Hot Fuzz and The World’s End gave both films their well-known quick-cut shots and visceral soundscapes.
In an interview with The Quietus, Pegg laid his cards on the table, picking not one, not four, but 13 of his favourite movies, and he did not disappoint; from John Carpenter’s iconic vampire horror Dawn of the Dead, which loosely influenced Pegg’s own project Shaun of the Dead, to Blood Simple, an early brutal Coen brothers joint starring Nicholas Cage, Philip Kaufman’s scifi horror Invasion of The Body Snatchers, and, of course, a Star Wars film.
In the mix was also the eclectic 1984 musical comedy film, This is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary starring Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer as members of a fictional heavy metal band called Spinal Tap, characterised as “one of England’s loudest bands”.
They’re followed around on their American tour by documentarian Marty Di Bergi, who hilariously becomes the embodiment of the hagiographical, venerating approach to rock documentaries. It satirises the pretentiousness of rock bands and creates the iconic “Up to 11″ line, referring to the band’s amplifier’s knob, which goes up to eleven instead of ten.
“One of the things about This is Spinal Tap that amazed me was that when I first saw it was that I didn’t even know those guys were American,” Pegg told Quietus. “I was shocked to discover they were doing accents. It blew me away, and subsequently watching films like Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show, they’ve always been more fun to watch because of this movie.”
Pegg recommended watching the film with commentary on the DVD with Guest, McKean and Shearer in character, which is “like watching it for the first time – it’s a whole new experience and really funny… That particular film is such a lightning in a bottle… It can be seen as a film or a series of very funny sketches.”
This is Spinal Tap was one of the first movies to play with the mockumentary style to great success, and found a legion of loyal fans for its playful and refreshing take. A sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, is on its way and will also be directed by Rob Reiner, alongside Guest, McKean, and Shearer, who will reprise their roles as members of Spinal Tap reuniting for one final concert.
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