Pete



"And the front door is open... again!"

- Pete, to Shaun and Ed

Pete is a character in Shaun of the Dead.

Characterization
In the film Shaun of the Dead, Pete is Shaun’s flatmate. He’s a young professional in his late twenties, and he is very physically imposing.

When we first meet Pete, he is complaining to Shaun about he and Ed’s habit of leaving the front door open when they come in at night. He is also none too happy about Ed, and it’s quickly obvious that Shaun’s lazy friend is a source of constant tension.

It seems that Ed likes to take down his own phone messages but nobody else’s. Shaun and Ed discuss this in the kitchen, with Shaun predictably taking up for his friend. Pete seems less than impressed and reveals that Ed has been crashing with them for 5 years (after a night spent drinking and playing Tekken 2).

He is also annoyed with the fact that Ed doesn’t contribute to the rent. Shaun mentions that Ed does sell a bit of weed from time to time, which, of course, gets Pete started on another rant. During this conversation we learn that Shaun and Pete went to college together and Pete sold marijuana one time (to Shaun). Pete also mentions that he slept with a fat girl in college and dressed up as Frank N. Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but that he wouldn’t wish to do either for a living.

A bit later, Shaun and Pete talk to Ed and ask him to take down other people’s phone messages (as well as clean up around the place). Ed largely ignores Pete. When Pete turns to leave for work, we see that Ed has taped a note to his back which reads, "I Am A Prick."

The next time we see Pete is on the night of Shaun and Liz’s breakup. Ed and Shaun are playing music loudly in the wee hours of the morning, and Pete comes downstairs, grabs the record off the turntable, and throws it out the window. He berates the couple, but seems to soften just a bit when he learns that Liz broke it off with Shaun.

As he turns to go back to bed, Ed insults him. Furious, Pete nearly strikes Ed but Shaun steps between them. Pete dresses both of them down, claiming that all Ed ever does is hold Shaun back, and that Shaun’s inability to grow up is to blame for Liz’s rejection.

All the while, we notice that one of Pete’s hands is bandaged up. When Ed asks him about it, Pete mentions that he was mugged on the way home from work by some crackheads and one of them bit him. Complaining of a splitting headache, Pete then goes to bed so that he can be ready for work the next day (it’s supposed to be his day off, but everybody else in his office is sick). Ed remarks, "The next time I see him, he’s dead."

Z-Day
After the zombies attack, Shaun and Ed become concerned that the bite on Pete’s hand might be zombie related. They call up to Pete’s room but receive no answer. They notice that his car is still outside but assume that he got a ride with a friend.

When Shaun and Ed decide to go save Barbara and Liz, they realize that they’ll need to borrow Pete’s car (since neither has a car of his own). As Ed fondles the keys and dreams about driving Pete’s car, Shaun runs upstairs to quickly use the bathroom. After he washes his hands, Shaun notices that there’s someone in the shower. Pulling the curtains back, he sees a zombified Pete. His roommate reaches out for him, but Shaun flees the bathroom. As he and Ed drive away from their house, Shaun sees a naked Pete emerging from the front door.

The Winchester
Pete is not seen again until the end of the movie. During the final showdown at the Winchester, Pete is one of the many zombies who stream in through the backdoor. He heads straight for Ed and the pair grapple. This opens up Ed to a zombie bite from behind, which also allows Pete to take a bite out of his arm. Angered and surprised, Shaun shoots Pete in the head and kills him.

Moral
Despite his constant clashes with Ed, it can be assumed that Pete and Shaun’s friendship stretched back many years. Basically, he was Shaun’s "responsible" friend, as he was always trying to prevent Shaun from going down the same self-destructive path as Ed.