Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead
Image:Shaun-of-the-Dead.jpg UK film poster for Shaun of the Dead
Directed by	Edgar Wright
Produced by	Nira Park
Written by	Simon Pegg Edgar Wright
Starring	Simon Pegg Kate Ashfield Nick Frost Lucy Davis Bill Nighy Dylan Moran
Distributed by	Rogue Pictures non-US United International Pictures
Release date(s)	April 9, 2004 September 24, 2004
Running time	99 min.
Language	English
Budget	UK £4 million (est.) [1] [2]
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Shaun of the Dead is a zombie-themed romantic comedy, or "rom zom com" as it dubs itself, released in 2004 (April 9 in the United Kingdom, September 24 in the United States). It was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, directed by Edgar Wright, and stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The plot focuses on Shaun (played by Pegg), an unmotivated young man who is attempting to get some kind of focus in his life, reconcile with his ex-girlfriend and settle his various issues with his mother and stepfather, whilst simultaneously having to cope with an apocalyptic uprising of zombies that is causing the fabric of society to collapse. It was a critical and commercial success in both the United Kingdom and the United States. The name is a play on the title Dawn of the Dead.

The movie is notable for a kinetic directorial style used by Wright and, in particular, for the number of references to other movies, television shows and video games which are included. In this way, it is similar to (although not a direct continuation of) the British television sitcom Spaced, which both Pegg and Wright worked on (Pegg as co-creator, writer and star, Wright as director). In particular, the movie contains many homages to previous zombie and horror movies, most notably the Dead trilogy of George A. Romero, to which the movie is generally accepted as both a parody of and a loving homage.

Synopsis

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is an appliance salesman who is going nowhere in his life. His girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is dissatisfied with their relationship, primarily because it mainly involves going to the Winchester, Shaun’s local pub; he is having issues with his beloved mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and his hated stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy); he is trapped in a dissatisfying job where his younger co-workers show him no respect; and his life seems to revolve around playing video games with Ed (Nick Frost), his lazy and slobby life-long best friend, who is a constant bad influence on him. Following a broken promise to do something special for their anniversary, Liz dumps Shaun, and after drowning his sorrows at the Winchester with Ed, Shaun has an epiphany and resolves to sort his life out.

Unfortunately, this revelation about his life comes at the same time that London is swamped with an uprising of the undead, as the recently deceased begin to attack and devour the living. Once he gradually comes to realize the gravity of the situation (following a close shave when he was attacked by a zombie he merely assumed to be a drunk in his garden), Shaun decides to take action. Displaying surprising determination and leadership skills, he, along with Ed, rescues Liz and Barbara, along with Phillip, and Liz’s friends, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis), who have been trapped in their respective homes, and decides to take them to safety and shelter; which, to Shaun, means the Winchester.

Following a dangerous journey (during which Phillip, who has been badly injured, dies and returns as a zombie), the group manage to elude the zombies surrounding the Winchester and, once Shaun has led the zombies away, barricade themselves inside. Shaun returns to the pub, claiming that he gave the zombies the slip, but they soon return, and eventually break their way into to the pub. Many of the group (including Barbara, wounded by a zombie during the earlier journey; David, torn apart by zombies when he decides to leave the Winchester; and Ed, who is bitten by a zombie and ultimately becomes one himself) are killed (Dianne is assumed dead); but Shaun and Liz, who have reconciled over the course of the day, survive, and are saved by the British Army. Six months after the zombies arrived, society has returned to ‘normal’, and Shaun and Liz are living together — along with Ed, now a zombie, who 'lives' (so to speak) in the garden shed, where Shaun joins him in playing video games. Dianne also survives, having climbed a tree and eaten David's leg, though this is only seen during a bonus feature on the DVD.

Plot

Pre-Credits — The Winchester

The movie opens with Shaun (Simon Pegg), sitting in the Winchester, his local pub, opposite his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), who is explaining her dissatisfaction with their current lifestyle — mainly because their social life seems to consist entirely of going to the Winchester. To make matters worse, Shaun insists on bringing along his lazy, shabby (and occasionally Cannabis dealing) best friend and flatmate Ed (Nick Frost), which only prompts Liz to bring out her friends, the condescending and insufferable David (Dylan Moran), who nurses a painfully obvious infatuation with Liz, and his girlfriend, the bubbly-yet-ditzy Diana (Lucy Davis). Shaun resolves to change, and promises to book reservations for a romantic dinner at a local fish restaurant in order to celebrate their upcoming anniversary.

The Day Before Z-Day / The Break-Up

The next day, Shaun reluctantly prepares for another day at work, whilst Ed makes himself comfy on the sofa playing TimeSplitters 2 on the PlayStation 2 and their other, much more successful flatmate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) complains about Ed’s continued presence (especially since Ed contributes nothing to the house and refuses to tidy up after himself). Ed, of course, pays no attention to Pete, and Shaun leaves for work, missing a message from Liz about their plans for that night. It is seemingly a normal day at work for Shaun, with the younger employees at the electronics store he works at giving him plenty of attitude and his hated stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy) dropping in to give him an equal amount of grief about his visit to his mother’s tomorrow, and his tedious and uneventful life. But there is something ominous in the air — emergency and army vehicles race through the streets, people are behaving oddly and collapsing, sick and dying, seemingly at random, and the news is full of strange and grisly events.

Shaun, however, is easily distracted from these strange occurrences — and when a chance meeting with Yvonne (Jessica Stevenson), an old friend from college, reminds him that he’s forgotten about his dinner plans with Liz, he’s in no mood to consider anything else. Unfortunately, by the time he calls the restaurant all the tables are booked, and Liz is greatly unimpressed by his back-up suggestion to go to the Winchester. An attempt to woo her back with flowers (originally purchased for his mother for his visit) is unsuccessful, and Liz finally dumps Shaun (much to David’s delight). After drowning his sorrows and telling dirty jokes at the Winchester with Ed (again with ominous overtones as someone bangs on the door and people in the street behave oddly after Shaun and Ed leave the pub), there is an ugly confrontation later that night. Pete angrily berates Shaun for wasting his time with Ed, and for not making anything of his life (Pete is wearing a bandage on his hand where a "mugger" bit him earlier that day) which convinces Shaun that his life needs a serious overhaul. After writing himself a note reminding him to go to his mum's, win back Liz and 'sort his life out', Shaun collapses to sleep in the kitchen. Unfortunately, it is at the moment where he has a revelation about his life that London is overtaken with flesh-eating zombies.

Z-Day

Shaun wakes up in the same position, nursing a hangover. As he walks to the local shop to get himself a Diet Coke and Ed a Cornetto, he fails to notice the ominously empty streets of his neighborhood, which practically overnight have been trashed and deserted, and fails to register that many of his neighbors are either dead or have become zombies, staggering around the streets. Back home, Shaun only manages to catch brief clips of the news as he channel surfs (which ironically, combined with the other various shows, actually tells the story of the zombie takeover), only noticing something is wrong when Ed informs him that there is a girl in their garden — and even then, he just assumes that the girl lunging at him is just extremely drunk and horny until he accidentally pushes her onto a metal spike, impaling her… and she rises again, apparently unconcerned about or unhampered by the gaping hole in her torso. They turn to retreat into the house and find a second zombie staring at them.

Relatively safe inside the house, Shaun and Ed try and call for the local emergency services (police, fire service) in vain, as the lines are clogged ("engaged", as Shaun puts it, for Ed to easily pun from). They then sit down to watch the news — but unfortunately, Ed has (again) left the door open, and they are startled by the unwelcome appearance of an armless zombie (“He’s got an arm off!!”). After a brief tossing of objects at the unwelcome intruder Ed smashes an ashtray over its head, instantly killing it. Upon hearing advice from the news on how to slay the zombies ("Removing the head or destroying the brain"), the two arm themselves and try to dispatch the zombies in their backyard — first with various kitchen utensils, then a selective application of LPs (including the "Blue Monday" single by New Order and the Batman soundtrack by Prince) from Shaun’s record collection, before finally meeting success with a cricket bat and a shovel.

Rescuing Barbara and Liz

Having now realised the magnitude of the situation, Shaun turns his attention to the rescue of both his mother, Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and Liz. Stealing the car of their flatmate Pete (whom Shaun unpleasantly discovers has become a zombie), they drive to Barbara’s house, intending to dispatch Phillip — who has also been bitten — and collect Liz, before driving over the Winchester, have a cool pint, and wait for this to "blow over". Unfortunately, Barbara — who is more than a little confused about how ‘bitey’ their attackers were — refuses to leave without Phillip, forcing Shaun to begin to confront his resentment for his stepfather with the dawning realization that he was not the easiest person to live with either. As Ed has destroyed Pete’s car in order to get a chance at driving Phillip’s Jaguar, the four are delayed — and Phillip is surprised and savagely attacked further by more zombies before they manage to get away in the Jag.

Liz’s rescue is no easier, as a) both Dianne and David are present and b) it appears they didn’t actually need rescuing until Shaun — who seems to have attracted a large zombie presence to their flat — arrived anyway. Nevertheless, Shaun manages to convince the three that they will be safe at the Winchester, and the group piles into the cramped Jaguar to reach the Winchester — which, incidentally, also allows Shaun to finally introduce his mother and his girlfriend. The drive to the Winchester is long and dangerous, thanks to Ed’s increasing recklessness, but Phillip, with his dying words, tells Shaun that he loved him, and only tried to act as a role model for Shaun to look up to. Shaun, tearful and too late, finally makes peace with his stepfather — only to have to deal with the resurrected zombie version moments later. Locking the re-animated Philip in the Jag, the group have to leave their weapons behind in the car, or risk letting Philip out.

Escaping the car, the group is forced to take the backstreets to the Winchester. Here, Shaun again bumps into Yvonne, who is leading a group who are eerily similar to Shaun’s but who are definitely more successful, before finally leading his team through the back gardens. After briefly being separated from Barbara, and rescuing her from a zombie, Shaun takes the opportunity to scan the coast. Unfortunately, the zombies seem to have had the same idea as Shaun, and the Winchester is surrounded by the undead.

Lock-in at the Winchester

As the group attempt to figure out how to get through the seemingly impenetrable zombie blockade, Dianne, an aspiring actress, uses her skills and comes into her own. After an impromptu acting class, the group impersonate the zombies and take a dangerous walk through the zombie horde — which, miraculously, pays no attention to the group. They manage to reach the front door. Unfortunately, it is locked, and neither the landlord or his wife appear to be answering the door. As if that wasn't bad enough, Ed decides that this is the optimum time to take a phone call on his mobile. Finally reaching the limit of his patience with Ed, Shaun knocks the phone away and angrily lambastes Ed for his selfishness, especially in light of the remarkable degree of tolerance Shaun has shown towards him, and resolves never to look foolish as a result of Ed’s actions ever again.

Unfortunately, Shaun's soul-searching has been conducted at the top of his voice and has thus attracted the attention of many incredibly hungry zombies. Their cover shattered, David smashes a window to let everyone in — but the zombies will merely follow after them, and so Shaun, daringly, acts as a human bait, running and taking the zombie hordes with him. Twenty minutes pass as the group await Shaun, during which David makes an ill-advised leadership play, decrying Shaun’s plan as being little more than "sitting and eating peanuts in the dark." The attempted coup is thwarted by Shaun's casual arrival — having seemingly given the zombies the slip, he has entered through the back entrance, and his presence has a boosting effect on everyone's morale.

It soon transpires, however, that Shaun’s plan actually wasn’t anything more than sitting and eating peanuts in the dark, and when the power comes on, the group discover that the zombies merely returned to the pub after Shaun gave them the slip. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a surprise attack from the (now deceased) pub landlord, John, the jukebox’s decision to randomly start playing Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" at full volume and David's inability to work the fusebox ensures that the Winchester has every zombie’s full attention. And the zombies “definitely want to come in”. Attacking the landlord with pool cues proves to be a futile gesture until Ed locates a rifle (which gives the Winchester it's name) and throws it to Shaun, who uses it to force the landlord's head into the jukebox, taking care of both. When questioned by Ed as to why he didn't just shoot the landlord with it, Shaun wearily begins to explain once again to Ed that it isn't a real gun... until he accidentally fires it.

The Zombies Break In

The discovery of the rifle means that the gang now have a more powerful weapon to use in their defense; however, it's also one that none of them have any skill or experience in using. As the zombies try to break in, Shaun, Ed, Dianne and David share the responsibilities of firing and aiming the weapon to defend the pub, whilst Liz takes Barbara to safety... only to discover the hideous wound she has been concealing. It transpires that she was bitten in her earlier attack in the back garden of the house near the pub and does not have long to live. As Shaun tearfully begs his mother not to die, she slips away... and David, picking up the rifle, callously decides to finish her permanently.

A tense, Reservoir Dogs-esque Mexican stand-off with broken bottles follows, with the hysterical Shaun accusing David of maliciously trying to kill his mum out of spite. David is forced to confront his own (long-denied) feelings for Liz, but the confrontation is broken as Barbara returns to life, looking at her son in confusion. Shaun points the gun at her head: but she only hisses viciously when David shouts to shoot — at which point Shaun shoots her. Then, following an ill-timed, callous and smug response from David ("Well, I think we can all agree you did the right thing."), Shaun punches David in the face, knocking him down next to the gun. David grabs the gun and tries to shoot Shaun - fortunately, the gun jams, and rather than face the recriminations of the others David decides to flee. He is stopped only by Dianne, who to his surprise refuses to accompany him and angrily demands that he face up the truth about his feelings for Liz and apologize to Shaun for his cruel behavior. Broken, David begins to apologise to Shaun for his actions... but before he can, the window behind him breaks, and he is pulled, screaming, into the zombie horde. As the others desperately try to pull him back, he is viciously (and graphically) torn apart and eaten.

Hysterical, Dianne, brandishing one of David's legs (which are the only parts of him anyone managed to save), opens the doors to try and rescue him, allowing the zombies to swarm into the bar. She disappears into the crowd of zombies and is not seen again (an extra scene on the DVD reveals that she in fact survived by climbing up a tree and staying up there for 3-4 days, surviving on eating David's leg), leaving the three remaining survivors to try and stem the tide. During their struggles, Ed is viciously bitten by the zombie Pete (whom Shaun, enraged, shoots and kills, whilst screaming "Leave him alone!"). They manage to make their way behind the bar and, setting the pub on fire with spirits, make their way to the cellar.

Apparently trapped underground, and with zombies breaking through the cellar door, Shaun breaks down, berating himself for his failures. Liz comforts him, and they reunite as a couple. Before they can use the last two bullets in the gun on themselves, Liz discovers the barrel hatch that leads to the streets, and Shaun and Liz prepare to leave. Ed decides to stay, reasoning that he would only hold Shaun back. Giving him the gun, Shaun bids his friend an emotional farewell before leaving, with his girlfriend, to the street. Surrounded by zombies and with little chance of survival, the two prepare to go down fighting. However, at this point the British Army arrives, having been rounding up survivors and dealing with the zombies with terminal force. Among the survivors with the army convoy is Yvonne (although the fate of the rest of her party is unknown), who joyfully reunites with Shaun and Liz ("I'm glad somebody made it."). Holding hands, Shaun and Liz are led away to the convoy.

Six Months Later

The movie cuts to six months later. British society has returned to relative normality, with the zombie menace completely under control. Now living together, Shaun and Liz watch TV about the events of "Z-Day" (and the continuing integration of zombies into society) in Shaun’s newly cleaned and spruced up flat. Together they agree to have a fun and varied day, a testament to how their relationship now has the spice Liz wanted. On the other hand, their day, while more varied in its activities than before, seems to mostly consist of the sort of laid-back activities that Shaun enjoys, culminating in spending the end of their evening in the pub (now named The Phoenix, as the The Winchester burned down during the zed-word invasion, and a new one has resurrected from the ashes), indicating that the couple have found a happy medium. Before they do, however, Shaun decides to go to the shed wherein sits his Playstation 2 and Ed, now a chained-up zombie. They play Timesplitters 2 . After snapping at Ed for a half-hearted attempt to bite him, Shaun contentedly settles back to play video games with his best friend, with the satirical implication that their relationship is little changed due to the similarity between the living Ed and the zombie version.

Cast

Background

The film was initially inspired by an episode of Spaced, written by Pegg (along with his writing partner and co-star Jessica Stevenson, who also appears in Shaun as Yvonne) and directed by Wright, in which the character of Tim (played by Pegg), under the influence of speed, the PlayStation video game Resident Evil 2, and twiglets, hallucinates that he's fighting off a zombie invasion. The two men enjoyed making the episode a great deal and, having discovered a mutual appreciation for the Dead trilogy of George A. Romero, decided to write and make their own zombie movie. Spaced would be a big influence on the making of Shaun, as it would be directed by Wright in a similar style, and would feature many of the same cast and crew in minor and major roles (as well as Pegg, Wright and Stevenson, Nick Frost — who played Mike in Spaced — would have a starring role in Shaun as Ed, and Peter Serafinowicz — Duane Benzie in Spaced — appeared in Shaun as Pete.).

The film is notable for the number of British comedians, comic actors and sitcom stars present in its cast, most prominently from Spaced, Black Books and the original British version of The Office. As well as the cast members previously mentioned as having appeared in Spaced, Shaun also stars Dylan Moran, well-known as Bernard Black in Black Books, and Lucy Davis, who played Dawn in The Office. In addition to this, cameo appearances are made by Martin Freeman (Tim in The Office), Tamsin Greig (Fran in Black Books, Caroline in Green Wing), Julia Deakin (Marsha in Spaced), Reece Shearsmith (a member of 'The League of Gentlemen') and Matt Lucas (a writer / co-star of Little Britain). In addition, the voices of Mark Gatiss ('The League of Gentlemen') and Julia Davis (Nighty Night) can be heard as radio news presenters, as can David Walliams ('Little Britain') who provides the voice of an unseen TV reporter. Numerous other comics and comic actors appear in extremely brief appearances as zombies, including Rob Brydon, Pamela Kempthorne (Morticia de'Ath in The Vampires of Bloody Island), Joe Cornish, Peter Kay (Phoenix Nights), Antonia Campbell-Hughes (from the Jack Dee sit com Lead Balloon) and Michael Smiley (Tyres in Spaced).

The production was filmed entirely in London, primarily at Ealing Studios, and involved production companies Working Title Films and StudioCanal. An early working title was Tea Time of the Dead. Zombie extras were mainly fans of Spaced (who responded to a casting call organized through the Spaced fan website 'Spaced Out') or local residents who, curious at what was happening, asked if they could take part. In its opening weekend in the US, Shaun earned US$3.3M, taking 8th place at the box office despite a limited release to only 607 theatres (compared to the usual 2000-3000 for other top 10 entries). In the UK it took in £1.6M at 307 cinemas on its opening weekend and netted £6.4M by mid-May. The movie was a critical and commercial success, and George A. Romero, creator of the films that this movie largely references, was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's work that he asked them to appear in Land of the Dead, the fourth part of his "Dead" series, in cameo. Pegg and Wright insisted on being zombies rather than the slightly more noticeable roles that were originally offered (as revealed in a DVD interview).

In 2004 the magazine Total Film named Shaun of the Dead the 49th greatest British film of all time. In 2005, it was rated as the 3rd greatest comedy film of all time in a Channel 4 poll. [3] In 2006, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced that they would be producing Action Figures based on the film as part of their Cult Classics line that features fan favorite characters from various genre films.

Pegg and Wright also scripted a one-off tie-in comic strip for the British comic magazine 2000AD entitled "There's Something About Mary". Set the day before the zombie outbreak as depicted in the film, the strip follows and expands on the character of Mary, the first zombie whom Shaun and Ed encounter, and details how she became a zombie. It features expanded appearances from many of the minor or background characters who appear in the film. The strip was made available on the DVD release of Shaun.

Prominent devices

Shaun of the Dead is notable for its prominent use of intertextual popular culture references and homages to other movies, television shows and video games, and its frequent use of repetition and foreshadowing for effect.

References

As with Spaced, in keeping with Pegg and Wright's adoration of the horror genre and films within that genre, as well as popular culture in a wider sense, there are many in-jokes and references to other films, television programs and pop-culture artifacts. These take the form of character names, scenes, snippets of dialogue and background materials, and are frequently made in either an overt sense (such as David's death scene in Shaun, which reflects the similar death of Rhodes in Day of the Dead, and the use of the phrase "We're coming to get you, Barbara!") or in a more subtle fashion (such as 'Foree Electronics', Shaun's workplace, being a reference to Ken Foree, a star of Dawn of the Dead).

Most prominently, many references are made to George A. Romero's Dead movies (Night, Dawn and Day of the Dead, with Dawn in particular being referenced). In particular, the plot of Shaun relates directly to the plots of many of Romero's zombie movies - being that all involve several people trapped in a building with flesh-eating zombies attempting to break in to devour them, with a lack of direct explanation or numerous conflicting explanations given for the cause of the zombie plague. The title Shaun of the Dead is also both an obvious parody of and homage to the title Dawn of the Dead. Numerous lines, scenes and background details also directly refer to the Romero movies. Also, the music playing when the universal logo plays is a parody of the electro sountrack to dawn of the dead.

As well as Romero's work, numerous other horror movies (particularly zombie movies) are referenced. These include references to Ash, the main character of the The Evil Dead series, 28 Days Later... and the movies of horror directors Lucio Fulci and John Carpenter. More diversely, references to Blade, The Deer Hunter, Reservoir Dogs, the films of James Cameron and the Star Wars trilogy can be found. Several references to video games involving zombies, including TimeSplitters 2 and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, are also present.

A short clip of the music video to The Smiths' single "Panic" is also shown in the movie, where the line "Panic on the streets of London" is heard whilst Shaun is flicking through TV channels. Additionally, a remix of a song by the group Zombie Nation, called "Kernkraft 400", is heard during one scene while Shaun is on a bus.

Several references are made to the sitcom Spaced, which most of the cast and crew worked on, including references to 'fried gold' (a phrase frequently used behind the scenes by the cast and crew) and the repetition of the "He's not my boyfriend!...Thanks, babe" exchange between Pegg and Frost's characters.

Foreshadowing and repetition

Foreshadowing and repetition are two devices commonly used in the movie; at several points, the script/actions of the characters at one point are repeated for dramatic or comedic effect. The repetitive nature of the scenes and dialogue in the film lend it towards repeat viewings; one can watch the movie several times and still not "catch" everything. The repetition is most probably used to highlight a theme within the movie of, in the face of a crisis, how little life actually changes.

A significant example of this occurring within the film is the repetition of Shaun's morning routine of going to a local shop and buying a can of Coke both before and after the zombies have arisen (with the notable observation that Shaun, on the second day, fails to notice that anything is amiss despite the rather distinct changes, such as a jogger who was jogging the day before the zombies have arisen is now running for his life, the busted car which is usually kept clean, etc). Certain lines of dialogue, such as Shaun and Yvonne's greetings ("How are you doing?" "Surviving."), Ed's swearing and later gun handling advice ("Cock it!") and flatulence jokes exclusively for Shaun ("I'm sorry, Shaun."), and comments on Shaun's increasingly stained shirt ("You've got red on you.") are also repeated throughout the movie. Several characters unknowingly describe events that later occur in the movie (including a scene where a child throws a football at Shaun, who replies with "You're dead", unknown reference to part later in the movie, where the same child, now a zombie, throws the football at Shaun, another scene where Ed, after an argument with Pete at 3am the morning of Z-Day, states "Next time I see him, he's dead", and later in the morning when Ed next sees Pete he is now dead and turned into a zombie, and another scene where Ed, planning a day's drinking following Shaun and Liz's break-up, unknowingly describes the various stages the characters will face against the zombies). More subtly, lines such as "Go and live in the shed" give away Ed's eventual fate; another example occurs near the beginning, when Shaun is giving Ed advice on playing TimeSplitters 2 ("Top left", "reload", "I'm on it" and "Nice shot!") and this happens again when Shaun is shooting the zombies in the Winchester (Although this time, Ed is giving the commands). Also, according to the DVD sub-titles which has secret tid-bits about the movie, each character's name hints to their fate (Liz lives, Barbara is a Cadaver, Di Survives etc)

Box office

The film has earned $30 million worldwide in box office receipts since its release.

Trivia

• Scenes filmed outside of The Winchester were actually filmed outside of The Duke of Albany pub in Monson Road, just off the Old Kent Road in New Cross South East London. Once a regular for Millwall fans, it is now boarded up and is planned to be turned into flats.^{[citation needed]}
• In the UK, both this film and the remake of Dawn of the Dead were originally scheduled to be released the same week, but due to the similarity in the names of the two films, Universal opted to push back Shaun's release by two weeks.^{[citation needed]}
• The video game TimeSplitters 2 is featured prominently several times in this film. In the third installment of TimeSplitters, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, one of the characters (Clip Clamp) who is a zombie asks "Do I have red on me?" when the player selects him.^{[citation needed]} This is a reference to a line in Shaun of the Dead.
• The extras who played the zombies were all paid £1 for every day's work on set^{[citation needed]}, although some were local residents (of Nelson Road, Crouch End, where Shaun's flat is) and Spaced fans who turned up and took part for nothing.
• The actor who plays Tyres in Spaced (Michael Smiley), appeared as a zombie outside the Winchester, complete in Tyres's cycling uniform.
• National Entertainment Collectibles Association released a Shaun of the Dead Shaun action figure that includes a box of records as seen in the film.
• The "Fun Dead" theme is "The Gonk" from Dawn of the Dead (1978).
• When Shaun and Liz are sitting on the sofa near the end of the film you hear a news presenter say that the zombies were not caused by rage infected monkeys, a reference to the film 28 Days Later.
• Simon Pegg and Kate Ashfield starred together in the film Guest House Paradiso

See also

• Zomedy
• Romantic comedy
• Hot Fuzz

Wikipedia information about Shaun of the Dead This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shaun of the Dead". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.