Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead
Film poster for Shaun of the Dead
Directed by	Edgar Wright
Written by	Simon Pegg Edgar Wright
Produced by	Nira Park
Starring	Simon Pegg Kate Ashfield Nick Frost Lucy Davis Dylan Moran Bill Nighy Penelope Wilton
Cinematography	David M. Dunlap
Edited by	Chris Dickens
Music by	Daniel Mudford Pete Woodhead
Distributed by	Universal Pictures Rogue Pictures non-US United International Pictures
Release dates	April 9 2004 September 24 2004
Running time	99 min.
Language	English
Budget	US$4 million (est.)

Shaun of the Dead is a zombie-themed romantic comedy, or "rom zom com" as it dubs itself, released in April 9 2004 in the United Kingdom and September 24 2004 in the United States. It was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, directed by Wright, and stars 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 joking reference to 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 whose films the movie is generally accepted as both a parody of and a loving homage.

Cast

Actor	Role
Simon Pegg	Shaun
Kate Ashfield	Liz
Lucy Davis	Dianne
Nick Frost	Ed
Dylan Moran	David
Penelope Wilton	Barbara
Bill Nighy	Philip
Peter Serafinowicz	Pete
Jessica Stevenson	Yvonne

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler 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 realise 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) 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 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.

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, sitcom stars, and regular TV personalities present in its cast, most prominently from Spaced, Black Books and the original British version of The Office. As well as the castmembers 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 and Michael Smiley (Tyres in Spaced). The "6 months later" coda features Sky News presenter Jeremy Thompson reminiscing on his disbelief in reporting how to kill zombies, Keith Chegwin presenting an "It's a Knockout"-style gameshow for zombies, and talk-show host Trisha Goddard holding an "I Married a Zombie!" feature on her show.

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 organised 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. [1] 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. Also,the fleshy wounds on the zombies were actually formed by mashing up pork chops and applying them.

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!", which mirrors a similar phrase used in Night of the Living Dead) 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.

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.

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. A zombie version of the character of Tyres from the series can also be seen when the group attempt to get into the Winchester, although only fleetingly in the final cut (a more clear view of the character is seen in the outtakes). Ada, the dog who acted as Colin in the series, was scheduled to make a cameo eating a dead body, but it was never filmed.

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 ("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, 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). Another 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). Another "foreshadowing" scene occurs when Shaun's flatmate Pete is yelling at Ed. In the heat of the moment he shouts "Why dont you go and live in the shed, you thick fuck!". Right at the end of the film, we see that this has actually happened, with a zombified Ed living in Shaun's shed. Also, according to the DVD sub-titles which has secret tid-bits about the movie, each character's name hints to their fate (although Dianne's contradicts the plot hole that claims she survived).

Trivia

• The film received only a 15 certificate in the UK despite the gore, violence, the use of the word fuck some 77 times in 99 minutes, one instance of the word cunt, and one of the word nigga.
• 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.
• The location of the shop where Shaun works is Garland Electronics in North Finchley, opposite the Autumn House bar that can be clearly seen outside the shop in the film.
• The song Ed and Shaun are singing when they leave the Winchester and the zombie "groans" a part of the chorus is "White Lines" by Melle Mel.
• 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.
• The video game TimeSplitters 2 is featured prominently several times in this film. In the third instalment 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. This is a reference to a line in Shaun of the Dead.
• Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay, appears as a zombie, and also appears as a guest on T4 Popworld in the movie, apparently founder of a charity called "Zombaid".
• When David reveals the zombies outside the Winchester's back door, the zombie to the right is played by comedian Paul Kaye.
• George Romero was sufficiently impressed with the film that he offered Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright cameos in his subsequent film Land of the Dead, as captive zombies which people paid to be photographed with.
• Near the end of the film when Shaun is flipping through the channels one of the programs mentions something about rage infected monkeys, this is of course what created the zombies in 28 Days Later.

See also

• Zomedy
• Romantic comedy
• Hot Fuzz

External links

• Shaun of the Dead website (UK release)
• Shaun of the Dead website (US release)
• Shaun of the Dead at IMDb
• Shaun of the Dead at Rotten Tomatoes
• Shaun of the Dead at Box Office Mojo
• Shaun of the Dead at StillTwitching.com
• Movie Locations Guide