| Shaun of the Dead | |
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UK release poster |
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| Directed by | Edgar Wright |
| Produced by | Nira Park |
| Written by | Edgar Wright Simon Pegg |
| Starring | Simon Pegg Kate Ashfield Lucy Davis Nick Frost Dylan Moran Bill Nighy Penelope Wilton Peter Serafinowicz Jessica Stevenson |
| Music by | Pete Woodhead Daniel Mudford |
| Cinematography | David M. Dunlap |
| Editing by | Chris Dickens |
| Studio | StudioCanal Working Title Films WT2 Productions Big Talk Productions Film4 Productions |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 9 April 2004 (United Kingdom) 24 April 2004 (United States) |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom France |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5,000,000 |
| Box office | $30,039,392 |
Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather. At the same time, he has to cope with an apocalyptic uprising of zombies.
The film is the first of what Pegg and Wright call The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy with Hot Fuzz (2007) as the second and The World's End (TBA) as the third.[1] In some markets, the film was released as Zombies Party.
The film was a critical and commercial success in the UK, and the US. It received a 91% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 76 out of 100 at Metacritic. Shaun of the Dead was a BAFTA nominee. Pegg and Wright considered a sequel that would replace zombies with another monster, but decided against it as they were pleased with the first film as a stand-alone product, and thought too many characters died to continue the story.[2]
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Shaun Riley (Simon Pegg) is a 29-year-old salesman whose life has no direction. His younger colleagues at work show him no respect, has a rocky relationship with his stepfather, Phillip (Bill Nighy), a tense relationship with his housemate, Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), because of Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun's crude best friend who lives on their couch and deals marijuana, and his girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield), is unsatisfied with their social life, because it consists primarily of spending every evening at the Winchester, Shaun and Ed's favourite pub, as well as the fact that they never do anything alone together – Shaun always brings Ed and she has to bring her flatmates, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis). After a miserable day at his work, Shaun gets stopped on the street by an old friend Yvonne (Jessica Stevenson) who asks him what he and Liz are doing for their anniversary — a question which makes him realise he forgot to book a table at the restaurant he had promised Liz the previous night and on a telephone conversation with her. Faced with this failure on Shaun's part, Liz decides she has had enough and breaks up with him. Shaun then drowns his sorrows with Ed at the Winchester where Ed convinces Shaun that he may be better off without Liz. The two return home after midnight and spin electro records, only to have Pete confront them, who is suffering a headache after being mugged and bitten by "some crackheads". Pete berates Shaun and tells him to sort his life out. Shaun, at first angry, slowly lets his (still intoxicated) mind absorb what Pete has told him, and indeed resolves to sort his life out.
The next morning, an apocalyptic uprising of the dead has overwhelmed most of the town, but Shaun is too busy dealing with his relationships and problems and too hungover to notice at first. He and Ed just barely begin to become aware what is happening after watching reports on TV and as zombies attack their house. After fighting back some zombies with weapons from the shed, they decide they need to ensure they are somewhere safe. Shaun and Ed realise that the safest place they know is the Winchester, and they plan to collect Shaun's mother, Barbara (Penelope Wilton), Phillip, Liz and her flatmates. Shaun discovers that Pete is still in the house and is now a zombie, but he and Ed manage to escape in Pete's car. After collecting Barbara and Phillip, who is bitten in the process, they switch cars and drive in Phillip's Jaguar and head to Liz, Dianne and David's flat, and collect them. Before they make it to the Winchester, Phillip dies of his bite, after he manages to make peace with Shaun. Forced to abandon the car, they set off on foot, bumping into Yvonne and her own band of survivors. Discovering that the path is infested with zombies, they devise a plan to sneak by, but Ed and Shaun get into an argument and the zombies realise they are not dead and approach. David smashes the window while Shaun distracts the zombies. Everyone takes refuge inside the pub, and Shaun joins them after giving the zombies the slip.
After several hours, the zombies return. Ed inadvertently gives away their position when he wins on the fruit machine and the zombies converge on the pub. Shaun discovers that the Winchester rifle above the bar is functional and they use it to fend off the zombies breaking in. However, Barbara reveals a bite wound she picked up along the way and dies to becomes a zombie that is shot by Shaun, David is dismembered by the zombies, and a frantic Dianne unbolts the door to leave and rescue him, exposing Shaun, Liz and Ed to the zombies. Ed prepares a Molotov cocktail to fend them off, but Pete arrives and bites him. He manages to get over the bar and Shaun uses the cocktail to ignite the bar. They escape into the cellar but after finding themselves cornered, they contemplate suicide, but discover a service hatch. Shaun and Liz escape through the hatch as a mortally wounded Ed stays behind with a cigarette and the rifle. Back on the street, as Shaun and Liz prepare to fight the zombies once more, the British Army arrives and they are rescued. Yvonne, who has also survived, shows up and tells Shaun and Liz to follow her. They approach the safety of the trucks, reconciled.
Six months after the outbreak, all of the uninfected have returned to daily life, and the remaining zombies, retaining their instincts, are used as cheap labour and entertainment. Liz and Shaun have moved in together in Shaun's house, and Shaun is keeping Ed, who is now a zombie, tethered in the shed and playing video games.
The film is notable for Wright's kinetic directing style, and its references to other movies, television shows, and video games. In this way, it is similar to the British sitcom Spaced, which both Pegg and Wright worked on in similar roles.
The film was inspired by the Spaced episode "Art", written by Pegg (along with his writing partner and co-star Jessica Stevenson) and directed by Wright, in which the character of Tim (Pegg), under the influence of amphetamine and the PlayStation video game Resident Evil 2, hallucinates that he's fighting off a zombie invasion. Having discovered a mutual appreciation for Romero's Dead trilogy, they decided to write their own zombie movie. Spaced was to be a big influence on the making of Shaun, as it was directed by Wright in a similar style, and featured 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 — has a starring role in Shaun as Ed, and Peter Serafinowicz and Julia Deakin, who played Duane Benzie and Marsha in Spaced, respectively — appeared in Shaun as Pete and Yvonne's mum, respectively).
The film's cast features a number of British comedians, comic actors and sitcom stars, most prominently from Spaced, Black Books and The Office. Shaun also co-stars Dylan Moran, who played Bernard Black in Black Books, and Lucy Davis, who played Dawn Tinsley in The Office. In addition to this, cameo appearances are made by Martin Freeman (Tim Canterbury in The Office), Tamsin Greig (Fran in Black Books, Caroline in Green Wing), Julia Deakin (Marsha in Spaced), Reece Shearsmith (Dexter in Spaced and a member of The League of Gentlemen) and Matt Lucas (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. Trisha Goddard also makes a cameo appearance, hosting a fictionalised episode of her real-life talk show Trisha. Many other comics and comic actors appear in cameos as zombies, including Rob Brydon, Paul Putner, Pamela Kempthorne (Morticia de'Ath in The Vampires of Bloody Island), Joe Cornish, Antonia Campbell-Hughes (from the Jack Dee sit com Lead Balloon), Mark Donovan (Black Books) and Michael Smiley (Tyres in Spaced). Coldplay members Chris Martin (who contributed to the soundtrack by guest singing the cover of Buzzcocks' "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" by Ash) and Jonny Buckland also cameo as zombies in the movie.[3]
The production was filmed entirely in London, on location and at Ealing Studios, and involved production companies Working Title Films and StudioCanal. Many exterior shots were filmed in and around the North London areas of Crouch End, Muswell Hill and Finsbury Park. Zombie extras were mainly local residents or fans of Spaced who responded to a casting call organised through a fan website.
The scenes filmed in and around "The Winchester Pub" were shot at The Duke Of Albany in Monson Road New Cross, a three-storey Victorian pub popular with supporters of Millwall F.C. which was converted into luxury flats in 2007.[4]
In the UK, Shaun took £1.6 million at 307 cinemas on its opening weekend and netted £6.4 million by mid-May. In its opening weekend in the US, Shaun earned $3.3 million, taking eighth place at the box office despite a limited release to only 607 theatres.[5] The film has earned $30,039,392 worldwide in box office receipts since its release.[5]
Shaun of the Dead received critical acclaim, with the film receiving a score of 91% at the comparative review website Rotten Tomatoes (with a Cream Of The Crop score of 94%)[6] and a score of 76 out of 100 at Metacritic[7] which indicated universal acclaim. Nev Pierce, reviewing the film for the BBC, called it a "side-splitting, head-smashing, gloriously gory horror comedy" that will "amuse casual viewers and delight genre fans."[8] Peter Bradshaw gave it four stars out of five, saying it "boasts a script crammed with real gags" and is "pacily directed [and] nicely acted."[9]
In 2004, Total Film magazine named Shaun of the Dead the 49th greatest British film of all time. In 2005, it was rated as the third greatest comedy film of all time in a Channel 4 poll.[10] Horror novelist Stephen King described the movie as "...a '10' on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic."[11] In 2007, Stylus Magazine named it the 9th greatest zombie movie ever made.[12] In 2007, Time named it one of the 25 best horror films, calling the film "spooky, silly and smart-smart-smart" and complimenting its director: "Wright, who'd be a director to watch in any genre, plays world-class games with the camera and the viewer's expectations of what's supposed to happen in a scare film.".[13] Bloody Disgusting ranked the film second in their list of the 'Top 20 Horror Films of the Decade', with the article saying "Shaun of the Dead isn't just the best horror-comedy of the decade – it's quite possibly the best horror-comedy ever made."[14] In December 2009, Now Magazine deemed Shaun of the Dead the best film of the decade.[15]
George A. Romero was so impressed with Pegg and Wright's work that he asked them to appear in cameo roles in the 2005 film Land of the Dead. Pegg and Wright insisted on being zombies rather than the slightly more noticeable roles that were originally offered.[16]
Quentin Tarantino dubbed the film as one of his top twenty films made since 1992.[17]
In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their second favourite film of all time. Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption came in first place.[18]
The film was released on DVD shortly after its theatrical run in the US, with a DVD release around December 2004 in the US. Features included several audio commentaries, EPK featurettes about the film's production, pre-production video diaries and concept videos, photo galleries, bloopers, and more. The film also saw release on the HD DVD format in July 2007, with a Blu-ray Disc release following in September 2009.
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 favourite characters from various genre films. The releases so far are:
Upper Deck Entertainment released a card for the popular World of Warcraft Card Game in 2007, an ally named "Shawn of the Dead", with the power of bringing back allies from the enemy graveyard.[19]
Prominent are many references to George A. Romero's earlier Dead films (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, with Dawn in particular being referenced).[20] 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 films, including the music playing over the Universal logo, a piece of synthesizer library music used during the hangar scene in Dawn of the Dead. The film also features a Kid Koala remix of "The Gonk," another library piece which was featured extensively in Dawn.
Other than Romero's work, many other references to horror films are made, such as the series The Evil Dead, 28 Days Later and the films of horror directors Lucio Fulci and John Carpenter. More diversely, references to Blade, The Deer Hunter, Reservoir Dogs, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, as well as the films of James Cameron and the Star Wars trilogy can be found.
Aside from its inspiration, Shaun also features many visual references, cast members and inside jokes from Edgar Wright's TV series, Spaced.
Shaun and Ed also play the PlayStation 2 game TimeSplitters 2 at the beginning and the very end of the movie.
| Shaun of the Dead: Music from the Motion Picture | ||||
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| Soundtrack album by various artists | ||||
| Released | 12 April 2004 | |||
| Genre | Rock Alternative rock Ska Hip-Hop Electro |
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| Label | Universal International | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
| Edgar Wright film soundtrack chronology | ||||
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The film's score by Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford is a pastiche of Italian zombie film soundtracks by artists like Goblin and Fabio Frizzi. It also uses many musical cues from the original Dawn of the Dead that were originally culled by George A. Romero from the De Wolfe production music library.[21]
On the soundtrack album, dialogue from the film is embedded within the music tracks.
Pegg and Wright also scripted a one-off tie-in comic strip for the British comic magazine 2000AD titled "There's Something About Mary".[22]
Set the day before the zombie outbreak, the strip follows and expands on the character of Mary, who appears briefly in the introductory credits, and is the first zombie whom Shaun and Ed are aware of, 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, along with two other strips that wrapped up "Plot Holes" in the film, like how Diane escaped the Winchester, and Ed's fate after taking refuge in the basement of the bar.
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