Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Edgar Wright
Produced by	Nira Park
Written by	Edgar Wright Simon Pegg
Starring	Simon Pegg Nick Frost Kate Ashfield Lucy Davis Dylan Moran Penelope Wilton Bill Nighy
Music by	Pete Woodhead Daniel Mudford
Cinematography	David M. Dunlap
Edited by	Chris Dickens
Production company	StudioCanal Working Title Big Talk Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (United Kingdom) Rogue Pictures (United States) Mars Distribution (France)
Release dates	29 March 2004 (2004-03-29) (London premiere) 9 April 2004 (2004-04-09) (United Kingdom) 24 September 2004 (2004-09-24) (United States) 27 July 2005 (2005-07-27) (France)
Running time	99 minutes[1]
Country	United Kingdom France United States[2][3]
Language	English
Budget	$6.1 million[4]
Box office	$30 million[5]

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British-French-American horror comedy film directed by Edgar Wright and written by Wright and Simon Pegg, and starring Pegg and Nick Frost. 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.^[6] At the same time, he has to cope with an apocalyptic zombie uprising.^[7]

The film was a critical and commercial success in the UK and the US. It received a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 76 out of 100 at Metacritic. Shaun of the Dead was also 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.^[8]

The film is the first in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End.^[9]

Plot

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is an electronics shop employee with no direction in life. His younger colleagues show him no respect, he has an estranged relationship with his stepfather, Phillip (Bill Nighy), and a tense one with his housemate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) because of Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun's other housemate and vulgar, unemployed best friend. Furthermore, Shaun's girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) dislikes their social life as they spend every date at the Winchester, Shaun and Ed's favourite pub. Because Shaun always brings Ed, Liz is always forced to bring her flatmates, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis). After a bad day at work, Shaun forgets to book a table at a nice restaurant, and after suggesting the Winchester again Liz breaks up with him. Shaun drowns his sorrows with Ed at the Winchester. While celebrating at home, an enraged Pete — suffering from a bite wound caused by "some crackheads" — confronts Shaun on his flaws, telling him to sort his life out.

The next morning, a zombie apocalypse has overwhelmed the city, but Shaun is too busy dealing with his hangover to notice. He and Ed discover a female zombie in their backyard, but assume she is just drunk until she survives being impaled on a pipe. Another zombie makes its way into the garden, and Shaun and Ed run back inside. They learn more about the outbreak by watching the news and kill the two zombies (and another zombie that slips in through the front door) with blows to the head. The two decide to rescue Shaun's mother, Barbara (Penelope Wilton), and Liz so they can wait out the crisis in the Winchester.

Shaun and Ed escape in Pete's car and pick up Barbara and Phillip — who has been bitten — and then switch vehicles after Ed deliberately crashes Pete's car for Phillip's Jaguar. They then head over to Liz, Dianne, and David's flat and collect them. On their way to the Winchester, Phillip makes peace with Shaun, dies from his bites, and then reanimates — forcing them to abandon the vehicle and set off on foot. The streets surrounding the pub are overrun, so the group pretends to be zombies to sneak past them, but Shaun gets into an argument with Ed and breaks their cover. Shaun leads the horde away while the rest take refuge in the pub. Shaun rejoins them after losing the zombies.

Several hours later, the zombies return; Shaun discovers the Winchester rifle above the bar is functional and the group uses it to defend themselves. Barbara reveals she was bitten along the way and dies, and a distraught Shaun is forced to shoot her after she reanimates. David is then pulled through a window and torn apart by the zombies, and Dianne frantically unbolts the front door to rescue him, disappearing into the advancing horde. Pete arrives as one of the zombies and bites Ed; Shaun kills Pete and sets fire to the bar, but also sets off the remaining rifle ammunition by accident. The survivors flee into the cellar and contemplate suicide, but discover a barrel hatch elevator that opens to the outside. Shaun and Liz escape on the elevator as Ed is left behind with the rifle. Back on the street, the British Army arrives and guns down the remaining zombies, rescuing the two. The couple approach the safety of the trucks, reconciled.

Six months after the outbreak, civilization has returned to normal, but the living now use the zombies as cheap labour and entertainment. Liz has moved in with Shaun, and Shaun keeps Ed — now a zombie — tethered in the backyard shed so they can play video games together.

Cast

• Simon Pegg as Shaun
• Nick Frost as Ed
• Kate Ashfield as Liz
• Lucy Davis as Dianne
• Dylan Moran as David
• Penelope Wilton as Barbara, Shaun's mother
• Bill Nighy as Phillip, Shaun's stepfather
• Jessica Stevenson as Yvonne
• Peter Serafinowicz as Pete
• Rafe Spall as Noel
• Martin Freeman as Declan
• Reece Shearsmith as Mark
• Tamsin Greig as Maggie
• Julia Deakin as Yvonne's mum
• Matt Lucas as Cousin Tom

Production

The film is notable for Wright's kinetic directing style, and its references to other movies, television series 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 video game Resident Evil 2, hallucinates that he is 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. Nick Frost who played Mike in Spaced has a starring role in Shaun as Ed. Peter Serafinowicz and Julia Deakin – who played Duane Benzie and Marsha in Spaced – appear in Shaun as Pete and Yvonne's mum, and Pegg's Spaced co-star Jessica Stevenson plays Yvonne.

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, 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 sitcom 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" with Ash) and Jonny Buckland also cameo as zombies in the film.^[10]

The film was shot over nine weeks between May and July 2003.^[11][12]

Locations

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, Finsbury Park and East Finchley. Zombie extras were mainly local residents or fans of Spaced who responded to a casting call organised through a fan website.

Shaun's place of work is an actual electrical appliances shop located at Tally Ho, North Finchley.

The scenes filmed in and around the "Winchester Tavern" pub were shot at the "Duke of Albany" pub, 39 Monson Road New Cross, South London – a three-story Victorian pub. It was turned into flats in 2008.^[13]

Reception

Box office

In the United Kingdom, Shaun took £1.6 million at 366 cinemas on its opening weekend^[14] and netted £6.4 million by mid-May. In its opening weekend in the United States, Shaun earned $3.3 million, taking seventh 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]

Critical response

Shaun of the Dead received critical acclaim, with the film receiving a score of 92% on aggregation review website Rotten Tomatoes based on 201 reviews^[15] and a score of 76 out of 100 at Metacritic which indicates "generally favorable reviews".^[16] 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."^[17] 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."^[18]

Awards and recognition

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.^[19] Horror novelist Stephen King described the movie as "...a '10' on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic."^[20] In 2007, Stylus Magazine named it the ninth-greatest zombie film ever made.^[21] 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."^[22] 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."^[23] In December 2009, Now deemed Shaun of the Dead the best film of the decade.^[24]

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.^[7][25] Pegg and Frost reprised their roles (animated style) in the Phineas and Ferb Halloween special "Night of the Living Pharmacists" in October 2014.^[26]

Quentin Tarantino dubbed the film as one of his top twenty films made since 1992.^[27]

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.^[28]

Home media

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.

Merchandise

In 2006, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association announced that it would be producing action figures based on the film as part of its "Cult Classics" line that features fan favourite characters from various genre films. The releases so far are:

• 12" Shaun with sound
• 7" Shaun, which was released in Cult Classics series 4. The sculpt was based on the 12" figure.
• "Winchester" two-pack, featuring 7" versions of Ed and a bloodied-up Shaun with the Winchester rifle.
• Zombie Ed, which is a re-deco of the "Winchester" Ed, to be released in Cult Classics: Hall of Fame.

Upper Deck Entertainment released a card for the popular World of Warcraft in 2007,an ally named "Shawn of the Dead", with the power of bringing back allies from the enemy graveyard.^[29]

Cultural references

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,^[7] with Dawn in particular being referenced).^[30]

Films influenced by Shaun of the Dead

The 2010 Cuban film Juan of the Dead^[31] and the 2013 Singaporean film Hsien of the Dead^[32] were inspired by Shaun of the Dead.

Soundtrack

Shaun of the Dead: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released	12 April 2004 (2004-04-12)
Genre	Rock Alternative rock Ska Hip-Hop Electro
Label	Universal International
Edgar Wright film soundtrack chronology
Shaun of the Dead (2004) Hot Fuzz (2007)

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.^[33]

On the soundtrack album, dialogue from the film is embedded within the music tracks.

1. "Figment" – S. Park
2. "The Blue Wrath" – I Monster
3. "Mister Mental" – The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
4. "Meltdown" – Ash
5. "Don't Stop Me Now" – Queen
6. "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" – Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Melle Mel
7. "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)" – Man Parrish
8. "Zombie Creeping Flesh" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
9. "Kernkraft 400" – Zombie Nation
10. "Fizzy Legs" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
11. "Soft" – Lemon Jelly
12. "Death Bivouac" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
13. "The Gonk (Kid Koala Remix)" – The Noveltones
14. "Envy the Dead" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
15. "Ghost Town" – The Specials
16. "Blood in Three Flavours" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
17. "Panic" – The Smiths
18. "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" (originally by Buzzcocks) – Ash featuring Chris Martin
19. "You're My Best Friend" – Queen
20. "You've Got Red on You / Shaun of the Dead Suite" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
21. "Normality" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
22. "Fundead" – Pete Woodhead and Daniel Mudford
23. "Orpheus" – Ash

Comic strip

Pegg and Wright also scripted a one-off tie-in comic strip for the British comic magazine 2000AD titled "There's Something About Mary".^[34]

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 Dianne escaped and survived the Winchester incident, and Ed's fate after taking refuge in the basement of the bar.

Live show

In 2014 Simon Pegg and Universal Pictures gave Chas Burn's Almost Legal Productions theatre company^[35] permission to create and tour a live show based on the film.^[36]

See also

• Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy - the Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Edgar Wright film trilogy.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shaun of the Dead.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Shaun of the Dead

• Shaun of the Dead at the Internet Movie Database
• Shaun of the Dead at Box Office Mojo
• Shaun of the Dead at Rotten Tomatoes
• Shaun of the Dead at Metacritic
• Shaun of the Dead at the British Comedy Guide
• Shaun of the Dead filming locations from movielocationsguide.com

Edgar Wright Films directed Feature films A Fistful of Fingers (1994) Shaun of the Dead (2004) Hot Fuzz (2007) Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) The World's End (2013) Short films Dead Right (1993) Don't (2007) Television Asylum (1996) Sir Bernard's Stately Homes (1998) Is It Bill Bailey? (1998) Spaced (1999–2001) Related Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy

Screenplays by Simon Pegg Films Shaun of the Dead (2004) Hot Fuzz (2007) Run Fatboy Run (2007) Paul (2011) The World's End (2013) Star Trek 3 (2016) Television Spaced (1999–2001) Other works Big Train (1998–2002) Free Jimmy (2006)

Living Dead films Romero's Dead series Night of the Living Dead (1968) Dawn of the Dead (1978) Day of the Dead (1985) Land of the Dead (2005) Diary of the Dead (2007) Survival of the Dead (2009) Dead series remakes Night of the Living Dead (1990) Dawn of the Dead (2004) Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006) Day of the Dead (2008) Russo's Dead series Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition (1999) Return of the Living Dead series The Return of the Living Dead (1985) Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993) Return of the Living Dead: Necropolis (2005) Return of the Living Dead: Rave from the Grave (2005) Unofficial sequels Zombi series Zombi 2 (1979) Zombi 3 (1988) Zombi 4: After Death (1989) Zombi 5: Killing Birds (1988) Zombie 6: Monster Hunter (1981) Zombie 7 (1980) Children of the Living Dead (2001) Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005) Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane (2007) Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation (2012) Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D (2014) Parodies Night of the Living Bread (1990) Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (2006) Night of the Living Carrots (2011) Homages Flesheater (1988) Shaun of the Dead (2004) Fido (2006) Dance of the Dead (2008) Zone of the Dead (2009) Juan of the Dead (2011) Related topics Return of the Living Dead (1977) Document of the Dead (1985) Escape of the Living Dead (2005) Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddler's Green (2005) City of the Dead (Cancelled) Empire of the Dead (2014– )

Empire Award for Best British Film Shallow Grave (1996) Trainspotting (1997) The Full Monty (1998) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1999) Notting Hill (2000) Billy Elliot (2001) Bridget Jones's Diary (2002) 28 Days Later (2003) Love Actually (2004) Shaun of the Dead (2005) Pride & Prejudice (2006) United 93 (2007) Atonement (2008) RocknRolla (2009) Harry Brown (2010) Kick-Ass (2011) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2012) Sightseers (2013) The World's End (2014) Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)

Saturn Award for Best Horror Film Blacula (1972) The Exorcist (1973) Young Frankenstein (1974/75) Burnt Offerings (1976) The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1977) The Wicker Man (1978) Dracula (1979) The Howling (1980) An American Werewolf in London (1981) Poltergeist (1982) The Dead Zone (1983) Gremlins (1984) Fright Night (1985) The Fly (1986) The Lost Boys (1987) Beetlejuice (1988) Arachnophobia (1989/90) The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) Army of Darkness (1993) Interview with the Vampire (1994) From Dusk till Dawn (1995) Scream (1996) The Devil's Advocate (1997) Apt Pupil (1998) The Sixth Sense (1999) Final Destination (2000) The Others (2001) The Ring (2002) 28 Days Later (2003) Shaun of the Dead (2004) The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005) The Descent (2006) Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) Drag Me to Hell (2009) Let Me In (2010) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) The Cabin in the Woods (2012) The Conjuring (2013)