Shaun of the Dead

Shaun of the Dead is a zombie-themed romantic comedy, or "rom zom com" as it dubs itself, released in 2004 (9 April in the United Kingdom, 24 September 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 in the United States.

The movie is notable for a kinetic directorial style used by Wright and, in particular, for the amount 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 and a loving homage.

Cast and characters

Simon Pegg - Shaun

The main character and protagonist of the movie. An unmotivated appliance salesman living an aimless life and stuck in a dead end job in the suburbs of North London, he has issues with his mum Barbara, his stepdad Phillip and his girlfriend Liz. He resolves to sort out his life and fix his relationships. He is the last person whom anyone would expect to be a hero - however, the rising of the recently dead provides him with unexpected challenges and responsibilities.

Nick Frost - Ed

Shaun's best friend, with whom he is inseparable, Ed is something of a bad influence on the easily led Shaun. He is a part-time pot dealer and full-time slacker, who appears to have taken up permanent residence on Shaun and Pete's sofa, and whose life consists of little more than playing video games and going to the pub with Shaun. Ed also has a thing for Shaun's mum.

Kate Ashfield - Liz

Shaun's long-suffering girlfriend, who is sick of their social life consisting entirely of Shaun and Liz (and Ed, and David and Dianne) going to the Winchester. A responsible teacher, she wants Shaun to develop some motivation and make something of himself, but when his irresponsibility leads to him forgetting to make reservations for a very important anniversary, she dumps him.

Dylan Moran - David

One of Liz's flatmates and Dianne's boyfriend. It is evident to everyone but himself that David is infatuated with Liz. As such, he resents Shaun with a passion and delights in undermining him at every opportunity. A lecturer and insufferable know-it-all, David is not nearly as clever or as good of a leader as he thinks he is.

Lucy Davis - Dianne

David's girlfriend, who has known Liz since school. An aspiring actress (whom Shaun denies ever describing as a 'failed actress'), Dianne has come to terms with the fact that her boyfriend is in love with someone else. A slightly ditzy yet bubbly personality, Dianne is nice, friendly and eager to assist, but her input is usually the opposite of 'helpful'.

Penelope Wilton - Barbara

Shaun's sweet and devoted mother, whom he adores. She refers to him affectionately as 'Pickle' and tries to mediate between her son and her husband. Barbara is somewhat bewildered by events of the zombie outbreak as they occur.

Bill Nighy - Phillip

Shaun's stern and serious stepfather, with whom Shaun has plenty of issues (not to mention resentment). He is a somewhat remote and unemotional man, and the two do not have a close relationship, which Phillip regrets.

Peter Serafinowicz - Pete

Shaun's other flatmate, and a friend from college. Pete is the direct opposite of Ed - a responsible, serious and committed achiever who is seemingly much more successful than his lazy flatmates. He is increasingly unhappy with Ed's mere presence in the flat, due to Ed's selfish laziness and failure to tidy up or contribute any money for the house's upkeeping, and thus urges Shaun to cut his ties with Ed and start making something of his life. As such, he's often called "Prick" by Ed.

Jessica Stevenson - Yvonne

An old friend of Shaun's, whom he happens to bump into accidentally early in the movie. It would appear that Yvonne is similar to Shaun in personality, but is much more motivated and committed (to the extent that she is engaged and has bought a house). During the film, she leads a team of survivors who appear eerily similar in appearance and personality to Shaun's group, and about whom little is known.

Plot

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 superior David (Dylan Moran), who nurses a painfully obvious infatuation with Liz himself, and his girlfriend, the bubbly-yet-dizzy Dianne (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 anniversary.

The next day, Shaun reluctantly prepares for another day at work, whilst Ed makes himself comfy on the sofa playing PlayStation 2 and his 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 fish 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 at the Winchester with Ed, an ugly confrontation later that night with Pete (who angrily berates Shaun for wasting his time with Ed, and for not making anything of his life) convinces Shaun that his life needs a serious overhaul, and he vows to change his ways and improve his life.

Unfortunately for him, this realization about his life has come at the exact same time that London is swamped by a sudden zombie outbreak, as the recently dead return to life and begin to attack the living. Hungover, as he walks to the shops Shaun barely notices the ominously desolate and empty streets of his neighbourhood, and he certainly doesn’t register the zombies staggering around limply. Back home, he only manages to catch brief clips of the news as he channel surfs, 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 department) in vain, as the lines are clogged. They then sit down to watch the news – but unfortunately, they have left the door open, and 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, I will repeat that..."), the two arm themselves and try to dispatch the zombies in their backyard - first with various kitchen utensils, then a selective application of LPs from Shaun’s record collection, before finally meeting success with a cricket bat and a shovel.

Now armed, Shaun turns his attention to the rescue of both his mother, Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and Liz. Stealing Pete’s car (whom Shaun unpleasantly discovers has been contaminated), they drive to Barbara’s house, intending to dispatch Phillip – who has also been bitten – and collect Liz, before driving over the Winchester and camping out until everything ‘blows 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.

Escaping the car, the group are 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), 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.

Things look bleak – but finally 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 (locked) front door. Unfortunately, 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 lambasts 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 was 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 them.

Twenty minutes pass as the group await Shaun, in 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 affect on everyone's morale. Unfortunately, Shaun’s plan actually wasn’t anything more than sitting and eating peanuts in the dark, and when the power comes on, it soon transpires 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 dead) pub landlord, 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”.

However, it turns out the gun that gives the Winchester it’s name actually is a loaded, functioning rifle, meaning that the gang now have a more powerful weapon. Unfortunately, it's one that none of them have any skill in using. As Shaun, Ed, Dianne and David share the responsibilities of firing and aiming the weapon to defend the pub, 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 jealousy. 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 before hissing viciously – at which point Shaun shoots her, before punching David for his ill-timed callous response and smugness. David grabs the gun and tries to shoot Shaun, before deciding to flee – only to be stopped by Dianne’s angry demand that he face the truth and apologise to Shaun. 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 torn apart.

Hysterical, Dianne opens the doors to try and rescue him, apparently swallowed up and killed by the zombies (although according to a 'Plot Holes' extra on the DVD, she actually survives this), and allowing the zombies to swarm into the bar. The three remaining survivors try to stem the tide, but Ed is viciously bitten by the zombie Pete (whom Shaun, enraged, shoots and kills). 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... but Ed decides to stay, reasoning that he would only hold Shaun back. Giving him the gun, Shaun bids his friend a 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… but then 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. Now living together, Shaun and Liz watch TV about the events of "Z-Day" (and the continuing use of zombies in 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 has the spice Liz wanted. Before they do, however, Shaun decides to go to the shed… wherein sits his Playstation 2 and Ed, now a chained-up zombie. After lambasting Ed for a half-hearted attempt to bite him, Shaun contentedly settles back to play video games with his best friend.

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 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 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, significant 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, and numerous other comics and comic actors appear in extremely brief appearances as zombies.

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 lampoons, 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. ^* 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. 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 genre and films / popular culture in general, there are many in-jokes and references to other films. These take the form of character names, scenes, snippets of dialogue and background materials. Many of these are throwaway in nature, and the amount of references made is far too long and numerous to list in full; however, some significant references include:

Most obviously, many references are made to George A. Romero's Dead movies (Night, Dawn and Day of the Dead, with Dawn in particular being referenced), especially through plot (several people trapped in a building with flesh-eating zombies attempting to break in to devour them, with a lack of direct explanation / numerous conflicting explanations given for the cause of the zombie plague) and title (Shaun of the Dead being an obvious parody of / homage to Dawn of the Dead). Numerous lines, scenes and background details also refer to the Romero movies, both overt (David's death in Shaun reflects the similar death of a character in Day of the Dead, plus many of the lines spoken by newscasters in Shaun are directly taken from similar broadcasts in Night / Dawn) and subtle (such as 'Foree Electronics', Shaun's workplace, being a reference to Ken Foree, a star of Dawn of the Dead). Several pieces of music from the Dawn soundtrack are also used in Shaun (most notably 'The Gonk', played over the closing credits of both movies). Quite possibly the most blatant reference comes when Ed speaks to Shaun's mother, who is named Barbara after a main character from Night of the Living Dead, and says "We're coming to get you, Barbara!", a nod to the famous words spoken in the original film (interestingly, when Romero was given a private screening of the film, he completely missed this homage and it had to be pointed out to him by the filmmakers).
Numerous other zombie / horror movies are also referred to, such as The Evil Dead series, (including a reference to Ash, the main character of those movies as being "off that week"), 28 Days Later... (in particular a humourous debunking of the main cause of the 'infection' in that movie) and the movies of Italian horror director Lucio Fulci (whose name is borrowed for the fish restaurant Shaun intends to take Liz to). More diversely, references to Star Wars, Reservoir Dogs and The Deer Hunter can be found.
Several references are made to the sitcom Spaced, 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 (which, interestingly, both Pegg and Wright claim to be inadvertent).
References to Resident Evil, in which the scene when Shaun is walking down the street after leaving the convenience store, not realizing the zombie outbreak around him, a dog's bark and window shattering is heard, a reference to the dog jumping through the window in the original Resident Evil Game. Also, at the end of the movie, the military trucks say Biohazard on them with red and white stripes in the background. Resident Evil is called Biohazard in Japan, where the infections started from the Umbrella Corporation (whose logo was a red and white umbrella).
The montage scenes are similar to the drug-use scenes in Requiem for a Dream.

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 dialog 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. Significant examples of this include:

Shaun's morning routines are directly repeated on the two days that the film takes place (a Saturday and a Sunday respectively). However, on the second day the streets are deserted, trashed and omniously silent, and all of the (nonspeaking) people he sees on the first day are either corpses, zombies or other survivors fleeing in panic. Despite the rather distinct changes, Shaun remains oblivious to the world around him in both scenes, even though he appears to slip on some blood in the store while failing to notice a bloody hand mark on the glass door of the refrigerator he retrieves a can of Coke from.
During the drinking scene, Ed unknowingly describes the events of Z-Day in his plans for the next day. His descriptions and how they relate are:
- A Bloody Mary first thing (The first zombie they fight is called Mary)
- A bite at the King's Head (Rescuing Barbara and Phillip from their house, where Phillip is bitten)
- A couple at the Little Princess (rescuing David and Dianne from Liz's flat)
- Stagger back here (the Winchester) for shots (The group enters the Winchester pub pretending to be zombies, then must fight the zombies surrounding the pub with a gun)
During their argument, Pete screams at Ed: "You wanna live like an animal?! Go live in the shed, you thick fuck!" This is actually prophetic, as Ed's ultimate fate is to become a zombie and live in the shed, playing video games. In response, Ed makes a similar prophecy, saying to Shaun, "The next time I see him, he's dead." Ed next sees Pete, undead and completely nude, in the Winchester. Ironically, the zombie to finally claim Ed's life is none other than Pete.
Certain lines of dialogue, such as Shaun and Yvonne's greetings ("How's things?" "Surviving."), the jukebox exchange ("Who put this on?!" "It's on 'random'." "For fuck's sake!") and comments on Shaun's increasingly blood-stained shirt ("You've got red on you.") are repeated throughout the movie.
When Shaun attempts to convince Liz, David, and Dianne to leave their apartment for the Winchester during Z-Day, Dianne tells David "I don't want to be torn to pieces. And when you think about it, I'm sure you don't, either." This proves ironic as it is in fact David's fate.
As a point of interest, it is noted on a DVD commentary (in a somewhat light-hearted manner) that the characters' names in some ways foreshadow (and rhyme with) their fates at the end of the film:
- Shaun: is reborn.
- Ed: is dead.
- Liz: lives.
- Dave (David): goes to the grave.
- Di (Dianne): dies (In DVD version We find out in the plot holes she survives the whole movie.)
- Pete: gets eat(en).
- Yvonne: moves on.

Trivia

The film only received 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 nigger.
Many details (the landlord's names, the quiz, the "Breville out back") of the Winchester are based on the Shepherds, a real pub once frequented by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (and mentioned briefly in the film). The pair were regular attendees of the Shepherds' quiz night, under the team name Q.W.A or Quizzers With Attitude (also briefly mentioned in the film).
All of the people who appear on television when Shaun flips through the channels are "playing" their actual jobs--i.e., the newscasters are actual newscasters on British TV.
In the first TV-channel scene, a pop music show, Channel 4's T4, begins to introduce the band Coldplay. In the second, at the end of the film, the same music show host, Vernon Kay, is "dead excited" to once again introduce Coldplay--this time, as celebrity endorsers for the charity group "ZombAid". Chris Martin of Coldplay also plays a zombie.
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 that Shaun and Ed are playing is TimeSplitters 2. The voice announcing when players enter or leave the game was added for comedic effect, however.

External links

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