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Shaun of the Dead

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Shaun of the Dead
UK release poster showing Shaun squashed between several zombies.
UK release poster
Directed byEdgar Wright
Written byEdgar Wright
Simon Pegg
Produced byTim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Nira Park
StarringSimon Pegg
Nick Frost
Kate Ashfield
Lucy Davis
Dylan Moran
CinematographyDavid M. Dunlap
Edited byChris Dickens
Music byDaniel Mudford
Pete Woodhead
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
(International)
Rogue Pictures
(USA)
Release dates
April 9, 2004 (UK)
September 24, 2004 (US)
Running time
99 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4,000,000
Box office$30,039,392

Shaun of the Dead is a 2004 British horror 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, the "first romantic zombie comedy or 'rom-zom-com',"[1] is also the first of what Pegg and Wright call their "Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy" with Hot Fuzz as the second and The World's End as the third.[2]

Plot

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is an appliance salesman whose life is without direction; his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is dissatisfied with their social life, primarily because it consists of spending nearly every evening in The Winchester, Shaun's favourite pub. He has issues with his stepfather Phillip (Bill Nighy), his increasingly unhappy flatmate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), and a dissatisfying job where his younger co-workers show him no respect. His best friend Ed (Nick Frost) is the third flatmate, and Pete demands Shaun evict Ed, as he is vulgar, lazy, disorganised and doesn't contribute to the rent, as he is unemployed and has no intentions of finding work. That same evening, Liz dumps Shaun for forgetting to do something special for their anniversary. He decides to drown his sorrows at the Winchester with Ed. After a night of drinking, he has an epiphany and resolves to sort his life out and win Liz back.

This revelation comes at the same time as an uprising of the undead within London, who begin to attack and devour the living, not that the hungover Shaun notices initially. Shaun finally realises what's happening only after two zombies attack him in his back garden. Shaun and Ed initially try to kill the garden zombie by throwing albums at her. As Shaun finds out Pete has also become a zombie (he was "mugged" and bitten by some the previous day), Shaun and Ed plan to leave the house. They proceed to rescue Liz, along with Shaun's mother Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and Phillip, who had been bitten earlier, and wait the crisis out in the Winchester. Liz's flatmates, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis), also come along. David and Dianne are a couple.

During their journey, Phillip is mortally wounded but manages to make his peace with Shaun before turning into a zombie, forcing the group to abandon him and their car and go the rest of the way on foot. The remaining group find the Winchester surrounded by zombies, and they approach the pub by impersonating zombie behaviour, but they are discovered after the zombies hear them talking and arguing. Shaun draws the dead away while the others barricade themselves inside. Shaun returns to the pub thinking that he "gave the zombies the slip,"

The time barricaded in the pub, along with the stress of fighting the encroaching zombies, gives way to angry confessions about one another. David refuses to admit he is in love with Liz, but Dianne reveals that she knows David loves Liz and not her.

The zombies soon break in. Shaun is forced to shoot his mother, who was bitten on the way to the Winchester and is turning into a zombie. Shaun is in tears, and David tells him he did the right thing, which prompts Shaun to punch David in the face. David is pulled through a smashed window, torn apart and eaten; Dianne charges outside in a futile attempt to save David, exposing the others to the zombies. Ed attempts to prepare a Molotov cocktail, but is bitten by the zombified Pete, who is shot in the head by Shaun. Escaping into the cellar, Ed decides to stay behind while Shaun and Liz escape through the barrel lift. Shaun and Liz briefly debate a murder/suicide of themselves, but can't decide who should shoot whom first. As the zombies break into the cellar, Shaun and Liz prepare for one last battle against the zombie horde, but are saved by the British Army and others, including Shaun's acquaintance Yvonne (Jessica Hynes). They hold hands as they approach a rescue truck, their relationship reconciled.

Six months after the zombie outbreak, society has returned to normal, and the remaining zombies, who can retain their instincts even after becoming zombies, have now become a part of everyday life, being used as cheap labour and game show participants. There is even a benefit concert for the zombies, called "ZombAid". The reason for the zombie outbreak is never fully given. Shaun and Liz have moved in together, along with zombified Ed, who is kept on a chain in the garden shed, playing TimeSplitters 2.

Cast

Background

The movie is notable for Wright's kinetic directing style, and its references to other movies, television shows and video games.[citation needed] In this way, it is similar to the British television sitcom Spaced, which both Pegg and Wright worked on in similar roles.

The film was inspired by the episode "Art" of the television programme Spaced, 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.[citation needed] 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 who played Duane Benzie in Spaced — appeared in Shaun as Pete).

The film's cast features a number 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 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 (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, Peter Kay (Phoenix Nights), Antonia Campbell-Hughes (from the Jack Dee sit com Lead Balloon), Mark Donovan (Black Books) and Michael Smiley (Tyres in Spaced).

Production

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 and Finsbury Park. Zombie extras were mainly local residents or fans of Spaced (who responded to a casting call organised through a fan website.[citation needed] 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.[3]

Reception

Shaun of the Dead was released on 9 April 2004 in the United Kingdom and 24 September 2004 in the United States.

Box office

The film proved both a commercial and critical success. In its opening weekend in the U.S., Shaun earned $3.3 million, taking 8th place at the box office despite a limited release to only 607 theatres.[4] In the UK it took in £1.6 million at 307 cinemas on its opening weekend and netted £6.4M by mid-May. The film has earned just over $30 million worldwide in box office receipts since its release.[4]

Critical response

Critical reaction was largely positive, with the movie receiving a score of 91 percent at the comparative review website Rotten Tomatoes (with a Cream Of The Crop score of 94 percent)[5] and a score of 76 out of 100 at Metacritic.[6] 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."[7] 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."[8]

Awards and recognition

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.[9] Horror novelist Stephen King described the movie as "...a '10' on the fun meter and destined to be a cult classic."[10] In 2007, Stylus Magazine named it the 9th greatest zombie movie ever made.[11] With positive reviews, the film has acquired a cult following among audiences.[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].

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.[14]

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, and bloopers, and more. The film also saw release on the now-defunct HD-DVD format in July, 2007, with a Blu-ray release following in September 2009.

Merchandise

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:[citation needed]

  • 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 Card Game in 2007, an ally named "Shawn of the Dead", with the power of bringing back allies from the enemy graveyard.[15]

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, with Dawn in particular being referenced[citation needed]). 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, which is the synthesiser soundtrack to Dawn of the Dead. The film also features a Kid Koala remix of "The Gonk," which was used over the closing credits of Dawn.

Other than Romero's work, many other references to horror films are made, such as the The Evil Dead series, 28 Days Later and the films of horror directors Lucio Fulci and John Carpenter.[citation needed] More diversely, references to Blade, The Deer Hunter, Reservoir Dogs, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers the films of James Cameron and the Star Wars trilogy can be found. Several references to video games involving zombies, including Resident Evil, TimeSplitters 2 and Zombies Ate My Neighbors, are also present.[citation needed]

Aside from its inspiration, Shaun also features many references and inside jokes from their series, Spaced.

Soundtrack

Untitled

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.[16]

A short clip of the music video to The Smiths' single "Panic" is shown in the movie, where the line "Panic on the streets of London" is heard while Shaun is flicking through TV channels. Also the song "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen is heard in a scene at the pub where Shaun, Liz, and Ed bludgeon the zombified owner of the pub to the beat of the tune. Additionally, "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation is heard during one scene while Shaun is on a bus. The US theatrical trailer also features "Pretend We're Dead" by L7 (from the Bricks Are Heavy album), although that song appears neither in the film nor on the soundtrack.

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

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

Comic strip

Pegg and Wright also scripted a one-off tie-in comic strip for the British comic magazine 2000AD entitled "There's Something About Mary".[17] 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.

See also

References

  1. ^ Neil Norman (4 February 2007). "Simon Pegg: A geek made good". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
  2. ^ "Interview with Simon Pegg". BBC Website. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
  3. ^ "'Zombies' pub put to the sword". South London Press. 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  4. ^ a b "SOTD at Box Office Mojo". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2009-11-02.
  5. ^ "Shaun of the Dead (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
  6. ^ "Shaun of the Dead". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
  7. ^ Nev Pierce (07 April 2004). "Shaun Of The Dead (2004)". BBC. Retrieved 2009-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ Peter Bradshaw (09 April 2004). "Shaun of the Dead". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-11-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "50 Greatest Comedy Films". Channel 4. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
  10. ^ ""Shaun of the Dead" DVD News". Rebecca Murray. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
  11. ^ Stylus Magazine’s Top 10 Zombie Films of All Time - Movie Review - Stylus Magazine
  12. ^ "Shaun of the Dead, A Romantic Comedy. With Zombies". The MovieHamlet. Retrieved 2007-06-06.
  13. ^ "Shaun of the Dead, 2004". Time. 2007. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
  14. ^ http://www.timeout.com/film/news/631/
  15. ^ "Shawn of the Dead Card Preview". UpperDeck.com. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  16. ^ Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg commentary, Shaun of the Dead (DVD). Universal Pictures
  17. ^ Shaun of the Dead: "There's Something About Mary" (by Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Frazer Irving, in 2000 AD #1384, 2004
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