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Spoilers (12)
George A. Romero, creator of the films, to which this movie pays homage, and lampoons, was so impressed with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's work that he asked them to appear in Land of the Dead (2005), in cameos as zombies.
When asked by an interviewer why they chose to have slow moving zombies instead of running zombies, Simon Pegg simply replied, "Because death is not an energy drink."
Shaun tells Liz that he's going to take her to "The place that does all the fish." When he opens the phone book, you can see that the restaurant is literally called "The Place That Does All the Fish".
Shaun and Ed's friendship is based on Simon Pegg's and Nick Frost's when they shared a flat together.
Many of the zombie extras are fans of Spaced (1999), which also starred Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and was also directed by Edgar Wright. They were recruited through the Spaced Out fan website to be in the film.
Nick Frost (Ed) allegedly kept his genitals shaved throughout the production to create a genuine need to scratch that the character demanded.
Just when Shaun is exiting the corner shop, which is tuned to a radio station playing songs from Indian movies, the song stops and a newscaster begins speaking in Hindi. The content of the news, when translated in English, is, "People are waking up from their graves."
John and Bernie run the Winchester. These are the real names of the landlord and landlady who used to run Simon Pegg's local pub, the Shepherds in Highgate. John used to make toasted sandwiches for regulars, hence the reference to "the Breville out back." Pegg and Nick Frost were regular attendees of the Shepherd's Thursday night quiz, hence the line "we do the quiz" when Shaun is knocking on the Winchester's door. Chris Martin of Coldplay, who plays a zombie in the film, also used to attend quiz night.
The day of the zombie invasion, when Shaun walks to the corner shop and doesn't notice zombies in the streets and corpses all over, the scene is shot in one long, unbroken take.
Night of the Living Dead (1968) director George A. Romero was given a private viewing of the film near his house in Florida. During the scene in which Ed (Nick Frost) yells into the phone, "We're coming to get you, Barbara", Romero was oblivious to the fact it was a direct lift from his film Night of the Living Dead (1968), and only found out later after a phone conversation with Edgar Wright.
Quentin Tarantino dubbed Shaun of the Dead (2004) one of the top 20 films made since 1992.
Shaun walks past a road sign for Weston Park, which is a street in Crouch End, London, the same locale as Spaced (1999), and where Simon Pegg now lives.
When Shaun, Liz, David, Dianne, Barbara, and Ed run into the alternative "gang" as they make their way to the Winchester, there are quite a few comedy partnerships brought together again. Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes - Tim and Daisy from Spaced (1999). Lucy Davis and Martin Freeman - Dawn and Tim from The Office (2001). Dylan Moran and Tamsin Greig - Bernard and Fran from Black Books (2000). Julia Deakin and Nick Frost are, of course, in Spaced (1999) too, as Marsha and Mike respectively.
The zombie that Shaun and Ed find in their garden is Mary, the checkout girl from the film's credit montage. A short story detailing her transformation into one of the undead was featured in issue number 1384 of the classic British science fiction comic 2000 A.D. The issue went on sale April 7, 2004. The strip was called "There's Something About Mary" and was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, with art by Frazer Irving.
When Shaun is heading to the shop for the first time, a worker on the street is listening to the radio. The newscast mentions a space probe that unexpectedly re-entered the Earth's atmosphere and broke up over England. This is likely a reference to Night of the Living Dead (1968), in which radiation from a satellite returning from Venus was given a possible cause for the dead returning to life.
First part of Simon Pegg's and Edgar Wright's Cornetto Trilogy. The other two parts are Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World's End (2013).
Simon Pegg and Edgar 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. The proposed title was From Dusk till Shaun.
When Shaun's girlfriend objects to going out to the Winchester, he suggest a few other pubs, one of which is the Shepherds, which actually used to be Simon Pegg's local pub in Highgate, until it was closed and reopened as a themed bar.
Because of the timing and the similarity of the names, distributors were forced to hold the film back until two weeks after Dawn of the Dead (2004) was released in the UK.
DIRECTOR CAMEO (Edgar Wright): During the Remembering Z-Day montage, there is a long shot of the zombies walking through a park. Edgar is the one in black who falls over himself. He also makes a voice cameo as the host of Fulci's Italian restaurant.
Near the beginning of the film, when Ed is playing on the Playstation 2, Shaun directs him (top left, reload, good shot, et cetera). When the gang are in the Winchester pub and Shaun is firing at the zombies, Ed repeats exactly what Shaun instructed him to do during TimeSplitters 2 (2002).
When Philip leaves Shaun's place of work, the name of the store is Foree Electric. Ken Foree starred in Dawn of the Dead (1978), and had a cameo in Dawn of the Dead (2004).
The non-featured zombie extras were paid the princely sum of one pound a day for their troubles. This was likely an homage to George A. Romero paying his extra zombies one dollar for Dawn of the Dead (2004) and Day of the Dead (1985).
The garden scenes were originally a lot longer, featuring a hanged man zombie and a woman being eaten by her own dog (The dog was intended to be played by Spaced (1999)'s Colin).
At one point, a zombie appears in a yellow cycling helmet and lycra shorts. He's comedian Michael Smiley, who appeared in Spaced (1999) as a bicycle courier named Tyres.
When Shaun and the group are running out of Liz's flat, they are all carrying weapons of some kind, but only Shaun actually hits any zombies. This was because only the cricket bat that Shaun was carrying was a padded fake, all the other items were real, and would have hurt the extras playing zombies if they had been hit with them.
Although sporadically hinted at, the cause of the zombie invasion is never properly explained. When people are about to, they get interrupted by something.
Shaun berates Ed for calling the creatures zombies. This alludes to the curious fact that many of the most iconic zombie movies (including Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Resident Evil (2002)) never use the word "zombie" at all. It can also be a reference to Danny Boyle, Director of 28 Days Later... (2002), and his insistence that it isn't a zombie movie.
Among the voices in the news reports you hear on television and radio you hear David Walliams on a television news broadcast, Mark Gatiss on the radio, Keith Chegwin hosting the "Fun Dead" program, and Rob Brydon voicing the "Zombies From Hell" show at the end. Also, the voice heard at the end dismissing the infected monkeys being the cause, is Edgar Wright.
When Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg began pitching the film, Film4 Productions showed interest in it. Then, Film4 significantly cut back its budget, leaving the film without a production company for a while. Because Wright was still hoping to get the film made, he held off on taking other directing jobs while searching for new financing for the film, and ended up having to borrow money from his friends. "For me to take on a television job, meant that I was like pushing the film back, so ... I was going rapidly broke. I was like majorly in the red." According to Wright, Pegg still hasn't allowed him to pay back the money he owes him from those lean times.
The rifle they use in the Winchester is, naturally, a Winchester model 66. It is also the same weapon used in Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Night of the Living Dead (1990).
The morning of Z Day, as Shaun is flipping through the channels, the few words that we hear from each channel, together form a full sentence explaining what's been happening. "Although no one official is prepared to comment, religious groups are calling it Judgement Day. There's..." "...panic on the streets of London..." "...as an increasing number of reports of..." "...serious attacks on..." "...people who are literally being..." "...eaten alive..." "...but witness reports are sketchy. One unifying detail seems to be that the attack has, in many instances, appeared to be..."
When Shaun is at work, he is showing a couple the televisions. As he is flipping through channels, we see Trisha Goddard with a woman guest, and a game show. At the end of the movie, this same woman and game show will be seen on television. The woman who is dating a zombie, and zombies attached to bungee cords.
Mary, the zombie in Shaun's backyard, works at Landis Supermarket. This is a nod to John Landis, who directed An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983), and to the British chain of convenience stores named Londis.
The phrase "fried gold" originated behind the scenes of Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, and Edgar Wright's sitcom Spaced (1999), and was mentioned several times on the DVD commentaries for that series. It makes several fan-pleasing appearances in the film.
According to Edgar Wright, the reason that Cornettos appear in the film is because he once ate a Cornetto to get over a hangover, and thought it would be funny if Ed did the same after a night of drinking.
While flicking through the Yellow Pages, Shaun finds the number for an Italian restaurant named Fulci's, a reference to Italian horror Director Lucio Fulci.
As this is the first part of the unofficial Three Flavors Cornetto Trilogy, the red wrapper (strawberry flavor) makes its appearance in the film. According to Edgar Wright, red represents the blood and zombies, which is the main motif in the film. For Wright's other films, Hot Fuzz (2007), it was blue and vanilla flavor, representing the Police while the final part, The World's End (2013), it was green and peppermint with chip representing science fiction and extraterrestrial elements.
In the entire film, apart from the celebrities appearing as themselves, none of the character's surnames are given or heard.
The "pyjama zombie" had his voiced dubbed over by Simon Pegg.
Northern Irish rock band Ash donated three songs used in the film: "Meltdown", "Orpheus", and "Everybody's Happy Nowadays", featuring Chris Martin. These songs were donated for free as Edgar Wright's girlfriend, Charlotte Hatherley, played guitar and sang backing vocals for Ash at the time.
The pyjama zombie was originally scripted to walk along the pole, upon which it was impaled, which is why it is hanging off the end when Diane is doing zombie lessons.
When Noel rings Ed, Ed calls him Noodle, the name of one of the teenagers in an episode of Spaced (1999). Noel also says, "E-Ball says you're holding," which is a reference to Edgar Wright, whose nickname is E-Ball.
In the film, Shaun's mother calls him "pickle", and apparently that's not just something the filmmakers made up. Edgar Wright's own mother called him that as a boy, apparently while she taught some of his classes at school, much to his embarrassment.
In March 2011, the film was voted by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra listeners as their second favorite film of all time. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) came in first place.
Dylan Moran's character, David, has the unmentioned surname "Fastidious".
Near the beginning, when Shaun is leaving the shop where he gets a can of Coke and the Cornetto, there is a pizza place behind him and to his left. The name of the restaurant is "Bub's Pizzas", probably a reference to the main, chained-up zombie (who's taught to hold and point a gun) in Day of the Dead (1985). In that film, the doctor named that zombie "Bub".
On the DVD (at least the region-two and region-one versions), there is a feature that plays an edited version of the scene where Pete yells at Shaun and Ed for playing the music too loud ("I've got to go to fucking work in four fucking hours!") that has been dubbed over for television airings, thus replacing all obscenities. "Fuck" is replaced with "funk," "prick" becomes "prink." The feature has the fitting title "Funky Pete" and is found in the alternate bits section.
At the end of the movie, there is fake movie trailer about a boy named Ramirez who, using a shotgun, fought off his entire zombie family. This is a spoof of the Menendez brothers who murdered their parents with a shotgun in August 1989.
The film was inspired by Spaced: Art (1999), in which Tim, under the influence of amphetamine and Resident Evil 2 (1998), hallucinates that he is fighting off a zombie invasion. After the episode was filmed, Edgar Wright pitched the idea of a feature-length zombie comedy.
David Walliams auditioned for the role of David.
One of the posters in Shaun's flat reads "SI BEGG" which is not a reference to Simon Pegg, but to Simon Begg, an electronic dance music DJ, musician, and Record producer from Leicester, England.
When the Army shows up outside the pub, Joe Cornish can be glimpsed as a zombie being gunned down, shown in his video diary on the DVD. He's being shot in the back, facing toward the camera.
When the team is barricaded at the pub, Ed (Nick Frost) turns on a loud slot machine, which Shaun (Simon Pegg) promptly turns off by pulling the plug. Before he does so, the few musical notes indicates that the song theme is "Phantom of the Opera", a weird choice since the game is clearly named "Dracula". The fruit machine is made by Barcrest, and is called "OOH AH DRACULA", and features in this movie, Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013).
A poster in Shaun's flat is an image from the Edgar Wright-directed video for Psychosis Safari by 'The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster'. Members of the band feature as zombie extras and a song of theirs, "Mr. Mental", is featured on the soundtrack album.
When Shaun and his friends are trying to get inside the pub, horror writer and Frightfest organizer Alan Jones can be seen as a zombie walking past the phone box. He's the bald one in a checkered shirt.
The film's title began as what Edgar Wright describes as a "one-page Word document" that sketched out the general idea of the film. Back then it was called Tea Time of the Dead.
In the beginning of the film, when Shaun is riding the bus, the young man in front of him is listening to music. The song that can be heard is the dance club classic "Kernkraft 400" by Zombie Nation, whose melody is borrowed from the song "It Happened Then/Babylon Run" (by Dave Eager and Pete Baker), which is the theme for the "Star Dust" sub-game of the C64 game, Lazy Jones.
Penelope Wilton (Barbara) and Bill Nighy (Philip) also played husband and wife in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011).
When Joe Cornish is on-screen, we see Lucy Akhurst (Sophie in season two of Spaced (1999)) as a zombie getting shot in the back. She's the blonde girl in the center of the screen, with Cornish to her right.
In the beginning, after Liz splits up with Shaun, the jukebox in the Winchester plays "If You Leave Me Now" by Chicago. Ed says, "Who the hell put this on?", and Shaun replies, "It's on random." Later in the Winchester it plays "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen, Shaun says, "Who the hell put this on?", and Ed replies, "It's on random."
Most of the posters in Shaun's living room are of artists on the Ninja Tune record label. These include Funki Porcini and The Herbaliser.
The Battle Royale (2000) poster in Shaun's living room is designed by Fred Deakin of Airside, as is the green poster with the flowers and girl in Liz's flat. Deakin is also a member of the band Lemon Jelly, which provides music for the soundtrack.
All of the zombielike people featured in the opening credits become featured zombies later in the film.
In one of the scenes in Shaun's house, the vinyl edition of the third The White Stripes album "White Blood Cells" can be seen. This is a reference to how the zombie virus works.
In the DVD Special Features, a vlog of two men who appear as zombies reveal that the military battle at the end, was the last scene shot.
One of the zombies seen in the film, previously featured in a television ad for the Mini as a zombie.
There are two possible Evil Dead references made: When in the department store explaining the plan for the day, Shaun mentions an employee named Ash (The protagonist of the series) and while in his bathroom, Shaun tells a zombie Pete that he is welcome to "Join Us" (The Deadites say this at the end of Evil Dead (1978)).
Spoilers
According to Edgar Wright in the DVD commentary, when Ed attempts to cheer Shaun up at the Winchester with plans of binge drinking, he is actually summarizing the events of the next day (Z-day) entirely in drinking references. "Bloody Mary" - Checkout Girl, "Bite at the King's Head" - Phillip, "Couple" - David and Di, "Little Princess" - Liz, "Stagger back" - impersonate zombies, "Bar For Shots" - firing rifle.
Even though according to the zomb-o-meter feature stating that Di dies, the DVD's animated special feature Plot Holes: What Happened to Dianne When She Left the Winchester? (2004) explains that Di makes it through the crowd of zombies, climbs a tree, passes out, awakens to utter silence, and out of fear, stays in the tree, surviving on Dave's severed leg, and eventually going to live with an aunt.
When Shaun and Ed are listening to Electro, Pete tells Ed if he "wants to live like an animal, he can live in a shed " Later, Shaun keeps Ed in the shed at the end of the film, after he becomes a zombie. Ed also says, "Next time I see him, he's dead." Next time Ed sees Pete, he's a zombie.
According to Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, the latter reacted to the idea of Barbara dying as if his own mother was being killed, and after her death scene was filmed, Pegg and Frost cried real tears.
Chris Martin of Coldplay, who appears as himself on a news report near the end of the film promoting ZombAid, also plays a zombie. After Shaun and Liz escape from the basement of the Winchester, he can be seen playing the zombie walking past the phone booth from right to left.
When the group are in the Winchester and Shaun has returned from distracting the zombies, David questions his motives as to why they are in a pub, he refers to Ed as Shaun's "boyfriend". Ed hands Shaun a beer who replies with "Thanks, Babe". This is a common conversation between the two in Spaced (1999), which was also directed by Edgar Wright.
WILHELM SCREAM: The famous sound effect can be heard faintly in the background when the soldiers initially come to the rescue.
When the zombies are making their way into the Winchester, Shaun shouts to Ed, "Get behind me, get behind me!" the same way Han Solo shouts to Chewbacca as Stormtroooers are entering the Death Star in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), one of Simon Pegg's favorite films.
During cast commentary at the end of the movie just before the credits, Simon Pegg makes a possibly joke reference to a sequel that is coming soon titled "Shaun of the Dead 2: From Dusk Till Shaun". This never happened, but it may have been the plan before the "Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy" ideas were founded.
The conjoined photo frames shown behind Shaun and Liz sitting on the sofa at the end of the film, are that of the deceased Barbara, Philip, and Dianne. However, David's photo is not shown on-screen.
After Shaun (Simon Pegg) joins Ed (Nick Frost) at the Winchester, after his girlfriend broke up with him, Ed uses his "Clyde impression" (Clyde, the orangutan from Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980)) in an attempt to make Shaun feel better. Later in the movie, when Ed is being bitten by two zombies, his cries of pain ring similar to orangutan sounds.
