Shaun of the Dead Movie Secrets
Shaun Of The Dead - A load of secrets.... 1. Many of the Zombie extras are fans of the TV series Spaced, 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. 2. Frequent references are made to Big Al's claim that Dogs can't look up. This is a reference to the commentary to the second series of Spaced in which Simon Pegg (Shaun) and Edgar Wright talk about Nick Frost (Ed)'s claim that the difficulty in shooting a scene with a dog was due to the fact that dogs can't look up. 3. Shaun works at Foree Electronics. Ken Foree was one of the stars of Dawn of the Dead (1978). 4. The phrase 'fried gold' originated behind the scenes of Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and Edgar Wright's sitcom Spaced and was mentioned several times on the DVD commentaries for that series. It makes several fan-pleasing appearances in the film. 5. At one point, a zombie can be glimpsed wearing a yellow cycling helmet and lycra shorts. He's played by comedian Michael Smiley, who made appearances in Spaced as a bicycle courier named Tyres. 6. At one point, Ed (Nick Frost) warns Shaun's mum (Penelope Wilton): We're coming to get you, Barbara. This line is a reference to a line from the beginning of George Romero's seminal zombie movie Night of the Living Dead. 7. The game that Ed (Nick Frost) is playing throughout the movie is Timesplitters 2. The Timesplitters themselves are dimension-hopping zombies. 8. The zombie that Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) 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 prog 1384 of classic British sci-fi comic 2000AD. The issue went on sale 7 April 2004. The strip was called There's Something About Mary and was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (the film's co-writers) with art by Frazer Irving. The big zombie that Shaun & Ed find in their garden is the same one that was stalking Mary in the 2000AD comic, and the begger that hangs out Shaun's house is the one that bit Mary. She can also be seen when Shaun goes to the shop for the first time, she's leaving her house. 9. At the end of the film, as Shaun (Simon Pegg) flicks through TV channels, a voice can be heard saying that claims that 'the epidemic was due to rage infected monkeys have now been dismissed as b..' Liz turns off before the voice can finish the sentence. The voice is referencing 28 Days Later... (2002), another British zombie movie. 10. Shaun (Simon Pegg) complains that Ed (Nick Frost) isn't his boyfriend, then says, Thanks, babe. In Spaced series 1, a conversation begins in a similar manner between the two actors (Alright, babe?) 11. The distributor/production logos at the start have an excerpt from The Gonk by H. Chappell played over them. This track was used to great effect in Dawn of the Dead. 12. When flicking through the Yellow Pages, Shaun finds the number for the restaurant that does all the fish. It's called Fulci's Restaurant - a reference to Italian horror director Lucio Fulci. 13. When the Universal logo appears at the start of the film, the music playing is taken from the soundtrack to the original Dawn of the Dead. Also, the end credits feature a new recording of the infamous shopping-mall music from the same film. 14. The TV news reports Shaun and Ed watch feature an anchorman who utters the exact same phrases as the TV reporter in Night of the Living Dead. 15. When Shaun comes into work, one of his co-workers mentions something about someone named Ash calling out from work. Ash is the name of Bruce Campbell's character in the Evil Dead trilogy, who also works at a department store (SMart) similar to the one Shaun works at. 16. The choreographed pool-cue beating of the zombie in the Winchester (synchronized to the Queen soundtrack) is a carefully referenced homage to the balletic assault on the homeless man in A Clockwork Orange. 17. The line 'Get behind me, get behind me' when fighting off the zombies in the pub is a direct lift of Han Solo's line in Star Wars. 18. Chris Martin, of UK pop band 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 box from right to left. 19. Shaun berates Ed for calling the creatures 'zombies' (which they are, of course). This may be referring to the fact that many zombie movies (including Night of the Living Dead and Resident Evil) never mention the word 'zombie' at all. More likely this is a reference to Danny Boyle - director of 28 Days Later - and his insistence that it isn't a 'zombie' movie. 20. When Shaun finds his zombie house mate in the shower he utters the words "Join us" in a half whispered tone. This is a reference to the first two Evil Dead films where the zombies are always asking Ash (also mentioned in the department store) to "join us". 21. The scene in which Shaun and Liz leave the basement via the lift through the hatch into smoke and orange light, turning as they do so, is a direct reference to a scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Lando leaves the Millenium Falcon to rescue Luke. 22. When the two surviving parties of 5 meets (about halfway into he film), some of the character has appeared in things together before. Lucy Davis (Dianne) has worked with Tamsin Greig (Maggie) in BBC radio show 'The Archers' and with Martin Freeman (Declan) in BBC comedy 'The Office'. Tamsin Greig (Maggie) has also worked with Dylan Moran in Channel 4 comedy 'Black Books' The amount of people that have already worked together in 'Shaun Of The Dead' is endless.... 23. When Shaun's riding on the bus, a techno beat's going on as the background music. It's the opening section to a tune called "Kernkraft 400" by a group called Zombie Nation. 24. The first zombie that Ed runs over while driving petes car that they stop to have a look at is none other than Andy Gray He's a scottish soccer commentator, the reason that he says "oh thank god" when they see him as a zombie is because the team that Simon Pegg supports is a rival of the team that Gray used to play for. 25. The scene where Shaun steps up the Children's ladder one step at a time and back down again rather slowly may of been a reference to the Resident Evil games where if you walk up stairs or open doors you're treated to a lengthy cutscene of your character doing this (presumably to disguise load times).
Shaun Of The Dead - A load of secrets.... 1. Many of the Zombie extras are fans of the TV series Spaced, 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. 2. Frequent references are made to Big Al's claim that Dogs can't look up. This is a reference to the commentary to the second series of Spaced in which Simon Pegg (Shaun) and Edgar Wright talk about Nick Frost (Ed)'s claim that the difficulty in shooting a scene with a dog was due to the fact that dogs can't look up. 3. Shaun works at Foree Electronics. Ken Foree was one of the stars of Dawn of the Dead (1978). 4. The phrase 'fried gold' originated behind the scenes of Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and Edgar Wright's sitcom Spaced and was mentioned several times on the DVD commentaries for that series. It makes several fan-pleasing appearances in the film. 5. At one point, a zombie can be glimpsed wearing a yellow cycling helmet and lycra shorts. He's played by comedian Michael Smiley, who made appearances in Spaced as a bicycle courier named Tyres. 6. At one point, Ed (Nick Frost) warns Shaun's mum (Penelope Wilton): We're coming to get you, Barbara. This line is a reference to a line from the beginning of George Romero's seminal zombie movie Night of the Living Dead. 7. The game that Ed (Nick Frost) is playing throughout the movie is Timesplitters 2. The Timesplitters themselves are dimension-hopping zombies. 8. The zombie that Shaun (Simon Pegg) and Ed (Nick Frost) 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 prog 1384 of classic British sci-fi comic 2000AD. The issue went on sale 7 April 2004. The strip was called There's Something About Mary and was written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (the film's co-writers) with art by Frazer Irving. The big zombie that Shaun & Ed find in their garden is the same one that was stalking Mary in the 2000AD comic, and the begger that hangs out Shaun's house is the one that bit Mary. She can also be seen when Shaun goes to the shop for the first time, she's leaving her house. 9. At the end of the film, as Shaun (Simon Pegg) flicks through TV channels, a voice can be heard saying that claims that 'the epidemic was due to rage infected monkeys have now been dismissed as b..' Liz turns off before the voice can finish the sentence. The voice is referencing 28 Days Later... (2002), another British zombie movie. 10. Shaun (Simon Pegg) complains that Ed (Nick Frost) isn't his boyfriend, then says, Thanks, babe. In Spaced series 1, a conversation begins in a similar manner between the two actors (Alright, babe?) 11. The distributor/production logos at the start have an excerpt from The Gonk by H. Chappell played over them. This track was used to great effect in Dawn of the Dead. 12. When flicking through the Yellow Pages, Shaun finds the number for the restaurant that does all the fish. It's called Fulci's Restaurant - a reference to Italian horror director Lucio Fulci. 13. When the Universal logo appears at the start of the film, the music playing is taken from the soundtrack to the original Dawn of the Dead. Also, the end credits feature a new recording of the infamous shopping-mall music from the same film. 14. The TV news reports Shaun and Ed watch feature an anchorman who utters the exact same phrases as the TV reporter in Night of the Living Dead. 15. When Shaun comes into work, one of his co-workers mentions something about someone named Ash calling out from work. Ash is the name of Bruce Campbell's character in the Evil Dead trilogy, who also works at a department store (SMart) similar to the one Shaun works at. 16. The choreographed pool-cue beating of the zombie in the Winchester (synchronized to the Queen soundtrack) is a carefully referenced homage to the balletic assault on the homeless man in A Clockwork Orange. 17. The line 'Get behind me, get behind me' when fighting off the zombies in the pub is a direct lift of Han Solo's line in Star Wars. 18. Chris Martin, of UK pop band 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 box from right to left. 19. Shaun berates Ed for calling the creatures 'zombies' (which they are, of course). This may be referring to the fact that many zombie movies (including Night of the Living Dead and Resident Evil) never mention the word 'zombie' at all. More likely this is a reference to Danny Boyle - director of 28 Days Later - and his insistence that it isn't a 'zombie' movie. 20. When Shaun finds his zombie house mate in the shower he utters the words "Join us" in a half whispered tone. This is a reference to the first two Evil Dead films where the zombies are always asking Ash (also mentioned in the department store) to "join us". 21. The scene in which Shaun and Liz leave the basement via the lift through the hatch into smoke and orange light, turning as they do so, is a direct reference to a scene in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back when Lando leaves the Millenium Falcon to rescue Luke. 22. When the two surviving parties of 5 meets (about halfway into he film), some of the character has appeared in things together before. Lucy Davis (Dianne) has worked with Tamsin Greig (Maggie) in BBC radio show 'The Archers' and with Martin Freeman (Declan) in BBC comedy 'The Office'. Tamsin Greig (Maggie) has also worked with Dylan Moran in Channel 4 comedy 'Black Books' The amount of people that have already worked together in 'Shaun Of The Dead' is endless.... 23. When Shaun's riding on the bus, a techno beat's going on as the background music. It's the opening section to a tune called "Kernkraft 400" by a group called Zombie Nation. 24. The first zombie that Ed runs over while driving petes car that they stop to have a look at is none other than Andy Gray He's a scottish soccer commentator, the reason that he says "oh thank god" when they see him as a zombie is because the team that Simon Pegg supports is a rival of the team that Gray used to play for. 25. The scene where Shaun steps up the Children's ladder one step at a time and back down again rather slowly may of been a reference to the Resident Evil games where if you walk up stairs or open doors you're treated to a lengthy cutscene of your character doing this (presumably to disguise load times).